Momentum is crucial in cycling. Whatever someone’s skill, form, or results, once it starts to swing one way, it is hard to stop. Harder to reverse it. Yet it is impossible to quantify. How fast is the momentum moving and in which direction?
However, at this Vuelta a España, it is clear in which way the impetus is moving. On stage 13 on Friday, as on stage 11 on Wednesday, Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), the race leader, lost time to Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
