As the 2020 cycling season draws nearer to its end, it has certainly been anything but predictable—but perhaps we should have seen this one coming. Following Primož Roglič’s history-making win at the 2019 Vuelta, a first-such title for a competitor from his home country, the Slovenian cyclist has claimed Grand Tour glory again, earning back-to-back Vuelta victories and returning La Roja to the “sunny side of the Alps.” And just as in last year’s win, he led the way with fizik.

A NAIL-BITING BACK AND FORTH

From a early-season training to claiming his second Vuelta victory, Primož Roglič’s 2020 season has been dramatic, to say the least. After narrowly missing out on the maillot jaune in the Tour’s final time trial, fate saw fit to restore Roglič’s leader status following another race against the clock, this time on the Vuelta’s thirteenth stage, leading to his third (and ultimately lasting) turn wearing red.

And while Roglič’s commitment to winning was evident all along, getting there was anything but easy. In addition to the challenge of La Vuelta’s eighteen daunting stages, he’d soon find himself locked in a heated fight for first against fellow fizik rider and 2019 Giro d’Italia champion Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers).

From the outset climbing Alto de Arrete, the battle between these two riders was fierce, with Roglič ending this year’s opening stage in the same color as last year’s final, and managing to hold the top spot before a blistering attack on stage six catapulted Carapaz from third to first. Making up ground on the eighth stage, Roglič beat Carapaz to the finish atop Alto de Moncalvillo, narrowing the Ecuadorian’s overall lead before re-donning the red jersey two days later, somewhat controversially, with tied overall times.

Again two stages later, the jersey swapped backs as Carapaz managed to break the three-day, two-way tie on the steep slopes of Alto de l’Angliru. But this short lead wouldn’t hold, with Primož poetically reclaiming La Roja in an individual time trial, restoring self-confidence in a format that cost him considerably earlier in the season.

SUPPORTING VICTORIES

Beneath Primož Roglič’s powerful Vuelta performance sits the fizik Antares 00 Saddle, a race-bred saddle that’s earned accolades throughout the pro peloton as well as top spots on cycling’s grandest podiums. Rewind to Roglič’s 2019 Vuelta win, and while the competition was different, the saddle was the same.

Of course, Primož wasn’t the only pro making waves at La Vuelta with fizik. Second-place finisher Richard Carapaz can stand tall following a strong showing throughout the race as well as the entire season.

To Primož Roglič and his Jumbo Visma team, as well as all our fizik riders and fans around the world, congratulations on creating history again, on re-winning the Vuelta and making it an unprecedented, unforgettable Grand Tour season!

Depending on who you ask, the route to cycling’s Triple Crown can follow a few different paths. Strict traditionalists define it as winning the Giro, Tour and World Championships in the same year, while many others have expanded that definition to include any combo of three wins between the Worlds and Grand Tours. But no matter which races you use to classify a Triple Crown, all agree that claiming this never-before-earned title is almost impossible. Instead, more realistic riders often set their sights on the exceedingly difficult, yet attainable, task of taking home two Grand Tour wins in a single season, typically targeting the opening Giro and closing Vuelta at the centre of their ambitions.

But as with everything else this year, a compressed schedule and overlapping Grand Tours has required riders to rethink the season. For the first time, the Vuelta will start before the end of the Giro in Italy, dashing hopes of a double-tour title. Luckily, though, the excitement and drama of Spain’s premiere cycling race remain. As the youngest of the three GTs, La Vuelta Ciclista a España first set out from Madrid in May of 1935, three decades later than the neighbouring races. Over the years, the beauty of cycling in Spain, as well as the challenges posed by the looming Pyrenees mountains, have made the Vuelta an apt Grand Tour finale and one of the most highly anticipated races of the year.

For 2020, the Vuelta is foregoing its usual September start date, instead setting off for the first time in October from just outside San Sebastian along Spain’s mountainous north. But maybe the biggest change to this year’s race is its shortened schedule, reduced from twenty-one stages to eighteen and demanding cyclists and teams re-strategize their planned paths to victory. And while it remains to be seen the specific effects these changes will have on individual riders as the race unfolds in the coming weeks, there promises to be plenty of excitement along the way. Join us for the drama as the Vuelta begins to draw one of the most memorable Grand Tour seasons ever draws to a sensational close.

An outstanding achievement by Team Jumbo-Visma’s Primož Roglič to claim his first La Vuelta a España victory!

It was a commanding performance by the Slovenian to take his first Grand Tour win, the GC victory in Madrid coming as the result of the rider’s strength of character as well as his riding ability, and thanks to a great support from the Team Jumbo-Visma riders throughout the three-week race.

The role-in to the Spanish capital, on the flat, final 106km stage, celebrating by sipping Cava with his team-mates, a fitting culmination to an amazing year for the 29-year-old. He won the first three stage races of the campaign that he entered: the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, and the Tour of Romandie.

He had already won stages at the other two Grand Tours, but this was the first time at the mountainous Vuelta for the Roglič  – and he’s clearly very happy on Spanish soil!

It surprised few people that Roglič  won the Individual Time Trial, although the margin and apparent ease of the stage victory turned a few heads. From start to finish, Roglič has ridden strongly with his Antares 00 saddle, withstanding repeated attacks on the many mountain stages in an amazing display of endurance and fortitude.

Bravo Primoz!

For the 2019 campaign Alejandro Valverde is once again Movistar Team’s co-leader with Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa – and this year the Spaniard rides wearing the exclusive Rainbow Stripes of World Champion.

But it’s not just a rainbow on his jersey… El Bala will also ride  with his new shoes and saddle, which bear the iconic rainbow colors. Infinito R1 Iride shoes have the same technical features as the Infinito R1 Movistar Team delivering unrivaled dynamic fit, lightweight breathability and exceptional power transfer. Antares 00 Iride saddle feature the familiar fizik carbon double shell and Carbon Mobius Rail. Both look amazing– and will be seen for the first time at the Mallorca Challenge, then February’s Vuelta a Andalucia, a race where he’s already a five-time winner.

Valverde will contest Paris-Nice in March and then return to Spain for the Vuelta a Catalunya.

In April he heads north for the Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège – a trio of important races across which he has a total of seven victories, although none have yet come for him at Liège.

But even the Ardennes Classics are a warm-up for Imbatido’s biggest challenges of his rainbow year, the Grand Tours: first it’s the Giro d’Italia in May, where he finished third on his only appearance. Then it’s the Vuelta a España (August-September), where El Bala has won outright once and finished on the GC podium no fewer than six times… he would love to secure another outright victory at the Spanish Grand Tour.

In late September, Yorkshire, England, presents the opportunity for Alejandro Valverde to defend the Famous Rainbow Jersey at the World Championships.