Pro Log: Primož Roglič gets Vuelta time penalty, Ineos sign Axel Laurance, Paralympic golds

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Pro Log: Primož Roglič gets Vuelta time penalty, Ineos sign Axel Laurance, Paralympic golds

Welcome back to another edition of Pro Log. The Vuelta a España is heating up as the second week comes to a close with Ben O’Connor still in the red jersey by 1min 03sec ahead of Primož Roglič.

UAE Team Emirates rider Tim Wellens secured the overall at the Renewi Tour for the second year running as Arnaud De Lie of Lotto-Dstny won on the Muur van Geraardsbergen on the final day. Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan won two stages at the race, taking his victory tally this season to 18.

At the MTB World Championships, the Netherlands’ Puck Pieterse won her first elite title by almost a minute ahead of fellow Dutchwoman Anne Terpstra in the cross-country race. Alan Hatherly of South Africa won the men’s title with Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock taking home bronze. Evie Richards rode to victory to claim the short track world title ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot earlier in the week, with Frenchman Victor Koretzky winning the men’s race.

The British Gravel National Championships also took place this weekend, with Ineos’s Connor Swift winning the men’s race and Classified-Ridley rider Annabel Fisher taking the women’s title.

Primož Roglič receives time penalty at the Vuelta a España

There was late drama at the end of the second week of the Vuelta. Stage 15 finished on the punishing Cuitu Negru, where Equipo Kern Pharma’s Pablo Castrillo produced the performance of his life to win his second stage at the race. Having seen off a late challenge from Aleksandr Vlasov on the climb’s super-steep gradients, Castrillo emerged from the mist to take the win.

Behind, Roglič did everything he could to drop Ben O’Connor and claw back some precious time in the final 2km. He crossed the line 38 seconds before O’Connor, initially taking his deficit on GC to under a minute, but was then hit with a time penalty for drafting his team car after changing his bike for one with wider gearing ahead of the final climb. As a result, he enters the final phase of the race trailing O’Connor by 1min 03sec.

The racing resumes tomorrow with a 181.5km stage to a summit finish on Lagos de Covadonga. The 12.5km climb has gradients up to 16% before a slight respite a little over halfway through. The road then immediately ramps up again before a 1km descent with just under 2km to go, followed by another 0.9km of climbing to the finish. Expect Roglič to make a move again on a climb he knows very well as he targets a fourth Vuelta title in Madrid on Sunday.

Gold for Great Britain on the track at the Paralympics

Kadeena Cox suffered a nightmare start at the Paralympics after crashing on the first corner in the C4-5 500m time-trial, an event she won at both the Rio and Tokyo Games. She got back up, however, and was able to ride in the C1-5 team sprint a few days later with Jaco van Gass and Jody Cundy. The trio retained their title from Tokyo, winning the gold medal by 1.8sec ahead of Spain.

Sophie Unwin and pilot Jenny Holl won gold in the B 3,000m individual pursuit against Ireland, as James Bell also beat fellow Great Britain rider Neil Fachie for the gold medal in the men’s B 1000m time-trial. It reversed the standings of their finishes at the last Paralympics.

Archie Atkinson has also been phenomenal throughout the Games, setting a world record in qualifying during the men’s C4 pursuit. He was looking to catch Slovakia’s Jozef Metelka in the gold medal final but crashed just prior to doing so, ultimately winning silver in his Paralympics debut.

He took to Instagram to write, ‘I think younger me would be proud. Shame to lose via crashing whilst being 6 seconds behind him on the catch. I just completely emptied myself to the point I fell off my saddle. Tried to control it but to no avail.’

Ineos Grenadiers sign U23 World Champion Axel Laurance

Ineos Grenadiers have announced that they are signing U23 World Champion Axel Laurance on a two-year contract from 2025. Laurance, who joins from Alpecin-Deceuninck and won the rainbow bands at the ‘Super Worlds’ in Scotland last year, won the Tour of Norway in May and recently participated in the Tour de France.

Laurance said, ‘I’m here to win races and to get results… In all our discussions I’ve been very impressed with the setup. The plans they have in place for the future and the expertise involved mean that it’s an exciting place to be.’

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