BARCELONA – Reigning Vuelta a Espana champion Primoz Roglic regained his overall lead with an impressive showing in the mountains in Thursday's sixth stage although he missed out on victory to Magnus Cort.
Danish rider Cort led with 1.5km to go and held off a late chase from Roglic.
The Slovenian came second and crossed the line right behind Cort in three hours 30 minutes 33 seconds in the 158km ride from Requena to Alto de la Montana de Cullera.
Jumbo-Visma rider Roglic now has a 25-second lead over Spaniard Enric Mas and a 36-second advantage over Miguel Angel Lopez of Movistar in the general classification.
Movistar's Alejandro Valverde, the 2009 Vuelta champion, is fourth while Giro d'Italia champion Egan Bernal of Ineos Grenadiers is fifth, both 41 seconds behind.
Kenny Elissonde only lasted one day in the red jersey after taking the lead on Wednesday following a mass crash which badly affected previous leader Rein Taaramae as the Frenchman finished in 67th on the day, four minutes 30 seconds down, slipping down to 34th place overall.
The Vuelta returns to the mountains for Friday's punishing stage seven, a 152km ride from Gandia to Balcon de Alicante featuring six categorised climbs, including one at the start, and a summit finish.
Reuters