INTERVIEW | Primoz Roglic on crashes, UAE and possible alliance with Visma - "It's racing. Everyone wants to do their best"

Primoz Roglic was one of the stars at the team's presentation last afternoon in Lisbon, and quite notably was the final rider to come in to the podium, by himself, after a mishap from the team. He enters the race with confidence over his form after suffering a fracture in the lower back at the Tour de France, and has answered some of the most important questions ahead of the Vuelta a España.

Firstly crashes, something which the Slovenian knows all too well, and has wrecked his chances in his three most recents Tours. This spring at Itzulia Basque Country he also had to abandon following two falls. In 2022 he was in the fight for victory in Spain against Remco Evenepoel when he fell in the final week and had to withdraw. How can he overcome this issue that keeps him from having his best results.

"Just try to be in a better position, you know. In the end everybody wants to be there, wants to have that position," he said in words to CyclingUpToDate in a pre-race press conference. "It's always special I think a bit in these days of modern cycling it's quite a part of it. You can't definitely avoid it. If you just try to avoid these things you need to really be in the back and even there there are some dangers that can happen to you. So yeah, just try to be on the right place and try to enjoy it and have fun on the bike".

The German team will have none other than Nico Denz and Patrick Gamper to protect him in the flat days; perhaps his biggest obstacle, taking into consideration that Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe have a stacked team for the mountains including Aleskandr Vlasov who was guiding him at the Tour de France, Daniel Martínez who finished second at the Giro d'Italia, and talented climbers such as Florian Lipowitz and Giovanni Aleotti who will be in a luxury domestique role.

But UAE Team Emirates is argued to be in an even strong collective level, led by Adam Yates and João Almeida but realistically with plenty other riders who can be near the front when the roads go uphill. How will BORA beat their main rival team: "We have to see huh. Honestly, I could make it to the start of the Vuelta in some form, being in a shape good enough to enter here, I just have to see how things will go huh. I mean, starting with day 1 and just have to see how I will arrive and based on that and against other opponents how they will arrive, then we will make some tactics".

So likely, until stage 4 which finishes at the very steep Pico Villuercas, it is unlikely that BORA will make a full decision on whether to back one rider or play several cards for the overall classification. Funnily, Roglic appeared at the podium yesterday only moments after his former team Visma | Lease a Bike; and we questioned him regarding the possibility of an alliance with the Dutch team and Sepp Kuss.

"I don't think so. It's cycling huh, it's racing. Everyone wants to do their best," he replies. "In these cases I don't think it will really change". As the race goes on we will see if this remains set in stone.