Primoz Roglic takes lead of the Spanish Vuelta and eyes fourth title

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ALTO DE MONCALVILLO, Spain (AP) — Primoz Roglic took a big step toward winning a fourth Spanish Vuelta title after claiming the race lead from Ben O’Connor on Friday with two stages left.

Roglic entered Stage 19 five seconds behind O’Connor but the Australian couldn’t keep up as his rival powered uphill to the finish atop the category-one Alto de Moncalvillo in northern Spain.

Roglic’s 15th career stage win at his favorite race left him with a commanding lead of 1 minute, 54 seconds over O’Connor. Enric Mas is third overall, 2:20 behind. Richard Carapaz is 2:54 behind and within striking range of the podium.

Roglic won the 173.5-kilometer (107.8-mile) stage that started in Logroño in 3 hours, 54 minutes. David Gaudu was second, while O’Connor finished 12th.

O’Connor had led the three-week race since the Australian won Stage 6 and established a lead of nearly five minutes over Roglic. But Roglic has since taken successive bites out of that advantage before moving ahead with his third stage win of this edition of the race.

Saturday’s 20th stage is a grueling mountain ride of 172-kilometers (106-miles) over seven categorized peaks.

The Vuelta concludes on Sunday with a time trial in Madrid.

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