Embed from Getty ImagesThe Vuelta is firmly the third grand tour. Few target it at the start of the season, even those that elect to ride rarely do route reconds. In a sport where so much is measured and calculated, the Vuelta is the odd one out among grand tours with its maana vibe. This is what makes it so good, the grand tour version of Snakes and Ladders after two versions of Monopoly in May and July.Ben OConnor took time early in the race but even while five minutes behind Primo Rogli seemed to ride his own race. If there was a defining moment then the Puerto de Ancares saw him drop the field and more than halve OConnors lead but the story was probably more one of gradual pressure with Rogli slowly cracking OConnor and keeping the rest at bay.Primo Rogli broke his spine in the Tour de France, although it turned out to be a transverse process fracture, so he was left with traumatic muscle pain but able to train in the build-up. His start in the Vuelta was almost last minute announcement and he came in form unknown.UAE threatened to dominate and had a promising start with Brandon McNulty winning the time trial in Lisbon. Joo Almeida would be the only UAE rider to leave but illness seemed to derail the GC bids of several team mates with Adam Yates and Marc Soler taking consolatory stage wins and Jay Vine the mountains jersey and they won the team prize. Not what management would have signed for but they fared better than most.Almeida had finished fourth in the Tour and was going to be the big rival but Covid spoilt his plans. Pro cycling has its pre and post Covid eras. To labour the obvious point this is not the public health crisis of 2020 but the virus remains contagious, see how it spreads in a peloton and the wider population alike even in summer. Crucially for sport its virulent enough to dampen or even destroy athletic performances. The combination means more ruined results and DNFs than before and weve probably got to get used to this; especially smaller teams compelled to placing their bets on one rider in one race.Covid though wasnt the only culprit the Vuelta was snakes and ladders there were a lot more serpents than steps. Among the others to leave the race, Antonio Tiberi got off to a strong start but was out because of the wilting heat in the opening days and if Spain hot in August isnt a newsline it was still roasting beyond what weve had this year. Giulio Ciccone had a course that suited but quit after a freak crash after a mob deer ran across the road. Thymen Arensman, Lennert Van Eeetvelt and Cian Uijtdebroeks were among more GC contenders to leave too.The chart shows the GC standings relative to Primo Rogli across the 21 stages. Its the top-10 for the race and deliberately so as it shows just how few riders apart from Rogli were able to take time, Richard Carapazs gains to Granada just reversed the losses from earlier in the week.Roglics red line on the chart is just ahead of the rest from the Lisbon opener but as we see the defining move happened on Stage 6. It was a promo day for French retail with a start inside a Carrefour supermarket and a finish to delight Decathlon. It put the village of Yunquera on the map too and Ben OConnor in red after he took over six minutes on the peloton. There was a tactical stand-off with teams hoping others would chase; while Red Bull had Florian Lipowitz in the move up the road. But OConnor wasnt gifted the win nor time, he grabbed it and once the teams got going they found the Perth powerhouse unstoppable. It put him almost five minutes ahead on GC.Exclude Tadej Pogaar and Jonas Vingegaard and the margins in grand tours can be tight among the rest so OConnor was sitting on a plump red cushion, LEquipe called it a mattress although thats more down to French than metaphors. Either way Roglis winning way has been matching his rivals in the mountains until late into the final kilometre where he surges for the stage win and time bonus. Only now instead of sniping at rivals suddenly he to go and reclaim five minutes.Embed from Getty ImagesA snarky write-up could claim Rogli kindly loaned out the race lead to OConnor. Certainly Rogli could have given the lead away. But not to OConnor, and not five minutes. But the kernel of truth that makes sarcasm work is that this did have the effect of recruiting Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale to the GC cause in a race that was proving hard to contain.OConnors challenge became apparent at the next summit finish where he lost 46 seconds to Rogli on the line, and a further ten because the Slovenian won the stage and its time bonus. Almost a minute in the space of two kilometres meant his red cushion was ripped, and part of its stuffing blowing around the Sierra de Cazorla.OConnor kept things together on the stage in the Sierra Nevada where the long, Alpine-style climbs suited. This day saw Adam Yates win the stage and Richard Carapaz reclaim two minutes on GC, the ladder for both to climb back the GC, even if Yates would soon find a snake to poison his overall bid for good.Embed from Getty ImagesOConnor was losing seconds here and there with time bonuses and gaps but the Puerto de Ancares was arguably the decisive stage for the GC. Over ten minutes after Michael Woods had won from the breakaway Rogli was the first of the GC contenders with 30 seconds on Mikel Landa and getting on for two minutes on OConnor. On the chart above you can see everyones lines bending downwards, this was the day Rogli feathered his own nest at the expense of the rest.Embed from Getty ImagesTwo days later at the Cuitu Negru summit finish Enric Mas and Rogli finished together but Rogli got a 20 second time penalty. You can download the rulebook for yourself and read Rule 2.12.007-4.7 that pacing behind a team car is never allowed; you can watch racing and see it is often tolerated. The explanation here is surely that Red Bull messed up twice, the bike change was an elective decision rather than a mishap, so no blind eye to mend a mishap; but importantly the commissaires were giving instructions to the convoy at the time which the team car ignored (or charitably didnt hear on the radio). As time penalties go in the same rulebook the team got the lightest levy and given the final result, probably no consequence.The next day to the Lagos de Covadonga saw OConnor valiant but his lead down to just five seconds, less a cushion and just the cover and threadbare too. With hindsight the 20 second penalty for Rogli just kept OConnor doing the media duties, including having to go back up the climb again by car after he rode away at the foggy finish instead of going to the podium.Embed from Getty ImagesStage 19 and the Alto de Moncalvillo