Vuelta a Espana: Carapaz takes another win and Roglic cuts into Evenepoel's lead

Remco Evenepoel's lead at the Vuelta a Espana was cut on Saturday as reigning champion Primoz Roglic launched a late attack.

Roglic, who is hunting an unprecedented fourth consecutive Vuelta title, had been two minutes and 41 seconds behind Evenepoel heading into stage 14.

Yet with an attack up the final climb of Sierre de La Pandera, at the culmination of a 160-kilometre route, the Slovenian reduced the Belgian's advantage by almost a minute.

Eveneopel stays the favourite with seven stages remaining, but Roglic offered a timely reminder of his power heading into the final week.

It was not all doom and gloom for Evenepoel, who recovered to finish eighth and at least limit his losses.

"It wasn't my best day for sure, I didn't have the best legs, I couldn't accelerate when Roglic went," Evenepoel said.

"I'm still 1:49 ahead in GC, so nothing to really to panic about. I'll try to recover as much as possible and survive tomorrow."

Roglic came third, finishing behind two South Americans in the form of Miguel Angel Lopez and Richard Carapaz, who claimed his second stage win of this year's race.

The INEOS Grenadiers rider held on after being part of a 10-man breakaway, with his climbing prowess coming to the fore.

Carapaz the king of this mountain

Carapaz is the sixth rider to achieve a stage victory ending on La Pandera in La Vuelta, though the first from the Americas. The Ecuadorian is the second rider to have won two stages at this year's race, after Sam Bennett.

With five Grand Tour stage wins to his name, the 29-year-old is top of the charts among South American riders in that regard, too.

STAGE RESULT

1. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Greandiers) 4:09:27

CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS

General Classification

1. Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) 52:21:33

Points Classification

1. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) 267

King of the Mountains

1. Jay Vine (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 40