We’re celebrating an amazingly successful 74th Vuelta together, where fizik riders delivered in style with not just a first-time winner in Primož Roglič but also a breakthrough climber, and a crowd-pleaser from one of the pro peloton’s oldest campaigners!

Primož Roglič’s GC victory is not just historic as the first Grand Tour win by a Slovenian rider, but was also a cool, calm and dominant execution by the Team Jumbo-Visma rider who has only been riding a bike for six years and at WorldTour level for four. Roglič’s margin of victory was greater than the time difference he gained on the stage 10 ITT, demonstrating that he wasn’t just the best time trialist, but truly the best rider over the three weeks. It’s no coincidence that the Antares 00 rider’s blend of attack and defence also won him the Points Classification’s green jersey along with the GC red.

World Champion Alejandro Valverde may have been the oldest man in the race but he was the one to push Roglič to the very limit. The Movistar Team rider, on his Antares 00 saddle, delighted the Spanish crowds with aggressive and intelligent riding and throughout the three weeks looked capable of matching his 2009 Vuelta victory, finishing in a fine second place on GC.

With La Vuelta characterised by its intense, near-relentless climbing, the blue polka-dots jersey of the Mountains Classification is rightly a highly sought prize. And what a winner we had in AG2R La Mondiale’s Geoffrey Bouchard: the Infinito R1 and Aliante Open saddle rider wore the polka dots from stage 16, eventually winning with 76 points!

And on the Madrid final podium, the awards didn’t stop coming. El Bala returned with the rest of his jubilant Movistar Team colleagues to collect the Team Classification in a repeat of last year’s win, to rapturous applause.

An amazing three weeks full of performances and memories to cherish!

Photographs: Miwa iijima/Cor Vos © 2019