Slovenian cycling ace Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) has reclaimed the Vuelta a Espana's red jersey from Australia's Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R) with just two more stages to go to the end of the race. He put one minute and 54 seconds into his rival after winning stage 19.

The summit finish suited the Slovenian well as the 34-year-old exploded from his rivals and soloed to the finish line, winning with a gap of 46 seconds between himself and France's rider David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Mattias Skjelmose of Denmark (Lidl-Trek), who were second and third, respectively.

This marks the second time the Slovenian won the Alto de Moncalvillo hilly stage after finishing first in stage 8 of the 2020 Vuelta.

"I had some really nice memories from this climb. It didn't disappoint me again - beautiful," Roglič said after the the finish.

He told the organisers he had not gone after the win initially. "I said I don't need the stage but I will not say their names but some guys decided we don't listen to you anyway, we pull. We have nothing else to do," he said. "I had to make a call and I say, OK, we have to all be on the same side, then we go for it."

There are two more stages left and he knows he is not yet done. "I mean, we say all the time 'the Queen stage to come', it's the last one tomorrow, the big one, it is definitely super hard, and then still we don't do the normal laps in Madrid - it's again a decisive day for the GC, a time trial."

However, during the past two weeks, he has been set on reclaiming the red jersey to secure his fourth Vuelta title. Roglič won the Spanish Grand Tour in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and if he is victorious again this year, he will join Spain's Roberto Heras in winning a record our titles. The race ends with a time trial on 8 September.