"One of the most cunning and crafty riders I’ve ever raced against" - Primoz Roglic best placed to break Pogacar/Vingegaard Tour de France stranglehold says Chris Froome
Cycling
The last three editions of the Tour de France have been a two horse race between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Ahead of the 2024 edition however, the number of pre-race Maillot Jaune contenders seems to have grown.
Although the likes of Remco Evenepoel, Carlos Rodriguez and even Vingegaard's teammate, Matteo Jorgenson can hope to contend, according to four time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, it is Vingegaard's former teammate turned rival, Primoz Roglic, who is best placed to challenge the Tour de France dominance of its two central figures.
"He’s one of the most cunning and crafty riders I’ve ever raced against and he’s got incredible resilience, which is such an important factor when it comes to competing for the top three steps in a Grand Tour," Froome says of Roglic, who already has a Giro d'Italia (2023) and three Vuelta a Espana wins (2019, 2020 & 2021) under his belt, in conversation with Escape Collective.
Although he has just one race in his legs since crashing out of the Itzulia Basque Country, Froome also believes Roglic has shown to be in good form. "He won the recent edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné," Froome recalls. "And while I know he showed a little bit of weakness on that final stage, I still think that he’s going to find another level at the Tour de France."
"He’s not really raced much this year, so I think that week of racing in France will have done him the world of good," Froome continues. "He’d certainly be my first name when it came to rounding out the podium and he’s simply a class rider. He’ll also have a very impressive team supporting him. We saw how strong Aleksandr Vlasov was in the Dauphiné, and then if you throw Jai Hindley into the mix, it’s a really competitive core for the mountains.
Primoz can't compete without a superteam. That's why he beat Thomas by a relatively small margin in the Giro and Pogacar beat Thomas by nearly 10min with a purposefully weak UAE team.
And perhaps you didn't take circumstances into account when you made such statement and looked at the results as they were. Primoz crashed and was injured and even so he won the race.
I remember Chris Froome commented Roglic in unfavourably during his peak, not in condescending manner though. He said Roglic always tails off in the third week.
Never thought I’d appreciate something from Froome but he’s spot on on this. What’s more Rogliç has never really received the respect he should have deserved for all he’s accomplished. Be warned, some forget that Pog only just managed to beat him at the very last moment last time he was allowed to challenge.
As with most things context is important. Pogi was right there in the 2020 Tour until he had a mechanical on stage 7 and lost 1min 28sec. Had it not been for that, Primoz would probably not have taken the jersey on stage 9. This is of course the same stage 9 that Pogi won. Of course hindsight is 20/20.
There is something in that but in a 3 week race the specific individual unexpected time losses don’t have as much importance as made out and aren’t the real reasons for winning or losing. If you consider how narrow the gaps are at the end of most GTs (a few minutes if not seconds after over 80 hours), it is clear that no-one is riding at full pace to get the fastest time but that they are riding according to their placement, rivals, expectations and feelings, strategy and energy conservation etc. each and every stage. As you say, with hindsight Rogliç might have ridden differently if he’d felt Pog would have caught up the difference. Pog on the other hand kind of left it to luck, there was no way he could know in advance he’d not have a small mechanical or puncture and could rely on his expected form to catch up enough at the last minute. He deserved the win for Rogliç’ (who will never make that mistake again) complacency but he was still lucky. When Contador “won” after Schlecks’ mechanical people called it unfair of him, they forget that all he did was catch back up the time Schleck gained on him because of a puncture. Had Contador not lost that time, he’d have had a good gap and would have been able to afford waiting for Schleck to get his bike in order. Every situation in a race affects the rider but also his nearest rivals who react accordingly.
Just in
NEW: WorldTour Manager Cyclinguptodate.com (FREE)
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- Jonas won T-A last tear and wanted to do P-N this year. Jorgensen also wanted to do it, he declined every si gle opportunity to be a solo leader, eevry stage race Jonas doesn't do, Girovappaxbipmv16-03-2025
- I agree, he either needs a surprise attack in the final, win a sprint or just somehow overpower everyonevappaxbipmv16-03-2025
- Did old man Bruyneel make this point before Jonas crashed out?Renz16-03-2025
- Good win for Ayuso. He has appeared a bit inconsistent on mountain stages in the past; absolutely brilliant on some but then cracking on others.Cooldude16-03-2025
- A little caution is understandable. Just ask Roglic.Cooldude16-03-2025
- Jorgenson needs races to improve, he won Paris Nice last year, he should have been given open rein this year. He rode his guts out for Jonas last year, Jonas just needs to build form for the Tour. Give Matteo a race without a co captain.awp16-03-2025
- Exactly. Two leaders of this caliber at the same race makes no sense.Pedalmasher16-03-2025
- Jonas attacking Matteo< who was the GC leader, on the first summit finish was ridiculous! Karma came back and bit JV in the a$$ !frieders316-03-2025
- Pidcocks Ineos Grenadier? Nice proofing lolmij16-03-2025
- Agreed. Why have these two together? Give Jorgenson his own race. They have no one in Italy for GC that’s legit and provenmij16-03-2025