Once again at the end: the big tremor. A gastrointestinal virus swept through the intestines of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe racing team's riders and support staff. Two riders gave up on the penultimate stage road captain Nico Denz missed the time limit. "That was dicey," admitted team boss Ralph Denk. "One of our employees was in hospital. The doctors there examined it thoroughly. We can now rule out the possibility of food poisoning. It was a strong gastrointestinal virus that spread from the employees to the racing drivers."

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe: Overall victory despite stomach virus

This had dramatic consequences. "We suddenly had no more people to drive the vehicles from northern Spain to Madrid and no more people for extra catering. It was a very intense weekend," explained Denk. Luckily, the virus only struck at the end of the tour and the two protagonists Primoz Roglic and Florian Lipowitz got away with comparatively mild symptoms. Roglic himself admitted after the 20th stage that he had visited the toilet around 20 times. His performance in the Time trial the following day may also have been affected by the infection.

With his previous overall victories at the Giro and Vuelta, he had always won the final time trial. Now in Madrid he had to give way to the Swiss Stefan Küng. Nevertheless, he dominated his rivals in the overall classification. He pulled out 34 seconds on second-placed Ben O'Connor and more than a minute on third-placed Enric Mas. The Slovenian seemed relieved afterwards. "The closer you get to the end, the more you want to finish," he said.

Naturally, he was delighted with his fourth Vuelta victory. He was also thinking about a fifth to become the sole record holder. But even more than his individual record, he seemed to be moved by the fact that he had completed the national triple. Riders from Slovenia have won all three Grand Tours this season. "Yes, I'm speechless. Who would have thought that of our small nation before?" he said.

Three Grand Tours, three times Slovenia

In fact, something like this has rarely happened in cycling history. In 1964, Jacques Anquetil (Giro and Tour) and his eternal rival Raymond Poulidor (Vuelta) achieved the triple for France, in 2008 Alberto Contador (Giro and Vuelta) and Carlos Sastre (Tour) did the same for Spain and in 2018 the British needed three men to do it: Chris Froome (Giro), Geraint Thomas (Tour) and Simon Yates (Vuelta). This demonstrates the exceptional position of Slovenia in our time.

Roglic and Tadej Pogacar had the Giro, Tour and Vuelta firmly under control, each in a different way. While the younger Slovenian opted for total dominance, taking the leader's jersey early on and not relinquishing it for almost the entire duration of the race, the older Roglic opted for energy-saving mode. Yes, he also took it early, during the heat battle on the fourth stage at Pico Villuercas. Two days later, however, he handed it in again and only recaptured it three days before the end of the tour - also with a mountain stage victory, this time on the Alto de Moncalvillo.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe: Defensive team tactics bring overall victory

Team boss Denk saw this as a rational approach: "We lack a bit of experience and, in one position or another, the manpower compared to other teams. That's why we were glad that we didn't have the red jersey for many days and were able to ride relatively defensively." Incidentally, Denk wanted to see the most critical situation for the red jersey company - apart from the stomach virus - in a more positive light.

His team caught a lot of criticism in the scene because it was not on the sixth stage, the Australian Ben O'Connor pulled away from a leading group with a lead of more than six minutes. "It was the plan that we wanted to hand over the jersey. But it took a lot of courage to give the group six minutes. Many might have felt more comfortable with three or four minutes. But I wasn't nervous. We saved a lot of energy," summarised Denk.

Plenty of room for outliers

The "no control" method also rubbed off on O'Connor's Team Decathlon, who did not do all they could to keep the red jersey on the Australian's shoulders. As a result, this Vuelta turned into a feast for breakaways. Nine times a stage winner came from an escape group. The Spanish wildcard team Kern Pharma took the cake with three stage wins.

Danny van der Tuuk, Polish-Dutch professional at Kern Pharma, attributed the success of his team-mates to precisely this: "We often ride in leading groups, but these leading groups don't make it to the finish. And so we don't get any results. At this Vuelta, you could see that Decathlon and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have much less control than, for example, the Jumbo-Visma team of recent years. So a breakaway group makes it to the finish more often." For the German-Austrian racing team, the Vuelta victory is a confirmation of the path they have taken.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe wants even more success in the future

The transformation from a team primarily focussed on the speedy world champion Peter Sagan to a tour team was even faster than Denk had hoped. "We parted ways in 2021. We've won two Grand Tours within three years. That's good. But the hunger for more is also there," he said. What he can take away from the Vuelta is that the team works; the helpers know what captain Roglic needs.

It was also motivating that the Slovenian made it clear from the start that he was fighting for victory. It was a different story at the Tour. "He gained 20 seconds on stage two in Bologna. That's when we realised: okay, it's going to be very difficult. Something like that is transferred to a team and you can only control that from the outside to a limited extent. At the Vuelta, however, the team was confident from day one that Primoz could win. The performances were accordingly," explains Denk. Making your ambitions clear at an early stage is not only a sign to the competition, but also a stimulus for the team internally. Two Slovenian racers are currently particularly good at this.

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Steep ramps, great heat

The Vuelta a Espana was the toughest of the three Grand Tours this season. A total of 59,934 metres in altitude had to be conquered; 53,103 metres in altitude at the Tour de Francewho defused for the Pogacar double Giro d'Italia demanded "only" 45,907 metres of elevation gain. In addition, the weather exacerbated the tour with temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius, especially in the first week.

"We tried to keep the riders as cool as possible with ice waistcoats, ice gels, ice water and chilled drinks," said Marc Reef from Team Visma | Lease a Bike, owned by last year's winner Sepp Kuss, describing the efforts. "But it's still difficult to cope with such conditions. You don't feel good on the bike at 40 degrees. Above all, you have to be careful not to overdo it. You pay bitterly for every effort you make too much," he said. According to his observations, this led to restraint, especially among the favourites. Felix Gall, helper of second-placed Ben O'Connor, noticed this first-hand. "It doesn't even happen consciously. In the heat, the body simply regulates its performance down," said the Austrian.

Denk: "Nothing is sustainable in hot weather above 40 degrees."

In the second week, he saw "a completely different race with more attacks and a faster pace". Some athletes, such as Kuss or the Briton Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), who had also started with ambitions for the overall classification, did not cope with the heat at all. Former ski jumper Roglic, on the other hand, proved to be a real iceman; he took advantage of what was probably the most strenuous stage ever on the Pico de Villuercas due to the combination of profile and temperatures to win the day and take the red jersey for the first time. His team boss Ralph Denk was critical of the conditions.

"I would say that was almost a bit too much of a good thing. I would argue in favour of either riding a bit more in the north or starting the Vuelta a bit later. Anyone who has raced in 40 degree temperatures knows how exhausting that can be." According to Denk, heat races should also be avoided as far as possible in terms of sustainability: "We needed 250 bottles a day. They first have to be filled and then distributed. That costs a lot of resources. After the stages, you need a mega cooling strategy to regenerate the overheated bodies. Everyone talks about sustainability in cycling. But nothing is sustainable in hot stages over 40 degrees."

Results of the Vuelta a Espana 2024