Roglic pipped his Soudal Quick-Step rival to the line in the first instalment of a personal battle between the pair that could continue long into the Giro d’Italia next May.
Having won three successive sprints en route to overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico, the advantage was always in Roglic’s favour as the finish line approached and the Jumbo-Visma star duly obliged with a short but successful kick.
Evenepoel’s pursuit could only solidify second place in the final metres of the 164.6-kilometre stage, with Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) finishing third ahead of Maxime van Gils (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo).
Four classified climbs could not prevent the possibility of a large peloton contesting the uphill finish, and that proved to be the case once the four-minute breakaway of Rune Herregodts (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma), Oscar Onley (Team DSM), Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) and Alessandro De Marchi (Team Jayco Alula) had been whittled down.
By then, Jumbo-Visma began to take control from Alpecin-Deceuninck and Cofidis, and a crash with six kilometres to go only aided their cause with Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ), Kristian Sbaragli (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Dario Cataldo (Trek-Segafredo) among those left behind.
Yates was able to remount his bike and complete the stage, though the 2021 Volta winner now sits more than 10 minutes behinds Roglic, who made his move inside the final 200 metres following some solid work from teammate Koen Bouwman.
“You always wish the best, but the thing is that then you need to do it,” Roglic said after the race. “The guys did a great job and I had enough with the legs again.”
The winner’s time bonus now leaves the Slovenian four seconds ahead of Evenepoel in the overall standings, though the Belgian found some positives to take with him into Stage 2.
“I had the legs to go, so why not,” Evenepoel said. “It’s the first time I sprinted against Primoz.
“We had quite equal speed, but I think I had to come from quite far. But after the race, it’s always easy to find some excuses. Maybe if I was in his wheel, I could have won.”
Stage 2 will see the peloton ride 165.5km from Mataro to Vallter, and SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand will provide all the action from 1:15am (AEDT) on Wednesday, March 22.
