‘You never know when it’s the last one’ – Primoz Roglic pleased with Stage 11 victory

Primoz Roglic shrugged off his crash setback of Stage 10 at the Vuelta a Espana to claim a thrilling victory on Stage 11.

The Jumbo-Visma star took the stage by three seconds ahead of Movistar rider Enric Mas after timing his attack to surpass Magnus Cort (EF Education-Nippo) with around 100m to go.

The victory comes a day after Roglic surrendered the red jersey to Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) following a crash that cost him time.

Roglic, the 2020 champion and current race favourite showed his was not to be written off however, winning his late duel with Mas in style.

“It was close again, huh?” he said afterwards. “The other day he was first and I was second… it was a hard stage anyway, It was short and super hot again. I was suffering a lot but in the end I had enough for the win.

“He[Mas] is super strong. Luckily, I had a little more at the end today here.”

Roglic’s first stage win in this year’s race came in the time trial with victory in Valdepeñas de Jaén handing him his first road stage win of this year’s Tour.

“It’s always nice to win. You never know when it’s the last one. It was a nice finish with a steep uphill which normally I can do well, so it was a nice challenge.

The surprise fall a day earlier was an uncharacteristic error from the 31-year-old, but Roglic refused to dwell on it, choosing instead to look forward as he chases a second Vuelta crown.

“It was a good day yesterday and I wanted to take positives, but we did this today and it was beautiful.”

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