Roglic poised to win Spanish Vuelta leading with 1 day left

PLATAFORMA DE LOS GREDOS, Spain (AP) — Primoz Roglic is poised to win his first Grand Tour after protecting his comfortable lead of the Spanish Vuelta on a rainy and mountainous penultimate stage on Saturday.

Roglic had little trouble responding to the attacks by his rivals over the 190-kilometer (118-mile) ride with five categorized climbs from Arenas de San Pedro to a summit finish at Plataforma de los Gredos in the mountains west of Madrid.

As is custom at the three-week grand tours, riders respect the leader and do not attack on the 21st and final stage. So barring an accident or some unlikely mishap, Sunday’s arrival to Madrid will be a relaxed jaunt for Roglic and his yellow-clad Jumbo-Visma teammates to celebrate the title.

The Slovenian, who turned to cycling after giving up on his first sport of ski jumping, leads world champion Alejandro Valverde by over two minutes going into the final day.

Fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, aged 20, confirmed that he is the surprise of the race by pulling off a long solo attack to win the stage in just over five hours, moving him into third place overall.