"A victory is a victory" - Despite big mistake, Primoz Roglic takes time on Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel at Itzulia time-trial

Primoz Roglic has beaten all the favorites in the opening time trial of the Itzulia Basque Country 2024. The Slovenian, after a modest Paris-Nice, has shown all his potential being better than Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Juan Ayuso and the rest of the favorites in Irún.

After the test he commented in Eurosport that the sensations had been very good: "It was fantastic, it's great to be here again, the legs went well, I felt strong, I made a mistake at the end at the finish line, but I was able to correct it and it seems to be enough for now."

Nevertheless, he took 11 seconds on Remco Evenepoel - who also crashed at the start of the race - and 15 on Jonas Vingegaard. Although it is not a race-winning gap, it is enough to take time on the opening day and above all give a boost of confidence that was unexpected.

Roglic missed the final corner, losing critical seconds, which should nevertheless not be enough to stop him from winning the opening stage.

"I've done too much recon turning to the right so I turned, but then I realized that the finish was already there and that I had made a mistake, so I had to turn around to get into the finish," he explained. 

Finally, he made it clear that there is a lot of hardness ahead in the Basque Country and that such a result after his Paris-Nice is positive:

"Paris-Nice didn't go the way I wanted, here is another race, today was the easiest day of the whole Itzulia, the truth is that if you can win something, a victory is a victory, on the other hand there is a lot of mountain left."