Vuelta a Espana 2020: Primoz Roglic wins time trial to retake overall lead from Richard Carapaz

Dumbria: Defending champion Primoz Roglic won the individual time trial at the Spanish Vuelta on Tuesday to retake the overall lead from Richard Carapaz.

Roglic finished the 33.7-kilometer (20.9-mile) 13th stage in 46 minutes, 39 seconds, crossing the line one second ahead of American rival William Barta.

“It’s a nice victory because it’s been a long time since I last won a time trial,” Roglic said. “Surprisingly I felt strong. I expected to suffer a lot more. Many people also expected me to lose time from Carapaz up the hill but we all started from scratch with the same chances.”

Carapaz finished seventh, 49 seconds off the pace. He fell 39 seconds behind Roglic in the overall standings. Hugh Carthy, fourth in the time trial, is third overall, 47 seconds behind Roglic.

After a rest day on Monday, riders faced a mostly flat seashore route before having to change bikes for a final climb of nearly 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles).

“It was up and down the whole day,” Barta said. “I tried to overpace the little climbs, recover on the downhills and save a little bit for the end because it’s a really hard climb.”

On Wednesday, riders face a 204-kilometer (126-mile) 14th stage through the hilly Galician terrain.

The three-week race, being held amid tight health restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic, finishes on Sunday in Madrid.