Vuelta a España: Primoz Roglic wins first grand tour while Fabio Jakobsen takes the final stage

The Vuelta a España wrapped up Sunday with Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) taking a sprint win in Madrid.

The 23-year-old Dutch champion won the bunch sprint ahead of Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Szymon Sajnok (CCC-Team). The victory was Jakobsen’s second stage win of the race, and the fifth for Deceuninck-Quick- Step, who also had victories from Remi Cavagna and two from Philippe Gilbert.

The 106-kilometer stage was largely processional with no action from the GC riders, whose sole aim was to finish without incident.

With all the GC riders finishing safely, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) sealed his first grand tour victory having led the race since stage 10, taking the first grand tour win for Slovenia in the process. 39-year-old Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) took second, and 20-year old Slovenian Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) took third.

Roglic also took the green jersey of leader in the points classification, Pogacar took the white jersey for young rider, and Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) took the mountains jersey.

After a 50km celebratory roll into Madrid, the race kicked off on a short circuit of Madrid’s city center, with eight laps of the tight, technical loop.

Danny Martinez (EF Education First) went away in the first lap, and was soon joined by Diego Rubio (Burgos-BH). The pair developed a gap of 20 seconds, but with Deceuninck-Quick-Step, UAE-Team Emirates, and Bora-Hansgrohe controlling the peloton as they looked to set up a sprint, it was inevitable that the two riders would be brought to heel.

The break was caught in the penultimate lap, and the pace accelerated to 60+ kph for the final circuit.

Deceninick-Quick-Step took control into the final kilometer of the race before Trek-Segafredo came to the fore in the final 500 meters, working for John Degenkolb. With all the major sprinters still in contention, the Trek-Segafredo leadout was soon swamped as the front of the race erupted.

Tim Declerq led his Deceuninck-Quick-Step train through the melee and pulled off to leave Max Richeze in charge with Jakobsen on his wheel. The Dutchman launched his acceleration first as sprinters spread all across the road, while Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) went on the opposite side, and seemed to nose ahead, before fading.

Bennett launched his sprint late, having been boxed in by the handful or rivals filling the road ahead of him. The Irishman managed to pull close to Jakobsen’s wheel, but lacked the time to try to come round him, having to settle for second place. Sajnok also came up late to take third place.

Roglic’s win sees three first-time winners take the three grand tours of the year, after Richard Carapaz (Movistar) and Egan Bernal (Ineos) won the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France respectively. The Slovenian’s success at the Vuelta also marks a breakout year for his nation, with the small country posting two riders onto the final podium thanks to Pogacar’s third place.

For Roglic, who won the UAE-Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Tour of Romandie early in the season before fading in the final week of the Giro d’Italia and slipping from first to third place in the GC, the red jersey closes his season on a high.