Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) came through the final mountain stage through Los Gredos without facing any major difficulties and is now just 24 hours away from winning the Vuelta a España overall.

As has become the pattern in the final stages of the Vuelta, Logric's team did much of the work in the first two thirds of the very difficult, rain-soaked stage, with attacks by rivals (this time Astana, and Miguel Angel Lopez) causing the Jumbo-Visma riders to fall back.

However, the team's team was able to hold on.

However, Logric was able to isolate himself from them, while Astana and Movistar took advantage of the need to go into defensive mode and keep an eye on the breakaway Tadey Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).

In the final mountainous stage, Roglic kept his GC rivals firmly under control as they fought for the right to stand on the podium next to him, rather than attempting a final attack for the overall lead.

"Divide and conquer" had been Roglic's strategy ever since he took the overall lead of the Vuelta in the Pau time trial, and since the first mountain stage finish at Los Machucos in week two, Roglic has never attacked, either working with his rivals to gain time on them, or let his rivals attack and reap the benefits.

As a strategy, it was not particularly spectacular, but having gained a solid advantage in the time trial in Pau, Roglic did not need any other tactics than to play with a strong defensive hand, with the strong backing of Jumbo Visma's domestiques.

Even in unpredictable difficulties, such as when Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was isolated and caught at the back of a long breakaway on the Castilian plains, Roglic was able to benefit from his rivals' podium contention. In this stage, Astana effectively defended its lead in the last two hours of chasing as Jumbo Visma worked hard early on but was unable to keep control of the 40-man breakaway (as did all the teams) for nearly 220km.

In what was a near new record, and by no means a desirable final Grand Tour press conference for a GC winner, Roglic increased the number of questions from the usual three after each stage to four before leaving for the final trip to Madrid.

He did not say specifically which stage was the hardest, only that the last part of the race was more difficult and that "today was a really hard day. The closer you get to the end, the harder it gets."

For a former ski jumper who only started racing in 2013, standing as a Grand Tour winner six years later is an extraordinary feat, and Roglic recognizes that "a lot" has happened in that time to help him grow as a cyclist. "The most obvious was switching from skis to bicycles. Then I started riding bicycles, first as an amateur, then as a pro. And now I'm riding with the best in the world.

Roglic, who has always been famously difficult with the press, denied that the past three weeks had been lackluster. It feels good not to have any big mountain stages left," he said. But in any case, there is only one more day left, and I think that will make me smile more."

After revealing everything he wanted to reveal about the Vuelta a España, Roglic answered a final question about how he and newcomer Tom Dumoulin plan to fight Team Ineos in the future. He said, "You can't compare one team to another. But the most important thing for me is to be able to fight for the win in almost every race. Hopefully, I will fight even harder in the years to come."