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Primož Roglič is the 2019 Vuelta a España champion

New riders have won the last five Grand Tours

September 15, 2019
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After Sunday’s Stage 21 procession to Madrid, Primož Roglič was crowned the 2019 Vuelta a España champion, his first Grand Tour title

After fourth in last year’s Tour de France and third in May’s Giro, Roglic rode to Grand Tour glory in Spain.

Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Dutchman Fabio Jakobson took his second 2019 Vuelta win in Sunday’s sprint finish. The Wolfpack won four of the last 10 stages and five stages in general.

The final podium featured an “wily vet on Slovenian bread sandwich”, with 39-year-old Alejandro Valverde the runner-up and remarkable Tadej Pogačar third, the young rider having knocked Nairo Quintana off the podium while taking his third stage win on Saturday. Pogačar is the only rider to win three stages in the 74th edition.

Roglič was also the points competition winner, while Pogačar claimed the white young rider’s jersey having nicked it from Angel Lopez on Saturday.

At least Angel Lopez won the Supercombative prize. Photo: Sirotti

The blue polka dot mountains jersey went to relatively unknown Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard of AG2R.

For all its sins Movistar was the top team, packing three riders in the top-9, and it can boast that it has won the team competition in four straight Grand Tours. The Vuelta marks the end of the team’s mediocre Grand Tour “Trident” era, one in which none of its three prongs–Valverde, Quintana and Mikel Landa–won a Grand Tour, but Richard Carapaz did. Quintana is off to Pro Conti squad Arkea-Samsic, Landa heads off to Bahrain-Merida and Carapaz joins Ineos. Let the Valverde-Enric Mas-Mark Soler era begin!

The Surprise Dude in the Top-10 Prize goes to Carl Fredrik Hagen, a Norwegian from Lotto-Soudal that hardly anyone had heard of before the Vuelta. David De la Cruz was the last rider to win this invented award in 2016.

Beginning with Geraint Thomas in last season’s Tour de France, the last five Grand Tours have gone to riders taking their first Grand Tour titles. Simon Yates came back from his 2018 Giro d’Italia to win last year’s Vuelta a España. This season Carapaz earned the pink jersey at the Giro, Egan Bernal became the first Colombian to wear yellow in Paris at the Tour de France, and after a fourth and a third in Grand Tours, Primož Roglič achieved the Vuelta title.

Richard Carapaz was the first of the new Grand Tour winners this season. Photo: Sirotti

Jumbo-Visma was the only team to have riders on all three Grand Tour podiums, while Movistar and Ineos placed riders on two podiums. Bahrain-Merida and UAE-Emirates are the only other teams to have men on 2019 podiums.


2019 Vuelta a España Final GC
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 83:07:31
2) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +2:16
3) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +2:38
4) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +3:29
5) Angel Lopez (Colombia/Astana) +4:31
6) Rafal Majka (Poland/Bora-Hansgrohe) +7:16
7) Wilco Kelderman (The Netherlands/Sunweb) +9:47
8) Carl Fredrik Hagen (Norway/Lotto-Soudal) 12:54
9) Marc Soler (Spain/Movistar) +22:10
10) Mikel Nieve (Spain/Mitchelton-Scott) +22:17