Primoz Roglic gains time on Remco Evenepoel as red jersey cracks and Richard Carapaz wins dramatic Stage 14

Boy, do we have a race on our hands… Defending champion Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) reignited the battle for red at La Vuelta with a stinging attack on the final climb of La Pandera to drop race leader Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and put the Belgian under serious pressure for the first time during his nine-day reign at the top. An explosive climax to Stage 14 on Saturday saw Evenepoel dropped with four kilometres remaining of the third and final climb of the day.

Colombia’s Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana-Qazaqstan) and Enric Mas (Movistar) were the only riders capable of clawing their way back onto Roglic’s wheel – although the Spaniard Mas was tailed off before the finish. Ad Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) was the only figure from a 10-man move to survive the onslaught as the GC fireworks detonated behind in spectacular fashion.

The Olympic champion held on to take the win by eight seconds ahead of Lopez and Roglic to secure his second win in three days – and put down a marker in the polka dot jersey competition. Vuelta a EspañaBlythe reveals how Evenepoel showed signs of discomfort as red jersey cracksAN HOUR AGO Evenepoel showed his class to limit his losses to Roglic and his red jersey rivals, the Belgian crossing the line 56 seconds down for eighth place alongside Spanish tyro Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), who had picked up an untimely puncture inside the closing kilometres of the race.

Roglic’s roll of the dice saw the triple champion slash his deficit to 1’49” behind Evenepoel ahead of Sunday’s all-important high-altitude finish in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Two days after crashing on a descent, Evenepoel had no answer to the Slovenian’s stinging attack and was soon distanced by Lopez