Primoš Roglic won the time trial in the Iturria Basque season opener on Monday, setting a unique record as the only Slovenian who has never lost a time trial in Spain.

Roglic, who took the leader's jersey in the Ituria season opener after defeating Remco Evenpoel by five seconds in Hondarribia, has competed in eight individual time trials in this country dating back to 2017, winning in all.

Four of those victories have come in races he currently leads, four of them at the Vuelta a España. This victory is a perfect start for him as he looks for his third win in Ituria, where he won in 2018 and 2021.

After the race, Roglic called his feat "crazy," adding that he hopes to continue his winning streak as long as possible.

"I want to keep going as long as I can," he said. It's crazy. But I've never lost a time trial here. But I've never lost a time trial here. [Today was not a classic time trial. It was very up and down, very technical. I like this kind of thing. It was short, I had good legs, and I enjoyed it. I was able to push hard

"I don't think I took any risks. I don't think I took any risks. Roglic added that he had driven the technical course several times before the race.

"In Paris-Nice there were too many corners and I was a bit slow. I wanted to drive more decisively in the corners. I didn't take any risks because the race is long. In the end it's a good result and I'm enjoying this moment."

Roglic opened a five-second gap on Evenpoel late in the course after passing the 3.15-km checkpoint at the top of Saint-Thermo. Not only did he take the Belgian's time, but he also gave his other GC rivals even more time.

The Ineos duo of Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas were 18 seconds behind along with Alexandre Vlasov, 2019 champion Ion Izaguirre was another 2 seconds behind, and David Gaudou, Enric Mas, Sergio Iguita and others were more than half a second behind.

"He's not the only one, is he?" [19 Logrich said of Evenpoel. 'He's not the only one. It's just beginning."

"It's a good start for us, but tomorrow is the longest stage and it's difficult. But tomorrow is the longest stage and it's difficult. We'll take it one day at a time and see how far we can go."