"I believe it's possible. Primoz can deal with this challenge" - Rolf Aldag insists Roglic is capable of Giro d'Italia - Tour de France double
Cycling
In 2025, Primoz Roglic takes on the task of a Giro d'Italia - Tour de France double for Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. According to team sports director Rolf Aldag, the Slovenian is more than capable of emulating his compatriot Tadej Pogacar from 2024 and winning both the Maglia Rosa and Maillot Jaune.
"It wasn't a matter of telling him he had to do it. It was a team decision," Aldag explains in quotes collected by Siol about the plan to balance both Italian and French Grand Tour goals in the coming season. "If we win the Giro, the pressure would disappear. That would give more opportunities for the Tour, both in terms of strategy and expectations."
As mentioned, Pogacar took on the Giro in early 2024 and actually arrived at the Tour de France later that summer in arguably the best form of his life. Has seeing this from the UAE leader inspired the rest of the his rivals that a Giro - Tour double could be the way forward? "I think it's a question of how you do it. If you decide, you have to use new approaches that are mostly related to training and not to racing," Aldag answers, expressing his belief that Roglic is more than capable of doing the double. "I believe it's possible. I believe Primoz can deal with this challenge given the experience he has. Do you know why? He was physically completely beaten up at the Tour, then he did a psychological reset, went on a quick rehabilitation and in just four weeks prepared for the Vuelta and won it. This shows his resilience and adaptability."
Although it's not confirmed as of yet, the prospect of Roglic's former teammate Jonas Vingegaard appearing at the Giro remains heavily rumoured. Regardless of the Dane's involvement or not though, Aldag insists Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe plans are set. "To be honest, we are focused on ourselves," he concludes. "Well, and we would like to have an exciting, interesting race that we would win. If Jonas decides to come and we end up winning, it would be nice to beat him. We respect the cyclists, there are many combinations, so we can't plan whether Jonas will come or not. It's great for cycling fans if they are the best in the race. We only have influence on our plan and we have to stick to it."
He could potentially win the Giro again, although if Jonas races the Giro he would have to have sickness or a bad crash to let Primoz pass him, but the Tour is out of his sights, he missed his chance in 2020. Too much top competition at the Tour, but he could possibly score a top five but more realistically a top ten at his age.
If you consider what Geraint achieved from 34 on and that Primoz is in theory at least as good or slightly better I’d not put 1 maybe 2 podiums past him, all he needs for both is just to do his thing and to have a year when luck is a bit in his side, ir at least one or the other rivals suffers some of his GT experiences. Some guys mature like red wines, especially the ones that didn’t overcook their base.
Do you realize Primož just keeps getting better each year? Surely tadej and Jonas are definitely above him but he's arguably still a top dog, if he goes to a race he's automatically a favorite to win.
No, Primoz is not a top dog any longer. He's older now, he requires a weak field to win a GT, that's just the simple truth. His best bet to win the Tour was in 2020. If he makes it the Tour this year, his absolute best accomplishment will be top five, but more than likely a top ten. And he should should take pride in that accomplishment, he's 35 now.
When you say a weak field what do you mean by that ? There are only 2 other riders above him and arguably Remco is at least as good or better. He won the vuelta quite comfortably despite fracture in his vertebrae and performed his best numbers ever in some stages. His TT is pretty good and he can hold his own, obviously I don't think he's as good as tadej or Jonas yet he's up there.
Do you think the 2024 Vuelta was comfortable for him? It was not. More young guns will be coming out this year, he's an older rider who needs everything to go his way. He could potentially win the Giro again but he will not fare well in the Tour if he makes it.
He did a convincing display at Ancares doing peak numbers even without optimal preparation in a team that is weaker in grand tours. Sure he's getting older but the narrative that he's in his last year is ridiculous.
Well not his last year, but my argument is he can't he win the Tour. Remember this thread during the upcoming Tour, btw, I do admire Primoz.
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- His basic attitude always has been (and we know age often reinforces inherent values), if I’m going down I’m going to try taking you with me.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I know it’s tradition and nice but to make the discussion more interesting, if an Arkea rider had driven up to tell Alpecin or UAE to ease off for Mozzato or Vauquelin having a P, would they have been as gentlemanly?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- That’s probably about right although if they’d talked it over it would have been in all their interests to work together to chase Pog down because those 4 arriving at the finish in that scenario would have left all 4 with a chance of victory.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- Exactly, that easily makes for a minute at the front. You don’t see Pog cracking often either (less often than MVDP even) but when he does it’s lights out and over too. This is completely normal and to be expected, at the level of competitiveness all these guys are they only crack once they’ve pushed beyond their manageable limit and there’s no coming back from that. When your rival forces you into the red to keep or catch up, it’s over, in that respect, well done to WVA who seems to be world champion in staying just outside the red for as long as he can.Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- If I remember well, Pidcock slowed, whether out of respect or strategically or just happy he could ease off a bit, only he knows. Your point?Mistermaumau08-04-2025
- I believe Mathieu rather gets beaten by a stronger rider than one who raced smarter. That is why he wanted to team up with Pogacar to drop the JV riders and Mads who were not helping in the chase of the first group since they had a teammate up front.JoostMehrtens08-04-2025
- Just shows that LA is not truly repentant. JUSTICE was served. No winner, no second , no third on the podium for those 7 years. No real winners could be determined, ever. Lance got to keep most of his money , he really should can it . He is toxic to cycling.dave08-04-2025
- Tricky one as while I agree Pogi and UAE are simply faster over a long distance which means Visma and MVP need to be as smart with energy use as can, it's also been proven in the past that one way for Pogi to be beaten is relentless attacks, to put him into the red. However that does require a rider to as good as sacrifice themselves for that one move which makes riskHoopoeChai07-04-2025
- Even if not technically against the rules, this is just bad etiquette and frankly I hope the rest of pelaton remembers Arkea don't care about etiquette or honoring tradition which means they shouldn't benifit from it.HoopoeChai07-04-2025
- The other issue is that Mad Petersen and Wout would have let MVDP do most of the work, as he kept showing he was stronger. MVDP did the strategy with the highest likelihood of victory, he just wasn't strong enough.acem8207-04-2025