Veteran Slovenian Primoz Roglic fought his way into the lead at the Tour of Catalonia on Thursday as he claimed stage four of the race by beating Juan Ayuso in a sprint finish.
UAE Team Emirates’ Ayuso had edged Roglic on Wednesday to take the leader’s jersey but four time Vuelta a Espana winner Roglic, 35, came out on top at the summit finish in Montserrat in a show of strength to earn his first victory of the season.
Both riders, favourites in the absence of reigning champion Tadej Pogacar, are tied for time at the top of the general classification, with Enric Mas third, 20 seconds behind.
Roglic of Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe completed the mountainous 188.7-kilometre run from Sant Vicenc de Castellet to the stunning Montserrat monastery in just over four hours 24 minutes.
“I had something left at the end, so luckily I won,” said Roglic.
“(It’s) definitely not (over, there are) hard days to come, for the moment I’m going well, we are in a good position, and we will see.
“We go day by day and we will see by the end.”
Stage five of the seven-day race takes riders 172 kilometres from Pauls to Amposta.
