Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

[Jeremy McCreary]

Leaves 6 riders in a battle: Mas, Roglic, Gall, Kuss, Onley, and Carapaz at 2,22 back. Loads of mountains ahead and the one TT at I tnink 36km and pretty flat. And of those 6 only Roglic has a decent TT. Mas is a minute ahead but that's not a lot if he's going to stay clear after the time trial. It might even put Skjelmose back in contention with his time T skills, though he's being dropped a lot on the mountains already. Lot of discussion going on and you can bet Roglic is suddenly laser focussed.

Per AI, no one has won the Vuelta 5 times, and Roglic's only one of 2 with 4 wins. Powerful motivation for both him and his team. I'd love to see him pull it off.

Skjelmose is my favorite underdog. Seldom wins stages but gets some podiums. And he's often in the top 10 in the GC stage after stage. Would like to see him get a chance to shine now.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

for roglic to win he can't risk losing more time to Gall or Mas on mountains. Or conversely Mas and Gall know they need to claw time as a buffer for the TT. Decthlon look to have better climbing then Boro or Movistar but for all of them this is a major incentive. Nobody wants to win because Pog crashed out, but on the other hand a Grand Tour win is a win, a major incentive for all these teams as well as riders like Mas (Spanish, home race & so close so many times), Gall (yesterday's man with Seixas the big star) Roglic (as you said and plus he's leaving Boro, perfect timing to show the world he's still got it) and Onley (This sudden development will really spur INEOS after a terrible season and doubting esaily distracted owner).

It really is an electric shock to the race.