Three-time former champion Primoz Roglic won the first mountain stage of this year’s Vuelta a Espana when he showed his strength at the end of a steep climb to Pico Villuercas.

On a scorching 170-kilometer fourth stage that took the peloton from Portugal to Spain for the first time, Roglic shot past Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) to take the win.

Belgian Van Eetvelt had to pay the price for celebrating his first Grand Tour stage win too early: he raised his arm in triumph, but then slammed his handlebars on the ground in frustration as Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe rider Roglic sneaked past him on the finish line.

Slovenian Roglic took the lead in the overall standings for the first time and took over the red jersey from Belgian Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike).

“It wasn’t the main goal of the day (to win the stage),” Roglic told Eurosport. “But when you see the guys fighting hard in this heat, I’m happy to finish it.”

The first day, when the general classification candidates had a chance to play their cards, ended with the riders having to tackle gradients of up to 20 percent in the final kilometers and a group of seven riders aiming for a sprint to the finish line.

Mikel Landa (T Rex – Quick-Step) made the first move but was quickly caught by Van Eetvelt, allowing Roglic to score a goal.

Portuguese rider Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) finished third on the stage and is second overall, eight seconds behind. Enric Mas (Movistar) finished fourth on the stage and is third overall, 32 seconds behind Roglic.

American defending champion Sepp Kuss (Visma–Lease a Bike) lost 28 seconds to Roglic and is 1.14 seconds behind.

Six seconds behind is Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) in 14th place. Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) is the only other Australian in the top 50, in 23rd place, 1.56 seconds behind the leader.

Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) gained two points on Van Aert in the points race, the Belgian now leads 111-105, with third place 70 points behind him.

The fifth stage on Wednesday should suit the sprinters: the relatively flat 177-kilometer route to Seville.

with AP