saw the coup de grace delivered. Rogli won the stage, took back the red jersey and left the other GC contenders scattered over the mountain. OConnor lost close to two minutes but was able to hold onto second place.The Picn Blanco summit finish topped a tough stage but by now it just cemented the hierarchy. Rumours, since founded, spread that illness struck the Red Bull teambut Rogli was spared, twice over as he seemed fine and nobody tried to test him either. The final time trial widened the gaps for most but allowed Mattias Skjelmose climb to fifth, passing David Gaudu.The VerdictAfter one of the top pre-race picks left the race, the big contender whod won it three times already collected a fourth victory. This doesnt tell the full story and much of this race belonged to Ben OConnor thanks to his winning raid in the first week and his defence added breadth to the race.Rogli applied pressure each day and if OConnor was valiant, he was too brittle on the double-digit gradients. But so were all the others who fell away, Rogli didnt just take time back from OConnor, he regularly distanced the rest. OConnors big gain added a thrill and suspense to the race, at first even whether he go all the way in red? Alas it soon looked like he wouldnt but there was more too watch and count throughout.Weeks after crashing out of the Tour Rogli was back in red. He collects his fourth win in the Vuelta, the race he started for the first time in 2019 when he was just shy of being 30 years old but arguably triumphing each time after a setback before in the Giro or Tour so continuity again. The difference here was changing teams on the back of last years Vuelta, whether the leadership issues or the financial woes behind the scenes courtesy of Jumbo. Red Bull looked like novices in moments in with the likes of impressive debutant Lipowitz they literally were but potent elsewhere, notably with Aleksandr Vlasov and Dani Martinez applying themselves at times.A career high for OConnor? Surely as even if he keeps improving, the rate suggests topping second place in a grand tour is a tall order for a durable diesel. Ideally we should see this result alongside his Giro where he was fourth, results he and his team would sign for in January with both hands as the French saying goes.Enric Mas was third, his fourth time podium but of course never the top step. Its an excellent result for Mas and Movistar and this time he was on the attack, even out-sprinting Rogli on some climbs.Richard Carapaz gets the chocolate medal of fourth place and a result his team might be happier about than him as he was back to the GC rider role his team had hired him for rather than picking off stages, as good as stage wins are this was a reset, a prod out of the comfort zone.Mattias Skjelmose climbed up to fifth on the last day and was the odd one out as the rider who actually targetted the Vuelta since the winter, a rarity among riders who usually take to the start having tried a bigger goal earlier in the year. The Dane won the white jersey in a good competition and is improving, almost this time two years ago he caught the eye in the Tour of Luxembourg.David Gaudu in sixth is a sign of consistency again but after so many other top-10 candidates were out isnt a huge result compared to his fourth in the Tour but its something he can rebuild from. Florian Lipowitz finishes seventh in a breakout season and having worked for Rogli at times.So far, so overall. Half the stages went to breakaways with wins from riders not among the overall contenders, a lot compared to the Giro and Tour. The only frustration here was Vuelta saw a degree of separation between the GC contenders and the breakaways, Pavel Sivakov ended up in the top-10 overall because of his moves but only just, it would have been fun to see more riders going up and down the GC via breakaways. The big winners from the breakaways were Kern Pharma, with two stages for Pablo Castrillo and a third with Ukro Berrade marking a remarkable month for los farmacuticos and their Finisher range of energy products.Kaden Groves proved the best sprinter and alas the points competition took a knock when Wout van Aert crashed out on Stage 16. Called Grooves by Spanish TV, hes certainly likely to stay in the Vueltas groove given team mates Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel but it means hes got a squad drilled at leadouts and hes picking up wins that other sprinters crave.Embed from Getty ImagesAmong the other winners, Pavel Bittner seized his chance in the sprint. He says hes not really a sprinter but still, he was winning bunch sprints. For a mental exercise, try ranking DSM Firmenichs sprinters and see where you put Fabio Jakobsen among them: its just not been his season so far. Also no revelation, but a delivery as Stefan Kng took a satisfying win, aggressive during the road stages he finally won his first grand tour stage in the Madrid time trial.Structurally the course design was interesting with 60,000 metres of vertical gain. The Giro and Tour have had 55km in recent years, comparable but only as a headline number. Because they have plenty of flat stages and then giant days in the mountains. This Vuelta by contrast was hilly to mountainous almost every day, 3,000m in a day could be a summit finish or a sprint stage of sorts. Its a template for the other races were consecutive sprint finishes get decried as boring. We could say the Vuelta is a laboratory for other races but its something Tour boss Christian Prudhomme has said years ago already. We can see the influence on other races, even the Giro is going for shorter stages and fewer sprints.Was the Vuelta the best grand tour of the year? Luckily we rarely have to chose between them as theyre spaced apart and each can be enjoyed. The Giros fight for pink quickly turned into a foregone conclusion but the stage contests were often lively. The Tour also turned into the Pogaar show, but only later into the race and many days had high quality racing. The Vuelta was lively, especially after the first week but if wasnt for OConnor the Vueltas red jersey contest could have been another Slovenian certainty too as Rogli never had another challenger. Just like the other grand tours this year the best sport came from the breakaway with the racing to get in it and the contest to win from it.Roglis coach Marc Lamberts tells Belgian newspaper HLN his palmars is only missing two big races: Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France so we can imagine what he is doing next summer. But if these dont work out then dont be surprised if he makes an announcement in mid-August again.The post Vuelta a Espaa Review first appeared on The Inner Ring.