“It’s really hard for him to be even be on the podium” – Is there any point Primoz Roglic continuing at the Giro?

Primoz Roglic suffered a significant blow to his Giro d’Italia 2025 ambitions on Stage 15, losing 90 seconds to his general classification rivals and tumbling down the leaderboard in what was described by many as a disastrous day for the Slovenian.

Speaking on TNT Sports Cycling, experts Jonathan Vaughters, Robbie McEwen, and Adam Blythe dissected the stage and Roglic’s dramatic loss of time, which now sees him 10th in the GC, 3 minutes and 53 seconds behind the race lead with just one week remaining. Remember Roglic won this race in 2023, but his chances of repeating that feat appear to be fading day after day.

“Someone who is suffering from that fatigue is Primoz Roglic,” the panel observed, as updated standings showed Simon Yates still in second, joined by Richard Carapaz on the same time. Other GC hopefuls, including Damiano Caruso, Antonio Tiberi, Egan Bernal, and Thymen Arensman, all moved up as Roglic slipped down the order.

Vaughters didn’t sugarcoat the situation, “It’s obviously really hard for him to win or even be on the podium.”

Looking ahead, the panel shifted focus to those showing strength going into the decisive final week. “To me Derek Gee looked great. Bernal always has a good fatigue resistance in the high mountains. Obviously I’m going to say Carapaz also looked great,” said Vaughters, team boss at EF Education.

“Carapaz looked great. Ayuso so-so. Del Toro looked like he was smoking a cigar,” he added, referring to the ease with which the young Mexican handled the day’s efforts.

Then came the reminder of a key GC figure who is often overlooked, “You know what I always love about this, we’ve done it again — always forget about Simon Yates,” joked Blythe.

“No yeah, but Simon also... he attacked,” Vaughters added. “He attacked with 2k to go and he’s got experience. He sometimes is good in the third week of a Grand Tour, sometimes not. I mean we all remember that Giro d’Italia he won three or four stages, I think he remembers it, and then he blew up spectacular. So we’ll see, but of course he could also be a podium contender as well.”

McEwen praised Yates’ resilience, “I thought he was really impressive today for a number of reasons. There were a few times where it looked like he might have been dropped, where it looked like his race could have been over… However, to finish with this group, to respond to all of those attacks, to have a dig himself — also really encouraging for the team.”

The panel also highlighted Bart Lemmen, who played a key role for Yates’ team, “It was also really encouraging that Bart Lemmen was back in and able to do a turn off the front as well,” said McEwen. “I think if you’re Visma | Lease a Bike, you’re going into the second rest day and thinking, yeah — this is a really, really good position to be in.”

Blythe agreed and suggested there’s more to come from Yates. “Looking at how Simon was today... I think still to this point he hasn’t been on his favoured terrain. Although it was a tough stage with a lot of climbing, it wasn’t at the gradients where we normally see him come into his own. So I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”

And once again, Lemmen’s contribution stood out. “His team have been unreal on a team that doesn’t have a whole heap of climbing domestiques,” said Blythe. “I think Bart Lemmen just really went above and beyond today. He was in the break, then he was working hard. In fact, I’m going to give him domestique of the day just for what he did, not influencing who won the race, but how he did his job as the only one there.”

“He was great,” McEwen added. “Absolutely.”

As the Giro enters its critical final stages, Primoz Roglic will need something extraordinary to claw back lost time, while riders like Yates, Carapaz, Ayuso, and Del Toro are steadily positioning themselves for a shot at the podium.