Primoz Roglic avoided any final day mishap on the Vuelta a Espana’s ceremonial ride into Madrid on Sunday to become the first Slovenian to win one of cycling’s three Grand Tours.
The former ski jump champion had assured victory on Saturday, only having to complete the 21st stage for the biggest success of his career.
Alejandro Valverde was second overall with Roglic’s compatriot Tadej Pogacar in third.
The three-week race concluded in a sprint on the streets of the Spanish capital won by Fabio Jakobsen.
Roglic had lined up as one of the favourites to succeed absent defending champion Simon Yates and he did not disappoint.
A member of Slovenia’s 2007 junior world ski jump champion team had seized control of the overall standings by pulverising his rivals on the individual time-trial in stage 10.
Surrounded by a powerful Jumbo-Visma team, Roglic then systematically demoralised pretenders on the mountains, proving unshakeable in the mountains stages.
While Roglic was the overall winner, his 20-year-old compatriot Pogacar not only climbed the podium but also secured the white jersey as best under-25’s rider.
The UAE Emirates Team rider was the breakout star of this year’s Vuelta, and deprived Miguel Angel Lopez, one of the great animators of this tour, of the white jersey.
Vuelta a Espana 2019 – stage 21 results (Fuenlabrada – Madrid):
| 1 | Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | 2:48:20 |
| 2 | Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | Szymon Sajnok (CCC) | ,, |
| 4 | Ion Aberasturi (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 5 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 6 | Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 7 | Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 8 | Clement Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 9 | Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 10 | Dion Smith (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 11 | Maximiliano Richeze (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 12 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 13 | Omar Fraile (Astana) | ,, |
| 14 | Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 15 | Maximilian Walscheid (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 16 | Yukiya Arashiro (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 17 | Cyril Barthe (Euskadi-Murias) | ,, |
| 18 | Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 19 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 20 | José Rojas (Movistar) | ,, |
Vuelta a Espana 2019 – final general classification:
| 1 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | 83:07:31 |
| 2 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +02’33” |
| 3 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | +02’55” |
| 4 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +03’46” |
| 5 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +04’48” |
| 6 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +07’33” |
| 7 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +10’04” |
| 8 | Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal) | +12’54” |
| 9 | Marc Soler (Movistar) | +22’27” |
| 10 | Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) | +22’34” |
| 11 | James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +22’55” |
| 12 | Dylan Teuns (Bahrian-Merida) | +24’06” |
| 13 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +26’11” |
| 14 | Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) | +32’17” |
| 15 | Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida) | +33’40” |
| 16 | Ion Izagirre (Astana) | +42’00” |
| 17 | Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha-Alpecin) | +42’05” |
| 18 | Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) | +45’46” |
| 19 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | +53’03” |
| 20 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) | +01h03’43” |
