(Reuters) – Three-times former champion Primoz Roglic won the first mountain stage of this year’s Vuelta a Espana as he showed his strength at the end of a ferocious climb to Pico Villuercas on Tuesday.
On a baking hot 170km fourth stage in which the peloton crossed from Portugal into Spain for the first time, Roglic burst past Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) to snatch the win.
Slovenian Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) moved into the overall race lead for the first time, taking the red jersey from Belgium’s Wout Van Aert.
The first day for the GC contenders to play their cards saw Roglic put down a marker while Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) finished third on the stage as is second overall, eight seconds back.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Ken Ferris)
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