"Being lighter doesn't mean you're a better cyclist" - Thijs Zonneveld believes Primoz Roglic has become too skinny for his own good
Cycling
Of the big four, it seems that it is Primoz Roglic who has drawn the shortest match in the first week of Tour de France. The Slovenian four-time Grand tour winner made a much discussed move from Visma | Lease a Bike to Bora - hansgrohe (now Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) last winter and half a year later, it seems like some things still need to click.
It's not the first time in 2024 that doubts about Roglic's level arise. Journalist Thijs Zonneveld already noticed things were slightly different at Critérium du Dauphiné. Roglic managed to win the race only with a great effort after not being able to follow Matteo Jorgenson on the final stage. "We talked about Roglic being so sharp, so thin, in the Dauphiné," Zonneveld says in his In het Wiel podcast.
Within his old team Team Visma | Lease a Bike, that will not have come as a surprise. "I also understood afterwards that at Visma they had to protect Roglic from losing another kilo. That they said: we are not going to do that. You have to keep eating this and that to maintain this weight. Roglic often wanted to lose a kilo."
At BORA-hansgrohe they might have done it differently. "It seems that they did succeed at Bora. And maybe he's even lighter. But that doesn't mean you're a better cyclist. In the past, we all thought that everything would be fine if you just became lighter, but today's cycling also requires explosiveness. You have to have that in you. I can actually see that going wrong quickly with Roglic. I think it's a risk."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
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