A lower back fracture for 🇸🇮 Primoz Roglic after his #TdF2024 crash! 🥲 We wish you a speedy recovery, Primoz! 🤞 📸 @VamosCiclismo / Roglic Instagram
“I don’t think he’s too old” - Rolf Aldag still hopeful Primoz Roglic can win the Tour de France in coming years
CyclingFriday, 26 July 2024 at 16:00
Primoz Roglic is desperate to claim the Maillot Jaune before he retires, so much so that the Slovenian left the all-conquering Team Visma | Lease a Bike at the end of 2023 in search of Tour de France leadership opportunities. In the end, that came from Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe.
Things didn't exactly start well for Roglic with a below par return to racing at Paris-Nice, before the former Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana was one of those caught up in the horror crash at the Itzulia Basque Country in April. After a lengthy injury lay off, the Slovenian returned to racing strongly, taking overall victory at the Criterium du Dauphine, despite a final stage crack that almost saw him hand the Maillot Jaune to Matteo Jorgenson.
At the Tour de France though, Roglic was well in the mix halfway through the second week, sitting 4th overall but not too far behind the likes of compatriot Tadej Pogacar, former teammate Jonas Vingegaard and multiple time Grand Tour rival Remco Evenepoel. Then, disaster struck with two hard crashes on back to back days (stage 12 and stage 13) seeing the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe leader abandon the race. Notably, a third successive Tour de France that has ended in a DNF for Roglic.
Whilst some considered this the final chance for Roglic, who will be 35 by the time next year's Tour de France comes around, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe aren't giving up on their leader just yet. “I don’t think he’s too old,” says Head of Sport Rolf Aldag to Cyclism'Actu. “Age is a thing, but it’s the energy you still have. Primož isn’t a guy who started when he was 10. He started later. You can see how shiny his eyes get when he talks about racing, how emotional he gets about racing.”
“I don’t think he’s a guy we should not plan with, and that we think ‘now he’s done,’” Aldag concludes his assessment of Roglic. “He’s still a very motivated rider. We can still set a lot of goals with him.”
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