CyclistThe winners and losers of the first week of the Vuelta a Espaa 2024The 2024 Vuelta is in full swing. After an opening week through Portugal and southern Spain, the riders will continue the chaos into Galicia for week two.Ben OConnor currently wears the leaders maillot rojo with a lead of 3m53sec to Primo Rogli and 4m32sec to Richard Carapaz in third. In the other classifications, Wout van Aert wears the green jersey, Florian Lipowitz is in white and Adam Yates wears the polka dot jersey. Four riders wore the red jersey during the opening week and we had seven different stage winners.Lets take a check on who the winners and losers are after the first week.Winner: Ben OConnorUnipublic/Sprint Cycling AgencyStage winner from the breakaway on Stage 6, Ben OConnor has become a key protagonist at this Vuelta a Espaa. Already a Grand Tour leader for his Decathlon-AG2R squad, the Australian has a proven track record in Grand Tours with a fourth place at the Tour de France as well as at the Giro dItalia earlier this year.The man from Perth has completed a trilogy of Grand Tour stage wins after a Giro win in 2020 and a Tour victory in 2021. Now with a Vuelta stage under his belt, he has become the 111th rider to win stages at all three Grand Tours. In his final big tour for the French team, OConnor is looking to leave the team on a high note. Given that this is the first time Decathlon have led the Vuelta in their three-decade-long history, this is a huge leap forward for the team.With this impressive ride, OConnor has taken the overall lead by quite some margin. While Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and UAE Team Emirates played with fire in the chasing peloton, OConnor capitalised on the confusion to extend his lead to a comfortable gap.Will the risk pay off for OConnor and Decathlon-AG2R? How long can he stay in the hunt for the red jersey? With a lead of 3m53sec, hes looking to emulate the feat of Sepp Kuss last year and become a breakaway Grand Tour winner.Winner: Second chancesUnipublic/Sprint Cycling AgencyThe first week of the Vuelta has been all about second chances.After a weak opening to the race, Ben OConnor scored a stage win from the breakaway and a big buffer in the red jersey standings. Later in the race, Richard Carapaz, David Gaudu and Adam Yates all ventured in the break on Stage 9 with the goal of gaining back time in the GC standings. This was mostly successful, at least for Carapaz and Yates. After Almeida dropped out of the race, Yatess breakaway successes threw him back into the GC fight. For Carapaz, hes now in with a real shot of making the podium. These riders are all great GC riders in their own right, with a history of making the top five at three-week races. Theyve received a lifeline here to hunt GC a second chance to get onto the final podium.Weve missed GC snakes and ladders in recent Grand Tours. Its good to see it back alive and kicking. This proves that you can still hang around in the GC standings even if you have a couple of off-days along the way. It has also made for some unpredictable and hectic racing. Related Posts The 8 young riders to watch at the Vuelta a Espaa The climbs that will decide the Vuelta a Espaa 2024 Vuelta a Espaa 2024: Route, start list, how to watch and all you need to know Tour of Britain 2024: Route, start list, how to watch and all you need to know Winner: Pavel BittnerUnipublic/Sprint Cycling AgencyCzech fastman Pavel Bittner came into the Vuelta on scorching form. He claimed stages at the Vuelta a Burgos and was right in the thick of it in his home race, the Czech Tour.However, at the Vuelta, Bittner took a huge step up. After some strong top ten performances on Stages 2 and 3, Bittner was knocking at the door for a big result. In a bike throw on Stage 5, the DSM-Firmenich-PostNL sprinter edged out Wout van Aert to stage glory. In dethroning Van Aert, Bittner has made quite the name for himself. Just 21-years-old, the young sprinter has more opportunities to come in the Vuelta a Espaa. This win also comes at a crucial time for DSM as they hang onto their UCI WorldTour license by the skin of their teeth.Winner: Young climbersUnipublic/Sprint Cycling AgencyThe Vuelta is often a playground for young riders looking to make a name for themselves in the Grand Tour cycle. This Vuelta has followed this trend with some promising rides so far.Almost a stage winner atop the Pico Villeurcas, Lennart van Eetvelt was evidently frustrated with his close call on Stage 4. He raised his arms a little too early, but later translated this into a ferocious bar slam of annoyance. Lotto-Dtsnys Van Eetvelt has made his ambitions of a top ten clear. Now in a position to claim the white jersey, the UAE Tour winner is a viable candidate for white..With a strong ride on the same stage, Matthew Riccitello of Israel-Premier Tech has demonstrated that he is on impressive form. The Arizona-born rider was among the top climbers on Stage 4 and managed to stay within the leading group for the tough ascent of Pico