Divide and conquer. First in Los Machucos, then in Acebo, and now in La Cubilla. In the mountainous third stage of the Vuelta a España, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) showed the strength of his GC rivals by riding defensively and extending his lead.

In Los Machucos, Roglic and Tadey Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) pulled away from Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Movistar's Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana, while in Acebo Roglic and Valverde moved ahead.

On La Cubilla, the final summit finish before the rest day on the second day of the Vuelta, Roglic, Lopez, and Pogacar managed to drop Valverde by a slim 21-second margin. The rivals were different each time, but each time Roglic made gains while conserving his energy.

Roglic explained that when Lopez attacked and Pogacar followed him, he briefly fell behind, but again went for the long haul with Valverde in second place overall as his main objective.

"It was a hard day, with a long climb at the end. Of course, Miguel Angel Lopez's attack was really strong, but I was watching Valverde."

The power of Roglic, who managed to close the gap on two younger and less dangerous rivals, is impressive and certainly bodes well for the Slovenian in the third (and final) week of the Vuelta.

Asked if he was afraid of struggling in the third week, Roglic simply said, "No."

"It's going really well so far, and I remember last year at the Tour we did okay in the third week. I remember in last year's Tour we did okay in the third week, and I remember we did okay in the third week.

Roglic, who is traditionally quiet in press conferences and limits the number of questions to three, was asked by one Spanish journalist why he seemed so serious and not happy about his first Grand Tour victory at the Vuelta a España.

"I'm very happy," replied Roglic. 'I'm always a little tired when I talk to you guys after a stage.'

"I'm enjoying the race very much, but first I need to enjoy the rest day and focus on getting a good result in the third week."

Jumbo-Visma maintained a steady pace at the front of the pack on the final mountain stage in northern Spain for leader Roglic, with five riders maintaining a high rhythm on the lower half of the climb to La Cubilla.

The team support was only lost when Lopez attacked, and until then Roglic was able to handle the rest of the climb on his own.

Roglic was also asked by the Vuelta website if Jumbo-Visma could be the new Team Ineos.

"I hope we can win as much as they did because they have won a lot of stage races," replied Roglic.

If they make it all the way to Madrid, of course they will win their first Grand Tour like Chris Froome did at the Vuelta a España. But there are still five days to go, and even if the Slovenian and his team have the race firmly under control, the attacks of riders like Lopez show that they will be tested at every corner.