“Why should we compete against each other?” – Primoz Roglic calls for unity with Remco Evenepoel in battle against Pogacar and Vingegaard

At 35, Primoz Roglic no longer rides as the calculating perfectionist who once seemed destined to win every stage race he entered. The Slovenian has evolved into something rarer — a rider at ease with his own contradictions. Ten seasons into his WorldTour career and approaching what may be his final year in the peloton, he speaks with a kind of calm that only comes from surviving both triumph and turmoil.

“I’m still here, you know, still riding the bike,” he says with a smile to Cycling News in an end of season interview. After all, fifteen years in ski jumping and near-enough another fifteen on the road have taught him perspective. “My whole career has had its ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change anything, even the crashes and disappointments. Cycling is a challenge but teaches you about yourself and life.”

That balance between suffering and serenity defines him now. Roglic calls cycling “incredible” and “beautiful” precisely because it hurts; the struggle, he says, “helps me with life.” His 2025 season captured that duality perfectly: a dominant win at the Volta a Catalunya, heartbreak at the Giro d’Italia after a brutal crash, and then a defiant ride through the Tour de France, finishing eighth but, more importantly, finishing content. “If I didn’t care, then I would be on Bora Bora island, not in Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe,” he jokes. “Cycling is still my life — if you can be happy in the morning, you’ve achieved your first goal in life.”

The coming year will see Roglic share leadership duties with Remco Evenepoel, the new headline act at Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. To outsiders, it looks like a potential power clash; to Roglic, it feels like liberation. He admits he’s ready for others to carry some of the weight. “Remco’s arrival is a good thing. It means I can step aside a bit from all the responsibility… I hope to have a little more peace, a little more freedom.”

He’s quick to dismiss talk of rivalry. “We have bigger opponents to try to compete against — why should we compete against each other?” he asks, thinking of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. What matters, he insists, is finding harmony within the team. “It’s about how we do our best together. Remco’s an incredible guy with big results; hopefully we can both do well together.”

That pragmatic optimism extends to his own future. The much-quoted “we’ll see, uh?” line, which set off retirement rumours earlier this autumn, was never meant to sound cryptic. “I said that because I don’t really want to think about the future — we don’t even know if we’re alive next year,” he says. “I still have a contract, so normally I’ll ride. I take life day by day, happy that I’m still here and still riding my bike.”

After years of near-misses and misfortune, simply reaching Paris in 2025 gave Roglic the closure he didn’t realise he needed. “The Tour was different this year and it made me happy,” he says. “I almost won the Tour once, so finishing fifth or tenth doesn’t really give me anything. But having some nice moments, good results — that was enough. Finishing in Paris was beautiful.”

He sounds like a man ready to step away from obsession without surrendering ambition. “I can draw a line under the Tour now, without any bad feelings,” he admits. “As long as you’re doing something you enjoy, you still want to win, you want to do your best. That’s how I feel about cycling now.”

Fifteen years after swapping ski slopes for switchbacks, Roglic has stopped measuring himself by results alone. “Everything happens for a reason,” he says quietly. “So I take it all, good or bad.”

For a rider once defined by control, that acceptance may be his most significant victory yet.