Vuelta a Espana: Magnus Cort wins stage 19 as Primoz Roglic retains healthy lead

Roglic leads the general classification by two minutes and 30 seconds with two days remaining

Denmark’s Magnus Cort claimed his third win in this year’s Vuelta a Espana as he produced a superb sprint finish to take stage 19.

EF Education-Nippo rider Cort, who also won stages six and 12, edged out breakaway companions Rui Oliveira of Portugal and American Quinn Simmons.

Primoz Roglic retained the leader’s red jersey before the final two days.

The riders face the 202.2km-long stage 20 on Saturday before the race concludes with a time trial on Sunday.

Cort was part of a seven-man group that worked superbly together in the last 20km of the hilly stage in Galicia before proving the strongest in the sprint finish.

Slovenia’s Roglic, who retook the lead on Wednesday, finished 18 seconds behind in the peloton to maintain his grip on the red jersey in pursuit of his third successive Vuelta title.

Jumbo-Visma’s Roglic, 31, leads by two minutes 30 seconds from Spain’s Enric Mas with Miguel Angel Lopez of Colombia a further 23 seconds adrift.

While Olympic time trial champion Roglic is the clear favourite, Saturday’s mountainous stage offers a final chance for his rivals to mount attacks.