"Every time when he came into the bus, you saw him suffering a lot" - Jumbo-Visma explain Primoz Roglic's abandon

Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk left the Tour de France before the final rest day of the race leaving Jumbo-Visma down to six riders. Primoz Roglic's last days in the race were detailed by the team.

Ahead of the rest day, Jumbo-Visma DS Frans Maassen told Eurosport that “I think Primoz is not feeling happy about the decision, and also the team. It’s difficult, but we had a good talk on the bus and the morale was high," he addmited. “Last year, we were only for riders and we were still one of the best teams so we have confidence we can still go on high level and yeah, we are motivated for today.”

Maassen revealed that Roglic initially downplayed the gravity of his injuries, supported by his ride into third place at Planche des Belles Filles two days later. He originally crashed on stage five, dislocating a shoulder and loosing around two minutes to the competition. “Because every time when he came into the bus, you saw him suffering a lot and that was not nice to see a big champion like that entering the bus after the stage," he said. 

“And also yesterday [stage 14] in the start, you saw Primoz was dropped in a group, and I thought he was maybe taking a bit easy. But he told me afterwards that he was really dropped and not feeling great and all day suffering and suffering a lot," he detailed. Roglic over the second week saw his form deteriorate, after playing a crucial role for the team at the Col du Télégraphe and Galibier on stage 11 which saw Jonas Vingegaard jump into the race lead.

The Slovenian remained in the race, as the team was now in the lead and he kept enough form to be supportive. However the last few days saw his power on the bike drop, and with high ambitions still for the rest of the season and not much help possible to give, he abandoned the race before the start of stage 15 to recover for the Vuelta a España where he will be attempting a fourth consecutive title.

“Normally, yes, but it's too early to make this decision now. First, he has to recover and then we make a new plan with him," Maassens said regarding Roglic's participation in the Vuelta.