Primoz Roglic is not a rider who talks a whole lot about the development of the stages and after the 11th day of racing at the
Giro d'Italia he certainly did not want to give anything away. There were a few questions to be asked of him following the mountainous day, but those same remain unanswered into three days of slightly easier racing.
“A difficult stage from the beginning, especially on the first climb. We were also a bit lucky, because it started raining only after the finish line," Roglic said in words to RTVSLO following the stage.
Of course, Roglic was quite notably dropped on the climb to San Pellegrino by the attack of Egan Bernal, which saw a response from Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso. The work of Bahrain - Victorious brought it back, whilst it was not clear if Roglic did not respond as an option or because of the lack of legs. We remain in the dark regarding the true answer.
What was also notable on the final climb of the day was his modest positioning, which led to him getting dropped once again after the group split under an attack from Isaac del Toro. The Slovenian then did not contest for the sprint which could have earned him 6 seconds, whilst in the opening days of the race he has sprinted for the same amount of time (although he was ultimately beaten by Del Toro and won 4 instead). Roglic's tactics are rather puzzling, specially the day after he crashed during the recon of the Pisa time-trial but went on to take time on his rivals.
But into stage 12, those answers remain tight in the Slovenian and
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's camp. “It was a tough day, with a difficult finish, but we were there the whole time. I still need to recover a bit after all the difficulties. But I’m satisfied," he concluded.