Primoz Roglic won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España on Tuesday to become the fourth Jumbo-Visma rider to hold the red leader’s jersey in as many stages.

Robert Gesink led the general classification after stage 1, Mike Teunissen led after Stage 2, Edoardo Affini took over after Stage 3 and then Roglic got to wear the leader’s jersey after Stage 4, with teammate Durangoan Sepp Kuss in second place just 13 seconds behind the team’s leader.

After Stages 5 and 6, however, Team Jumbo Visma is now chasing Remco Evenepoel of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl who has a 21-second lead overall, and leads Roglic, in fourth, by 1:01.

On Wednesday, a large breakaway group took off and helped Marc Soler of UAE Team Emirates win the stage and Rudy Molard of Groupama FDJ grab the leader’s jersey while a pack of five Jumbo-Visma riders, including Kuss and Roglic, finished 5:09 back.

“Congratulations to them,” Gesink said. “They rode away with a big group. There was a lot of anticipation because it took 80 kilometers before a good group got away. I think everyone knew what was at stake today. The breakaway group established a comfortable lead and battled for the race win and the lead in the overall classification. We controlled the race. In this regard, our group is more than capable. We can save energy in the coming days because we no longer have the leader’s jersey. Even though we have to stay sharp to control the classification.”

Roglic slid to fifth in the general classification after stage 5, trailing Molard by 4:09, but he was able to move into fourth on Thursday with a fifth-place finish on Pico Jano. Jay Vine of Alpecin-Deceuninck won the stage.

It was the first stage with an uphill finish, and the peloton rode up the Pico Jano in the pouring rain and dense fog.

“I didn't have the legs to go with the best in that stage,” Roglic said, referring to the moment Evenepoel and Enric Mas rode away. “I decided to give everything until the finish line. I did a lot of the work in the pursuit. Although we lost some time today, Madrid is still far away. Hopefully we can reclaim some time in the coming days. The competition is strong. We were aware of this going into this stage. I feel good, and I am ready to fight. I am looking forward to the coming days.”

Kuss finished 19th on Thursday and is currently 14th in the GC standings, 2:09 behind Evenepoel.