Primoz Roglic cultivates a redeeming relationship with the return to Spain, the race that has already won twice and that heals his sleeplessness and disappointments in the other two, then twist and tour are still territories sold for the new Olympic champion counterreloj. He premiered her palmarés on lap in 2019, after being overcome by Carapaz in Rosa Corsican, and repeated in 2020, weeks after the historic Pogacar Suffer in La Iron des Belles Filles. To the edition that today starts from inside the cathedral of Burgos comes after a tour in which he could not even compete, fallen in the third stage and withdrawn from the race in the ninth. The return, always around, gives it a new opportunity for compensation.
"I have been able to recover from the falls, emotionally as well. It is part of cycling, of life. You up and down, but the important thing is to move forward and arrive here to give the best of me, "Roglic expressed, before starting Rumbo to Santiago, where he has an appointment with history. If he gets out with the Red Maillot the last stage, on September 5, he will add three consecutive victories in the lap, a milestone only reached so far by Tony Rominger (1992-94) and Roberto Heras (2002-04). And he would stay only one of the record of total triumphs, in the hands of Spanish.
"I do not think about that. I am more concerned about the present, of the challenges that come, "he replies, aware that competition will be greater than ever. Among the further pedigree returns, only Tadej Pogacar has erased the return of his calendar, after having included it in his initial forecast. The rest of absences (Thomas, Almeida, Evenepoel, Kelderman, Uran ...) do not blur a sign of a first level, one of the best of recent times.
After Roglic, the greatest favoritism falls on the INEOS, which returns a very powerful block with two leaders capable of everything. Egan Bernal seems to leave with an advantage in the internal hierarchy of the British team, but Richard Carapaz is a bet more than sure. Last year, in fact, he stayed at 24 seconds of snatching the glory to Slovenian. As squires, Adam Yates, Pavel Sivakov and the Mountain Cycling Olympic champion, Tom Pidcock, which premieres in a big one. Eye with him in stages of half mountain.
The Movistar, as it is tradition, is also presented with all its artillery except Marc Soler, which at the end of the year will leave the team towards Pogacar's UAE. As happened at the Tour, Enric Mas and the newly renovated Miguel Ángel López will share gallons, with Alejandro Valverde as Gargario of exception and always attentive to partial triumphs. The podium is a realistic goal for Eusebio Unzué's squad.
Along with Mas, the great Spanish Baza is Mikel Landa (Bahrain), who returns around six years of absence. He does it wrapped up by a team of maximum guarantees (Caruso, Padun, Mäder, Poels, Haig ...) and with the ambition to demonstrate his category after the disappointment that his forced abandonment of a hard fall in the past turn . Aleksandr Vlasov will count on the Astana with the support of the Izagirre brothers, Luis León Sánchez, Omar Fraile, Álex Aranburu and Óscar Rodríguez. Hugh Carthy -tercero last year-, Giulio Ciccone and Romain Bardet complete the payroll of aspiring the podium.
All of them must face a demanding path, which limits the usual endings on goats in favor of longer ascents that dot all the journey. After today's counter-catching by Burgos -with passing through the High of the Castle - and the end to the morning sprint, the white picon will begin to mark differences on Monday. For the next weekend, after a couple of more opportunities for sprinkles -Philipsen, Démare, Cimolai, Jakobsen and Matthews are the most outstanding - the Balcony of Alicante (Friday) and Velfique Alto (Sunday) will return the Focus on the men of the general.
The race will be resolved during the last eight stages (as of Saturday 28), five of them mountain - it lasted the fearsome Gamoniteiru, the end of the 18th stage - and the 33.8-kilometer counterreloch of the last day between Padrón and Santiago , term station for the Xacobeo year instead of Madrid. They will be a total of nine finishes high on a lap in which the heat will be a determining element.
Date Of Update: 13 August 2021, 20:26
