Primoz Roglic snatched a dramatic victory at Tirreno-Adriatico on Tuesday as he pipped Adam Yates to the general classification title by one second.

Yates went into stage seven's individual time trial with a 25-second lead over the Slovenian but knew holding the Team Jumbo-Visma rider at bay would be tough given his time-trialling ability.

Roglic was ahead of Yates on the 10.1-kilometre route and stopped the clock in 11 minutes and 36 seconds, setting his rival a target of just over 12 minutes to secure the title.

However, Yates had already lost 22 seconds of his advantage getting to the final straight and although he could see the line the time continued to eke away.

The Briton crossed the line in 12 minutes and two seconds, meaning Roglic took the general classification victory by a solitary second.

It the former ski jumper's third win of the 2019 season and sets him up well for the upcoming grand tours.

"It was unbelieveably close," said Roglic. "I don’t know [where I made up the time]. I was lucky in the end.

"I tried to make a difference and really go for it and I really pushed until the finish line.

"I was confident but I can only control myself and I just wanted to give 110 per cent out of me and then we would see what it would be at the end."

For Yates the disappointment was clear to see, particularly having led since stage two, but his efforts were just not enough to claim what would have been a memorable win.

Belgian Victor Campenaerts won the final stage in a superb time of 11 minutes and 23 seconds, with Tom Dumoulin best placed of the GC riders in seventh.

Dumoulin had to settle for fourth overall, though, with Jakob Fuglsang – winner of stage five – pipping him to a podium place.

 

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1: Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) 25:28:00  
2: Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) +0:00:01  
3: Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) +0:00:30  
4: Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) +0:01:25  
5: Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +0:02:32