By now, a Primož Roglič podium appearance by the fountains of Plaza de Cibeles feels almost as common an occurrence as a Real Madrid trophy celebration on the neo-classical square. He was feted there once more on Sunday evening after sealing his record-equalling fourth Vuelta a España victory in the final time trial in the Spanish capital.
With Roglič already holding a commanding lead over Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), there was little suspense ahead of the final stage, and there would be no alarms and no surprises along the 24.6km stage. The Slovenian cruised to second on the stage to extend his final buffer to 2:36 over O’Connor.
But while the result never seemed to be in any doubt, the final evening of this Vuelta was not quite as routine or as comfortable as it appeared for Roglič, who revealed after the podium ceremonies that he had also been affected by the outbreak of illness that struck so many of his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates on the final weekend of the Vuelta.
“I mean, like I also went to the toilet twenty times already today,” Roglič told reporters in the mixed zone on Sunday evening.
“But in the end, I was way too far, I had to finish it off. Yeah, it is how it is. Definitely some challenges for all of us to try to prevent these things happening, but yeah, these things are for later. Now is time to enjoy a bit the victory.”
On stage 20 to Picón Blanco, Roglič had risked being left exposed when a number of his teammates were stricken by an unspecified illness. including Daniel Martínez and Patrick Gamper who abandoned, while Nico Denz finished outside the time limit and Aleksandr Vlasov was surprisingly distanced early on the stage.
Roglič, however, had appeared unaffected on the Vuelta’s final mountain stage, where he comfortably tracked his podium rivals and all but confirmed his final overall victory in Madrid. Although Roglič wore a facemask on the podium atop Picón Blanco, he told reporters that he was “still feeling fine” after the stage.
That situation had changed at some point on Sunday, though Roglič made light of the illness in the final time trial, coming home 30 seconds down on the winner Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ). Roglič was reluctant to delve into too much detail when asked if he had been affected by the same illness as his teammates.
“Yeah – I mean, not really, but not the best also,” Roglič said. “It is how it is. Like I said, I don’t want to discuss really much about it. I just finished it off all fine and I’ll enjoy it.”
Like Roglič, Florian Lipowitz hadn’t appeared to be hampered by illness on stage 20, with the German joining Roger Adria in playing a key role in support of the red jersey on the day’s final climbs. After completing his Vuelta in Madrid, Lipowitz confirmed that he had also come down with illness on Saturday evening.
“I had stomach problems last night and I couldn’t really sleep so I was tired today,” Lipowitz said. “I had the same thing [as my teammates], I was super tired this morning.”
The outbreak of illness at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe came a day after the squad had dominated the field on the Alto de Moncalvillo, with Roglič ripping clear of his rivals in the company of Vlasov and Martinez before soloing to stage victory and the red jersey. The team’s sudden weakness on stage 20 had echoes of the 1996 Vuelta, when eventual winner Alex Zülle was left isolated on the road to Avila after the rest of his ONCE squad had fallen ill.
After Saturday’s stage, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe issued a statement from directeur sportif Patxi Vila, who said that a “wave of illness” had swept over the team, affecting riders and staff members alike. “We are currently investigating whether food poisoning is the cause,” Vila said.
By Sunday evening, Martinez and his teammates had recovered sufficiently to be among the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders and staff who joined Roglič on the podium for a celebratory photo to mark his Vuelta triumph.
“It’s normal that you have ups and downs: we’re human beings,” Roglič said as dusk fell over Madrid on Sunday evening. “The most important thing is that you always focus on the task that you have, it’s the only thing you can control.”
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