Everything about... Primoz Roglic - The Slovenian cannibal and Vuelta a Espana dominator
Cycling
Primoz Roglic is a professional cyclist from Jumbo-Visma. A former Ski Jumper, Roglic was a late bloomer into the ranks of pro cycling, but has evolved to be one the best stage-racers in modern cycling having won the Vuelta a Espana on three consecutive occasions, conquered several World Tour stage-races, stages on all three Grand Tours, a monument in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and an Olympic title in the 2021 Tokyo time-trial event. You can check out the biography at all times by clicking here.
Name: Primoz Roglic
Born: 19 October 1989
Birthplace: Trbovlje, Slovenia
Turned Pro: 2013
Height: 1.77m
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Primoz Roglic was born on the 29th of October 1989 in the Trbovlje, Yugoslavia - in the Slovenian state, the nation which he represents today. Roglic is known for his past as a ski jumper, where he was an actual professional competitor, winning the Junior World Team event in 2007 and two Continental Cup wins. He had a meaningful accident in 2007 during an official training, but only ended his ski jumping career in 2012 when he found out a new talent of his and faced the very difficult challenges of remaining at the highest level of Ski jumping.
Roglic currently has a contract with Jumbo-Visma until 2025 where he is reportedly having a salary of €2 million per year. He is the husband of Lora Klinc, with the couple getting married in 2021 and having had their first child in 2019. His FTP is believed to be between 6.1-6.3W/Kg making him one of the best climbers in the World due to his small stature, and the core body work that he's developed over his Ski Jumping years has also seen him become an incredibly aerodynamical rider, who has become of the most successful time-trialists in modern history.
In 2013 Roglic signed with the Slovenian Continental team Adria Mobil. His talent in cycling was visible and palpable, as in 2011 he reportedly found out his VO2 max was of above 80 (well within the range of the top professional cyclists), and this led to an investment in him from former pro Andrej Hauptman - who also played a role in Tadej Pogacar's upbringing - and an eventual pro contract. In 2014 he began showing great signs on the road, winning a stage at the Tour d'Azerbaijan, winning the Croatia-Slovenia classic and finishing third - with three second places - at the Tour of Sibiu. He also rode the World Championships in Ponferrada that year, but without a meaningful result.
2015 saw him finish second in the Tour of Croatia, win the KOM in the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, winning a stage and GC in both Tour d'Azerbaijan and Tour of Slovenia, and take a stage win aswell in the Chinese Tour of Quinghai Lake. These results highlighted his climbing ability, and with his internal tests known, Jumbo-Visma were sure to bring the Slovenian into their team in 2016, investing on Roglic before other World Tour teams would do so. A fifth place at the Volta ao Algarve this season would indicate his level, however it would be at his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia where he would really pop off.
As Steven Kruijswijk battled for the overall classification and the pink jersey, Roglic was on a supporting role which saw him absent in terms of results, except for the time-trials. He almost rode into the pink jersey on the opening day, finishing on the same time as Tom Dumoulin, but in the race's second individual time-trial Roglic - an early starter - took advantage of the rain and managed to take his first World Tour stage win. Throughout the rest of the year he would go on to succeed in the time-trials solely, winning the Slovenian national championships and finishing 10th in the Olympic Games and 7th in the European Championships.
2017 would see his climbing talent begin to rise however. He's won the early-season Volta ao Algarve putting on the spotlight his stage-racing capabilities aswell. He's finished fourth at Tirreno-Adriatico and fifth at Itzulia Basque Country following two stage wins. The same month, Roglic would go on to win the time-trial at the Tour de Romandie, where he finished in third place.
Later on he won the prologue and finished second at the Ster ZLM, before a Tour de France debut that would turn out to be successful. He did not fight for the GC, but won one of the queen stages into Serre-Chevalier, after thriving off the breakaway and going over the Col du Galibier to take a big win. His time-trialing abilities remained his top weapon however, as he rode into second at the World Championships.
In 2018 he seemed to have all the pieces finally, and began putting them together to become one of the peloton's most dominant stage-racers. His spring consisted of the same goals, with Roglic taking a stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico, winning a stage and GC at Itzulia Basque Country and then also taking the win at the Tour de Romandie. As he prepared for the Tour he also raced his home Tour of Slovenia where he conquered the overall classification. This was a big Tour de France for him as he battled for the overall classification, eventually finishing in fourth place, with another stage win taken in the final mountain stage into Lauruns. Later on that year he's also won the time-trial and finished third at the Tour of Britain.
