Roglic's Jumbo Visma team mate Sepp Kuss took the overall leader's red jersey after Lenny Martinez of Groupama-FDJ cracked near the finish of the 165km stage from Denia.
The peloton reeled in four breakaway riders at the start of the brutal final climb and battle commenced amongst the general classification contenders with Jumbo Visma again dominant.
American Kuss was the first to attack before Belgium's Evenepoel (Soudal Quick Step) took it on over the summit on the downhill race to the finish line.
Evenepoel was unable to hold off three-time Vuelta winner Roglic in the final sprint to the line but looked strong as he came home in second place. Spain's Juan Ayuso was third. Co-favourite Jonas Vingegaard, (Jumbo Visma) was fifth with Kuss seventh.
"You always hope for the best. The guys did a really amazing job, controlling the really strong breakaway. Then we had no option in the end," Giro d'Italia winner Roglic said.
"In the sprint it's always a bit of a gamble but I had the legs and I could do it. At least three (Jumbo-Visma leaders) now, no? But maybe there's still someone coming!"
With Martinez more than a minute behind at Saturday's finish, Kuss now leads the standings by 43 seconds from Spain's Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and by exactly one minute from Martinez.
Evenepoel, Roglic and Vingegaard are well-placed in sixth, seventh and eighth places, around two and a half minutes behind Kuss but with two weeks of racing still to go.Â
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