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Felix Großschartner, the Austrian on Team Bora, finished fifth on the day, a second behind. One of the favorites, Froome, crossed the finish line 11:12 minutes ago.
Defending champion Primoz Roglic got off to a good start in the 75th Tour of Spain on Tuesday. The Slovenian from the Jumbo Visma team prevailed at the mountain finish after 173 km after 4:22:34 hours and thus also got the ten-second credit for the overall classification. The only Austrian did well: Bora driver Felix Großschartner finished fifth on the day, a second behind.
Besides Roglic, the strong climber from Upper Austria only had to pass Richard Carapaz (ECU / Ineos), Dan Martin (IRL / Israel Start-up) and Esteban Chaves (COL / Michelton). This means that all options are open for the 26-year-old to reach the top 15 he expected on his fifth major tour of the country.
The opening stage of the Vuelta a España was decided, as expected, on the last climb to Alto de Arrate classified Category 1. 5.3 km with a 7.7 percent incline. The wheat was slowly separating from the chaff. An attack by Sepp Kuss (USA) three kilometers from the finish was followed by Enric Mas, in addition to the aforementioned. A kilometer before the finish, Roglic achieved the decisive attack on the red jersey of the general leader.
Former Tour de France winner Chris Froome suffered a heavy defeat. The 35-year-old was left behind on the penultimate climb when his Ineos teammates were still making their way to the top. The Briton only finished 72nd for the day, 11:12 minutes behind.
Actually, the start of the Vuelta should have taken place in September in the Netherlands. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, both the start location and start date have been changed. Now 18 stages and almost 2,900 kilometers are planned before the peloton enters the capital Madrid on November 8.
The crown crisis sparked the curiosity that two of the really big tours have been running in parallel for some time. Of the Round d’Italia will not be decided until Sunday.
(Cont. Possible) gw / cough
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