Four times Vuelta a España winner Roberto Heras has seen his overall victory record equalled by Primoz Roglič on Sunday - but the now retired Spanish climber doesn’t rule out the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe going one better and conquering the Vuelta again in 2025.
Roglič’s claimed his fourth Vuelta title this evening, with his wins in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024 matching Heras’ four triumphs in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Due to turn 35 on October 29, Roglič is the third oldest ever Grand Tour winner in history, after Chris Horner aged 41 years and 327 days in the 2013 Vuelta a España, and Firmin Lambot in the 1922 Tour de France aged 36 years and 130 days.
But Heras feels another Vuelta victory is definitely within Roglič’s reach in 2025, although he warns that if Tadej Pogačar and/or Jonas Vingegaard take part next year, it will be a much more challenging task.
Closely following this year’s race, Heras told Cyclingnews that he could not fail to be impressed by how Roglič had managed to turn the race in his favour, even using the breakaway by Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) on stage 6 to his advantage.
“It was a bit risky with O’Connor because he was fourth in the Giro d’Italia and fourth in the Tour, and they let him gain too much time. But Roglič showed that without panicking he was able to pull back the time on all the different climbs and then claim the jersey back in Moncalvillo.”
“Maybe he wasn’t as strong as other years, but he raced very intelligently.”
As Heras points out the breakaway with O’Connor gave the race a degree of interest that perhaps would have been lacking had Roglič’s superiority been more clearly established from the start.
“That helped maintain the tension because you never knew how much or how little time Roglič would be able to pull back on each mountain stage, particularly as he wasn’t turning in really dominating performances each day. Nothing could be taken for granted.”
“If he’d just taken the lead on stage 4 and then held it all the way to the finish, it would have been much more predictable.”
Quite apart from Roglič’s own performance, Heras was particularly impressed with how Red Bull had managed to play off one rival team against another, and as a result, did not have to use up too much energy too soon in the race.
“In certain points of a race, managing your team’s effort in a three-week race is as fundamental as what the individual leaders do and in the Vuelta this year Bora didn’t have to work from beginning to end, so that was definitely in their favour.”
“At the same time, Bora were always able to keep support riders with Roglič up until the last three or four kilometres on each climb, and that was another sign of how well they were handling their race, too.”
As for whether Roglič could win a fifth Vuelta a España, Heras argues that “a lot, but not everything, depends on whether Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) or Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) take part.”
“We know right now that both Pogačar and Vingegaard are hands-down favourites for Grand Tours wherever they race, so obviously if they come to the Vuelta with the aim of winning then it’d be a lot tougher.”
“But of course, Roglič’d still have options on the final victory too even so. And there’s no doubt that when it comes to Grand Tour racing, Roglič knows exactly how to manage his effort and his recovery to be able to go for the win.”
“So yes, he could go for a fifth. With Pogačar and Vingegaard on the start line, it’d be a lot tougher to take a victory, but even then you definitely couldn’t rule it out. In fact with Roglič, he’s got so much class and determination, that you never can.”
Heras feels the same scenario also applies in the Tour de France, that Vingegaard and Pogačar would be hugely influential factors on whether Roglič could go for a win, but again, he says it’s “difficult” but not impossible. Nor does Heras feel that Roglič’s age is necessarily an impediment to opting for Vuelta victory number 5, given he started both riding a bike and his professional career relatively late.
Compared to much younger challengers, he argues, he still has relatively little underlying wear and tear on his body of racing at a high level.
“It’s not just physical, but also mental,” Heras points out. “It’s true that as you get older on paper the maximum level at which you can perform should tend to drop off, little by little. But the mental side of things has a huge effect on what you can do physically and he’ll know what he can still go on to do in a three-week stage race next year.”
“He’s an amazing rider with a vast palmares from all kinds of races from one-days to week-long stage races to Grand Tours. I’m very proud to be able to share this record with him.”
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 Vuelta a España - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage as it happens and more. Find out more.