2019 saw him take a change of plans, eyeing the Giro-Vuelta double. His pre-Giro record was flawless, winning all three races he participated, all at World Tour level: UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour de Romandie - with five stages won in total between them. He was a big favourite coming into the Giro, and immediately took the race lead on the opening day's time-trial to Bologna. He would go on to win the second time-trial aswell in San Marino, but would not keep his position as the best-placed GC rider after the 13th stage to Lago Serrù where Richard Carapaz dealt a big blow. Roglic lacked the support to challenge the race lead and didn't have the legs to attack the high mountains, but rode to a third place in the final overall classification.
He would later on race the Vuelta a Espana, where he took over the race lead in the 10th stage following a win in the time-trial. Roglic won the 2019 Vuelta a Espana off of consistency, as several of his rivals struggled in different days, the Slovenian was consistent throughout the entire race and captured the red jersey. He would win the Giro dell'Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine later that year, complementing it with a 7th place at Il Lombardia.
His 2020 season, because of the pandemic, started only in June at the National Championships. He's won the road race, but was beaten at the time-trial by Tadej Pogacar - which would anticipate something bigger later on. This was the year of the Tour de France and Roglic was a prime favourite, further assured by his dominant win at the Tour de l'Ain, and assured during the Critérium du Dauphiné where he won a stage and led the race until he abandoned on the fifth day due to suffering from crash injuries - in order to recover towards the Tour.
Successfully, as he won the first summit finish of the race on stage four, and took over the yellow jersey on stage 9 into Lauruns. Jumbo-Visma had an incredibly strong lineup supporting Roglic, and he survived the attacks on all mountain stages to enter the final time-trial to La Planche des Belles Filles in the yellow jersey. It all seemed set for the GC win, but a shocking performance from Tadej Pogacar had Roglic tumble to second on the final competitive day. Nevertheless Roglic quickly bounced back, in the weeks after racing to sixth at the World Championships and to the win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
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Roglic would not end his 2020 success there. Looking to defend his Vuelta a Espana title, he headed to Spain. What followed was a strong performance, not as consistent as 2019, but one where he won the opening stage, and won a total of four stages throughout the race, and took the overall win ahead of Richard Carapaz after a "short" 18-stage Grand Tour.
2021 started with Roglic dominating Paris-Nice, winning three stages, but crashing in the final day to lose the GC win. He would bounce back the month after to win Itzulia Basque Country however. The goal was the Tour again, and Roglic entered the race directly without previous competition, but a crash on stage 3 saw him lose time and suffer from injuries, which led him to abandon the race in the opening week. In traditional fashion however, he travelled to Tokyo where he became an Olympic time-trial Champion, before returning to Europe and taking a third Vuelta a Espana title.
His 2021 Vuelta win was the most controlled, with four stage wins, a start-to-finish leading position in comparison to his GC rivals and a final lead of over five minutes to Enric Mas. Roglic won the Giro dell'Emilia and Milano-Torino before scoring a fourth place at Il Lombardia to end his season.
In 2022 Roglic got his revenge by conquering Paris-Nice - despite a late threat by Simon Yates. He won the opening stage of Itzulia Basque Country, but knee pain saw him lose his place in the GC and skip on the Ardennes classics. He bounced back at the Critérium du Dauphiné to win the overall classification, dominating the race together with teammate Jonas Vingegaard - with whom he would be leading a very strong Jumbo-Visma at the Tour de France.
The duo led the team, but on the 5th stage Roglic crashed again, dislocating a shoulder on the cobblestone stage and shedding important time. He continued in the race, unknowing at the time that he had also fractured two vertebrae. He played a crucial role on stage 11 to Tadej Pogacar's implosion, which would eventually lead to Vingegaard's overall win - with Roglic supporting him until stage 15 where he abandoned the race due to intolerable pain.
His presence at the Vuelta a Espana was at risk, but he was a last-minute entry to try and fight for a fourth GC victory. His form was rising throughout the race in fact as he battled again with Enric Mas, but this time mainly with Remco Evenepoel for the red jersey. He won stage 4, and went into the final week of the race as Evenepoel's main rival. After attacking the hilltop finish on stage 16 however, he crashed hard in sight of the finish line and sustained serious injuries, and was forced the abandon the race the next day.
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