Race Review: La Vuelta a España 2024
By Tim Perkin
Primož Roglič won the third and final Grand Tour of the cycling season, La Vuelta a España, for the fourth time, equalling the record set by Spaniard, Robert Heras, stating “Four La Vuelta wins is crazy.”
This victory marks a turning point for the Slovenian whose move from Jumbo-Leas a Bike to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe had not gone as hoped. He sustained injuries in crashes both in the Itzulia Basque Country (Tour of the Basque Country) and the Tour de France, causing him to abandon the key races that he had targeted.
However, there was no misfortune this time for Roglič as he won the maillot rojo (red jersey) by a margin of 2 minutes and 36 seconds over Australian Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and 3 minutes 13 seconds over Enric Mas (Movistar Team). Along the way, he also won three stages, 4, 8 and 19.
La Vuelta 2024 Highlights
This year, La Vuelta as it is referred to, started in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, 17th August. In 1997, La Vuelta also began in Lisbon, marking the first time the race started outside of Spain. This year was only the fifth time in the event’s history that it commenced on foreign soil and stage 1 was won by UAE Team Emirates American rider, Brandon McNulty. The route this year totalled 3,301.4 kilometres and had only 1 flat stage. With 2 individual time trials, 5 hilly stages and 8 mountain stages, it was Grand Tour that many sprinters decided to skip.
Before the race entered Spain, Stages 2 and 3 traversed Portugal and were won by Kaden Groves (Alpecin–Deceuninck) and Wout van Aert (Team Visa – Lease a Bike). As if scripted, Primož Roglič won Stage 4, the first on Spanish soil and the first Mountain stage. The race then headed south with Stage 5 finishing in Seville, where the temperatures soared above 40C.
Stage 6 will go down in history, and not just because Ben O’Connor took an unexpected solo win and opened a lead of 4 minutes and 51 seconds over Primož Roglič in the General Classification, but because the race started from inside a Carrefour supermarket. The supermarket giant is one of the Vuelta’s major sponsors.
From this point, Ben O’Connor defended the maillot rojo with Roglič looking at reducing his lead and taking victory in Stage 8, cutting the deficit to 3 minutes and 49 seconds.
After Stage 9 had concluded in Granada, which saw UAE Team Emirates pick up another victory courtesy of Adam Yates, the riders flew 1,000kms to the north-west of Spain.
(Image: Stage 9 victory for Adam Yates at La Vuelta 2024)
Stage 13 saw Roglič take further time from O’Connor, and with the lead gap of only 1 minute and 21 seconds the momentum was fully now with Roglič.
Spaniard, Marc Soler took another victory for UAE Team Emirates on Stage 16, but sadly Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) who was leading both the Mountains classification and the Points competition, had to abandon the race after a crash. Meanwhile, Roglič wiped out O’Connor’s lead, coming within 5 seconds of regaining maillot rojo. At this point, it became clear that the repeat of another unexpected winner, like that of Sepp Kuss the previous year, was unlikely to happen.
With a decisive victory on Stage 19, Roglič finally regained the lead of the race by 1 minute 54 seconds.
Stage 20 was considered one of the most challenging stages of La Vuelta, with 7 climbs, including a mountaintop finish, won by Irishman Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla), who then took his second stage victory of the Tour after winning Stage 11. The route was 171km long and consisted solely of climbs and descents, standing out as one of the most relentless stages in any Grand Tour this year.
The finale mirrored that of the Tour de France, with the final stage being an Individual Time Trial, raced in Spain’s capital, Madrid. Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) claimed victory with a time of 26 minutes and 28 seconds with Roglič finishing second with just 31 seconds behind, which in return secured his victory.
Results
Primož Roglič won the General Classification and Kaden Groves won the Points Classification with a total of 226, with the nearest challenger, Primož Roglič with 140.
The Mountains Classification was won by UAE Team Emirates’ Jay Vine with 78 points, followed closely by his teammate, Marc Soler, with 76 points.
The “White jersey,” which is given to the best young rider in the race under the age of 25, was won by Dane Mattias Skjelmose from Lidl-Trek.
The Team Classification was won by UAE Team Emirates who led the competition from start to finish.
Summing up
This Grand Tour was particularly challenging in terms of its route, especially with initial stages of the race taking place in the hot southern regions of Spain. Riders had to manage their efforts and those which decided to take a chance, were ultimately rewarded with victories from breakaways. The start in the supermarket was amusing to say the least, but then that’s part of the charm of this race, it is just unlike any other.
About the Author
Tim has a passion for cycling and it was integral to regaining fitness after an arduous battle with cancer. Tim is the founder of Mountain Massif, who host esports cycling events. Over the years, Tim has written about a range of cycling topics, including testing and reviewing the major smart trainers. In addition, he has been fortunate to ride and interview some of the sports leading figures such as Tour de France winner Andy Schleck and sprint legend André Greipel.