Villeurcas. However, the most consistent youngster in the GC standings has been Florian Lipowitz. The German sits in sixth place and now leads the white jersey standings.Winner (kind of): Primo RogliUnipublic/Sprint Cycling AgencyThe inclusion of Primo Rogli in the winners section may raise some eyebrows.His team has failed to control the race, throwing the GC standings into a frenzy with breakaway riders. Rogli was almost dropped by the young Lipowitz on Stage 9 while Red Bull-Bora-Hangrohe gambled with the red jersey and gave the lead to OConnor. Rogli also had to put out a big Enric Mas-shaped fire on Stage 9 when the Spaniard attacked on the final climb. Its been a week of typical Rogli highs and lows, lets say that.We cant beat him up though. Hes won two stages already and currently sits as the best of the rest behind OConnor. Roglis advantage over Carapaz is 39 seconds and Mas sits 42 seconds at bay. At this point of the race, Rogli has shown signs of being the most likely winner of this Vuelta thats if OConnors advantage melts away.After being in the shadow of Pogaar and Vingegaard, Roglis time to win a Grand Tour might have returned once again.Loser: JooAlmeidaMany picked JooAlmeida out as a GC favourite. 75% of us here at Cyclist picked Almeida for red before the race. In a Vuelta that started in his home nation, Almeida was a candidate for victory after having remained just a handful of seconds behind Rogli in the GC after seven stages.The tables turned on Stage 8 when Almeida was spotted at the rear end of the peloton in deep trouble. At the end of the stage, he lost five minutes and after the stage it soon emerged that he had contracted Covid and has now pulled out of the Vuelta.The Emirati team now need to figure out a new strategy in the race. With Yates winning the following stage and re-entering top ten, perhaps this has been resolved. Its likely that the teams brute force will now be used to hunt more stages and claw back time in the GC.Loser: ThermometersUnipublic/Sprint Cycling AgencyWho knew holding a bike race in southern Spain in August would be so hot?The temperatures at the Vuelta have hit 40C, with thermometers firmly ticking around the mid-30s during the opening week. In post-race interviews, riders have complained about the heat and its consequences on the race. We have become accustomed to ice jackets, cool-down bidons and even firefighters spraying their hoses on the road.The heat has characterised this first week, and not in a good way. Antonio Tiberi had to abandon the race due to heat stroke during Stage 9s scorcher to Granada. In doing so, Tiberi ceded the white jersey to Florian Lipowitz and dropped out of the top ten of the GC standings.Why dont we swap the dates of the Giro and the Vuelta?Loser: Lidl-TrekLidl-Trek/Getty ImagesPerhaps Im picking on Lidl-Trek, but I have been incredibly underwhelmed by the American team. In a week when a stage began inside a supermarket, that has been the biggest talking point for the Lidl-Trek riders.Mattias Skjelmose sits outside the top ten and Giulio Ciccone hasnt featured and has now abandoned. Patrick Konrad and Carlos Verona havent been too visible while Tao Geoghegan Hart has had a poor start to say the least. The British rider spoke before the race of being able to compete at the Vuelta. In reality, he is over one hour behind in the GC.Apart from Mathias Vacek, the Lidl-Trek boys have been fairly incognito at the Vuelta so far. As the team with one of the biggest budgets, I expected more, especially with the strength in depth of their roster.Loser: Ineos GrenadiersUnipublic/Cxcling/Toni BaixauliIt feels all too familiar to be lamenting Ineos Grenadiers performance at a Grand Tour. Here we are again. The British superteam have missed that je ne sais quoi at the Vuelta. Heck, they have barely been on camera during the race.Carlos Rodrguez has been fairly anonymous so far. He is not able to stick with the front group of climbers, but hasnt dropped any big heaps of time yet. Maybe the best is yet to come for the 23-year-old.Ineoss back-up GC rider Thymen Arensman has been off the mark too. After Stage 7, he was checked out for possible heatstroke following the blisteringly hot stage to Cordoba. His losses in the GC now sit at just under one hour.The European time-trial champion Josh Tarling has also pulled out of the race after a crash on Stage 9. In his first Grand Tour Tarling failed to win the opening time-trial in Lisbon. After the busy Olympic period, Tarling missed the potential many saw of him in his debut Vuelta, though wouldve been better suited to the longer final TT. In another big blow, Laurens De Plus has also abandoned. Related Posts The 8 young riders to watch at the Vuelta a Espaa The climbs that will decide the Vuelta a Espaa 2024 Vuelta a Espaa 2024: Route, start list, how to watch and all you need to know Tour of Britain 2024: Route, start list, how to watch and all you need to know The post The winners and losers of the first week of the Vuelta a Espaa 2024 appeared first on Cyclist.