On a historic day for Australian cycling, Australians Ben O'Connor, Kaden Groves and Jay Vine all finished Vuelta a Espana on the podium as Slovenia's Primoz Roglic sealed a record-equalling fourth title on Sunday.
O'Connor earned his first grand tour podium place after finishing second at the end of the race of his life. Mr Consistent Groves, who won three stages, claimed the green jersey for the second year running and Vine the polka-dot jersey as King of the Mountains.
This meant it was the first time two Australian riders had won two standings in an edition of La Vuelta. It has happened once in the Giro d’Italia, with Cadel Evans (points standings) and Matthew Lloyd (KOM).
All three Australians can be delighted with their efforts. O'Connor unexpectedly took the red jersey from Roglic on stage six and opened up a gap of nearly five minutes.
But Roglic, nicknamed the 'Slovenian Dream Crusher', slowly clawed his way back and put one hand on the title in stage 19 on the summit finish of Alto de Moncalvillo.
"I expected to be good (at the start of the Vuelta) because I knew I was, but not second overall," said O'Connor, who was greeted at the finish by his wife Sarah, who gave birth to the couple's first child just before the Vuelta.
"Sometimes you've got to trust your gut and other times you could probably be a little bit smarter and not trust your gut as well. So I think it's about picking your moments in grand tours and that's probably the thing I'm taking away."
Asked what second place meant, he said: "It means a pretty big celebration."
For Vine, who fractured his neck in horrific crash in the Basque country in April when his wife was 22 weeks pregnant, it was a phenomenal comeback to end the season wearing the polka dot jersey.
"To finish that up is fantastic," said Vine, "especially after the year that I had. I feel like my season is just starting, so I’m looking forward to the rest of it.
"It’s pretty incredible [to be here after the crash I had in Itzulia]. The recovery that I’ve had is amazing. At the time, we didn’t really know if I would be able to ride again, let alone compete..."
Roglic retained his overall lead in the final stage of the race, a 24.6km individual time-trial in Madrid which was won by Stefan Kung.
When Roglic crossed the line, he pointed a finger to the sky and smiled as he finished with an overall lead of two minutes and 36 seconds over O'Connor, while Spaniard Enric Mas of Movistar was third.
"It is just a lot of sacrificing, it's not only me," Roglic said. "My family, everyone around me - we all sacrifice, we all live for it. I just feel happy actually that I could do it and I really appreciate the support."
Victory was all the more special for Roglic who was forced to abandon the Tour de France ahead of stage 13 after crashing twice in consecutive stages.
Roglic, who won three consecutive Vueltas from 2019, came into this year's race as the clear favourite. However, he was surprised by O'Connor in the first week.
And the entire field was taken by surprise on Sunday by Swiss cyclist Kung, who went 31 seconds faster than second-placed Roglic.
"It's amazing, finally. I've waited, I've been fighting for it for a very long time and I really wanted that win today," Kung said.
With agencies
