In the 4th stage of the Vuelta a España, Tadej delivered another outstanding performance. He won the short but extremely demanding stage, in which the peloton had to tackle 3,000 meters of elevation gain over 104.8 kilometers, after attacking 50.3 kilometers before the finish. On the Andorran climbs, where he rode to his first stage victory in a three-week race in the 9th stage of the 2019 Vuelta, he shone once again.
After his UAE Team Emirates – XRG teammates invested a great deal of energy chasing the breakaway riders, he dropped all his rivals on the climb to Collado de Beixals. Before the finish in Andorra la Vella, he then built a 2:39 lead over the first chasers on the climbs to Coll d’Ordino and Alto de La Comella.
»I didn’t have to do this, but the pace was already extremely high on the first climb. On the second climb, we were going almost all-out from the bottom. When Jay Vine let me pass to the Decathlon riders, I knew I didn’t want to be alone against the many GC rivals who were still there, as that would play against me. I tried attacking on the climb. I hoped I would survive to the finish. Then I saw that I could make a difference; today was difficult, but also very beautiful,« Tadej said at the finish.
This was his longest solo attack in a three-week race, and it was also the first time that Tadej celebrated a victory in the red leader’s jersey at the Vuelta. His advantage over runner-up Primož Roglič (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) now stands at 3:21. Enric Mas (Movistar) is 3:32 behind in 3rd place.
»Any advantage would be good, and the current one is extremely good. I can be calm and confident in the days ahead. We’ll take it day by day and focus on each next day, but it will certainly be a little less stressful than it has been so far,« Tadej added after his 21st victory of the year and the 129th of his career.
»I never imagined that I would race like this. I have wonderful memories of my first visit to Andorra; it was one of my favorite moments of my career, and I will never forget it,« Tadej acknowledged that in 2019 he did not expect to become the best cyclist in the world.
After celebrating his fifth Tour victory in July, he is chasing his first Vuelta triumph, which would make him the ninth cyclist in history to win all three Grand Tours. At this year’s Vuelta a España, after already celebrating victory in the opening time trial in Monaco, he could, for the first time in his career, wear the leader’s jersey from the first stage to the last in a three-week race. »You never know—the advantage is now substantial. We’ll give everything we have to control the race every day; if that isn’t possible, we’ll fight. It will be demanding, but we have a very strong team, we are ready,« Tadej also said.
Tomorrow he faces the first Spanish stage of this year’s Vuelta, which will probably be more relaxed for him, as stage 5 is expected to feature a battle between breakaway riders and the teams of the top sprinters.