Stage 19 of La Vuelta a Espana 2024 was set to be contested in La Rioja territory. Race organizer Unipublic had designed stage 19 of Vuelta a Espana as a 173.2-kilometer ride from Logrono to Alto de Moncalvillo.

The route of stage 19 would feature the Puerto de Pradilla climb (Category Three) mid-stage and conclude with the strenuous and challenging Category One climb of Alto de Moncalvillo, where Richard Carapaz and Primoz Roglic battled it out in the 2020 edition of La Vuelta. While the start town of Logrono is well-known for its wine and vibrant lifestyle, the riders in the Vuelta peloton would not be granted any opportunity to enjoy its treats and celebrate the fruit of their labor just yet, as a challenging Vuelta stage was on the day’s menu.

Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R) was admirably still leading the general classification of this year’s Vuelta before today’s stage 19. His narrow advantage of five seconds over Primoz Roglic (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe) in second place was expected to be challenged in today’s mountainous stage. Enric Mas was in third place for Team Movistar, Richard Carapaz fourth for EF Education-EasyPost, and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) fifth. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos-Grenadiers) was in sixth place, and Mattias Skjelmose seventh for Team Lidl-Trek.

General Classification outsider Mikel Landa (T-Rex-Soudal-QuickStep) and defending Vuelta Champion Sepp Kuss (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) had both lost valuable time in yesterday’s stage and dropped out of contention for the overall victory in this year’s final Grand Tour.

Stage 19 got off to a fine start under sunny skies in Logrono.

Always courageous Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Dstny) launched an attack early in the stage and joined forces with four other riders, hoping to animate the stage action. The riders were, however, caught after only a few kilometers of racing.

UAE Team Emirates tried to send Marc Soler into an attack together with other riders in a large breakaway group, but they were also reeled in by the main peloton.

Despite several failed breakaway attempts early in the stage, three riders remained optimists with 140 kilometers left of the stage and broke away from the peloton. The trio featured Vito Braet (Intermarche-Wanty), Fran Miholjevic (Bahrain-Victorious), and Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The trio managed to build a viable gap and was later joined by Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) and Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Wanty).

The breakaway quintet had an advantage of more than five minutes over the chasing peloton when 110 kilometers remained. Meanwhile, riders from Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe had taken control at the front of the peloton in support of their GC favorite Primoz Roglic, who was possibly aiming to repeat his stage win from the 2020 Vuelta on the final climb and dethrone race leader Ben O’Connor in the process. 

When one hundred kilometers remained, the lead of the front quintet had been reduced to four minutes thanks to the hard work from the Red Bull-powered riders at the front of the main peloton.

The terrain was uphill, and the riders were approaching the first categorized climb of the stage – the Puerto de Pradilla (Category Tree). 85 kilometers of the stage were left, and the advantage of the breakaway riders had been trimmed to 03:30 minutes.

Miholjevic was the first rider to reach the top of the Pradilla. He was followed by del Torro and Planckaert. The main peloton would be next to reach the peak, and a long, fast and dangerous descent was next on the menu for the riders.

Movistar and Team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe were leading the main peloton on the descent. A split occurred in the peloton with approximately seventy kilometers remaining. Sepp Kuss and other riders were caught in part two of the peloton and Lidl-Trek riders worked hard to reconnect with the first part of the pack. The two parts of the peloton joined forces when sixty kilometers were left of today’s stage 19.

Braet was dropped from the breakaway quintet after working hard for his teammate Petilli in the breakaway. He was caught by the Red Bull-headed peloton with about fifty kilometers remaining. The riders were passing by multiple Unesco-protected monasteries, where monks and meditation aficionados were living secluded lives.  

Riders from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team continued to show the other riders in La Vuelta who was the Boss by setting a fast pace at the front of the peloton, thereby further reducing the advantage of the front quartet. Their advantage was down to 01:30 minutes with 35 kilometers left of the stage. 

Eighteen kilometers of today’s Vuelta battle remained, and the front quartet had an advantage of 01:37 minutes. The speed was intense in the main peloton, where GC teams were working hard to push competitors to and beyond their limits.

The riders in the breakaway were now approaching the Category One climb to the finish line. An exciting battle between the general classification favorites awaited the fortunate spectators. Richard Carapaz was on his way into battle on the Alto de Moncalvillo mountain, where he had previously drawn swords against Primoz Roglic.

Miholjevic was the first rider to enter the Alto de Moncalvillo, but the main peloton was riding at a fast pace and would consume all riders from the breakaway moments later.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders dominated the front of the peloton in the first part of the climb and riders were dropping off the back of the peloton. Six kilometers of the stage remained.

The general classification favorites group split with more than five kilometers remained. Primoz Roglic was now the sole GC favorite in front together with two teammates. Aleksandr Vlasov was leading for Roglic.

Roglic’ final launch rocket left him solo in front when almost five kilometers were left. This would be a hard solo battle for the Slovenian rider. Meanwhile, Richard Carapaz launched an attack from the GC favorites group. Enric Mas, David Gaudu joined him on his wheel. Ben O’Connor also caught op as did other favorites. But Roglic was still solo in front with a lead of thirty seconds. 3.7 kilometers remained.

Enric Mas attacked from the Carapaz group. The riders were battling on gradients of eleven percent.

Mas was 23 seconds behind Roglic with 2.6 kilometers to the finish line. O’Connor, Carapaz and other riders were 46 seconds back.

1.5 kilometers remained and Roglic was 31 seconds ahead of Mas, while other GC favorites were more than a minute behind the bold and brave Slovenian rider.

Ben O’Connor was dropped from the GC favorites group with approximately one kilometer remaining. This would be his final day in the red jersey.

Primoz Roglic reached the finish line in solo fashion in 03:54:55 as winner of stage 19 of Vuelta a Espana. David Gaudu caught Enric Mas in the final meters and finished second. Mattias Skjelmose also passed an exhausted Mas and took the final spot on the stage podium. Enric Mas finished fourth, while Mikel Landa had recovered from yesterday’s disappointing performance to claim fifth. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos-Grenadiers) finished sixth, Sepp Kuss eighth, and Richard Carapaz ninth, 01:03 minutes behind Roglic.

O’Connor reached the finish 01:49 minutes after stage winner and new race leader Roglic.

“I have some really nice memories from this climb, and it didn’t disappoint me today either. I told my teammates to go for it and they did,” stage winner Roglic told Roadcycling.com. “The big queen stage tomorrow will be super hard and the time trial in Madrid on Sunday will also be decisive. I’m happy and this is better than being five minutes behind,” Roglic added.

Primoz Roglic has an advantage of 01:54 minutes over second ranked O’Connor following today’s stage 19. Enric Mas is in third, 02:20 minutes behind, while Richard Carapaz is fourth. 

Saturday’s stage 20 of La Vuelta a Espana 2024 will be a 172-kilometer ride from Villarcayo to Picon Blanco. The penultimate stage of this year’s Vuelta will feature no less than seven categorized climbs. The stage concludes with a climb to the top of Picon Blanco, which will both take the riders to the finish line and be the final categorized climb of this year’s Vuelta a Espana.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for continuous coverage from Vuelta a Espana 2024.

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