Primoz Roglic claimed an impressive victory in stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana to finally jump ahead of Ben O’Connor in the general classification.

Three-time Vuelta champion Roglic started the day five seconds behind the Australian but now leads by 1min 54secs.

Roglic’s team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe led for most of the stage and the Slovenian pulled ahead with just under 5km to go before closing out a composed ride.

O’Connor took the overall lead from Roglic in stage six and had led after every stage until Friday, but his advantage had been significantly reduced in recent stages.

Spanish rider Enrique Mas remains third in the general classification and – after slipping to fourth in the stage having earlier been second – is now 2min 20secs behind Roglic.

Saturday’s stage 20 is the penultimate stage of the Vuelta, a mountainous 172km ride from Villarcayo to Picon Blanco.

The race finishes with an individual time trial on Sunday.