"I will choose races where Tadej will not be there" jokes Primoz Roglic in preview of 2025 campaign
Cycling
Primoz Roglic embarked on a first season in the colours of Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe in 2024. Although his ultimate goal of the Tour de France didn't come to fruition, a record-equalling 4th Vuelta a Espana victory, plus other triumphs ensured it was still a successful season for the Slovenian.
"Improvements are possible in all areas," was Roglic's immediate assessment in an in-depth conversation with the Slovenian outlet Siol however. "It's a huge team, in which there are, I'm talking off the top of my head, about a hundred people. It takes some time before you get to know all the competitors and staff. Of course, it's different, however you put it, the culture is also different, it's really a completely new environment and we need time to we're getting used to it. But considering everything we've put together this year, we're not going to complain."
The aforementioned Vuelta victory was the undoubted highlight, but the Criterium du Dauphine overall victory and being part of Slovenia's World Championship winning team, assisting Tadej Pogacar in Zurich have given Roglic plenty to reflect warmly on at the end of the season. "Given the start of the season and the whole lot of inconveniences and setbacks we experienced, I would sign for this immediately," Roglic admits.
The season ended slightly earlier than expected though, as the 34-year-old decided to conclude his campaign before Il Lombardia. "I simply came to the end, I emptied the tank for this season. Everything was not exactly optimal and I took the Vuelta a little bit under pressure... I was simply not good enough anymore and it was necessary to finish the season, rest and slowly look towards the next season," the Slovenian explains honestly about the reason for the premature season end.
As for the 2025 season, Roglic is yet to fully work out a plan of attack. "I will choose races where Tadej will not be there. We still have to agree on that," he jokes. "We'll see, I haven't thought about the race program in detail yet."
With the Giro d'Italia making a trip across the border to Slovenia though, there's much to tempt the former Maglia Rosa winner back to the first Grand Tour of the season. "We can only imagine how it will be, when the Giro will pass through here," assesses the 2023 Giro d'Italia winner. "But first I have to 'reset' and some time on the 'off', and then we will think about where I will race next year."
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Oh, and yes: I am no psychiatrist/psychologist, but Bruyneel and Texas Turd are both sociopaths. It goes well beyond "protect my world and anyone would" that is the usual zeitgeist of their bullshit. No normal person has Bob Roll go at Greg Lemond with an audio recording device at Ron Keifel's bike shop...for example.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Funnier: this website keeps giving credo to their ramblings. In this case, why in any possible way would Boonen want to create a fantasy world to attach himself to these two clowns when more likely he would want to forget he was even there? Laughable.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- A sociopath is an informal term used to describe someone with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), a mental health condition characterized by a chronic pattern of disregard for social norms, laws, and the rights and feelings of others.EricJensenRidesBikes26-12-2024
- Rowe spent his whole career on one team being nothing more than a thug for Skyneos. I have no idea why another team would want import this type of person into their program.Sweep26-12-2024
- “CyclingUpToDate would like to extend it's condolences to family and friends of Pascal.” Paging a copy editor….menk26-12-2024
- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024