Pedro Delgado on Primoz Roglic: "You might even say the Tour doesn't love him"
Cycling
Primoz Roglic was the first of the 'big 4' Grand Tour specialists to announce his plans for the 2025 season when it comes to his Grand Tours, and thus far the only one to put both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France on the table. Pedro Delgado, legend of Spanish cycling, understands that the Vuelta a España is unlikely this year despite the Slovenian's love situation with it.
"Logically, he won't be at the Vuelta, but in that joke, you could see that he knows the season is long, and he's really good at adapting, and I think he's keeping an open mind," Delgado said in words to CyclingNews.
Roglic announced his schedule starting at the Volta ao Algarve, including the Volta a Catalunya in the spring, and later on doing both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, where he hopes to win a Grand Tour but at the same time shoot his shot at the Grand Boucle which he hasn't been able to finish since 2020.
The Tour has for the past few years been cruel on the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe rider who has crashed out on multiple occasions, but that has opened way for his triumphs at the Vuelta a España.
But the Tour is, being the one GT he hasn't won yet, a special race for the Slovenian. "Roglič is really intent on doing well in the Tour, he's always had problems there and the ideal thing would have been for him to fight for it when he was a very young racer".
"He's been very unlucky there, you might even say the Tour doesn't love him and on top of that right now Vingegaard and Pogacar are superior to him in that race. But his pride and fighting spirit make him somebody you can't ever rule out," Delgado concludes.
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- You’re both right but also both (me too) biased by this endless indoctrination through the expectations of others (no cyclist is worth mentioning without a tdf legacy) and sorry Fred but the part about him having to win the whole thing is misguided, Cavendish is venerated by most and he might not have even reached 50th in the how many editions he did (about double Merckxs). As rightly said Mathieu rides for HIMSELF (aside obligations) take it or leave it, I really don’t think he (and most others, even Cav or Pog) lie around in bed at night worrying or strategising about how to cement a place in history. We are lucky to witness a period where some of the best cyclists are (aside from money) motivated in the right way, you can often see in the authentic way they celebrate crossing the line after a huge effort, MVDPs are some of the best, 100% dedication, my favourite was the communion with his grandfather when he won that stage, it was visibly (worth seeing again if available) so powerful, I even think the only reason he tried the TdF at all (he’d never really shown any interest personally and I’m pretty sure it was a business “obligation” was in hommage to his grandfather who meant so much to him. Once done I think he realised he doesn’t enjoy it (should he (any of us actually) force himself to do a job he isn’t enjoying?) and saw no more reason to continue but being open he accepted to try something new, lead-out man and did it admirably. His riding career has now probably “peaked” and he’ll want to focus on those things personally still important before it’s too late and leads to regrets. I am sure he’ll regret his luck/carelessness at Olympics more than anything TdF related and among future goals, that will be his number 1 rectification target and sorry for those TdF obsessors (who often watch nothing else all year) but for many the Olympics are more important than eg the Tour, no matter what the majority of cycling thinks, and they have that right.Mistermaumau08-01-2025
- To MVDP, even if he wins 10 stages of the TDF, if he can't be overall champion (GC), he still loses.. so he thinks he has nothing to gain. He'd rather win a hundred minor races than frustrate himself trying to win the grandest race of them all. The mindset of a winner, you say? Maybe, but I don't think so. Nevertheless, he's a great cyclist. Monuments and classics, one-day races are his thing. He can ride a one-day 300 km race and win it, but a 3,500 km race spread over 21 days? Forget it.. he can win a stage or two, wear the yellow jersey for a day or two, (no mean feat, by the way) and finish in 50th place just the same, not even good enough for a podium, and he doesn't like it. To him, it's a waste of time.FredMan08-01-2025
- i’m with you on this… ALL IN for the xco world’s. a legacy of World Champion in four disciplines. that’s one for the ages…OCexile08-01-2025
- i’ve said before that i worry for mathieu’s place in history because he only has one tdf stage. cycling pundits place SO much emphasis off tdf wins that many of them still rate wva as superior to van der poel, which can ONLY be based on wout’s 9 tour wins (which impressively DO come over the whole spectrum of tdf parcours). as a fan of mvdp i wish he’d dedicate a couple years to racking up 5 or 6 more stage wins. that said, mathieu matches to his own drummer. he gets bored easily. and ultimately he’s gonna decide all in his own what does and don’t capture his interest and imagination. that’s one of the things i like BEST about him, so if he’s done with the Tour then that’s that, au revoir…OCexile08-01-2025
- I reported this in March of 2024. There was a bogus Facebook ad.davbott08-01-2025
- Does that mean that the Rapho jersey that I just purchased is a fake?
santiagobenites07-01-2025 - Utter rubish, if you think he peaks over 12 times trains, races, rests in 1 year you are living in cuckoo land.Senna196007-01-2025
- All theory, in practice much can happen, Tao won a Giro.Mistermaumau07-01-2025
- Same thing with ASSOS there was a fraudulent site in US, so I contacted ASSOS it’s down now. I don’t like counterfeiters or they bunk products. Call me old fashioned, it’s called honest.JtotheB07-01-2025
- Good on him for saying so; there's more to pro cycling than the Tour. The XCO World title is one still missing, so why not target that? However, Crans-Montana is really technical, and he will need plenty of time training and racing back on the MTB if he's going to go close. We know what happens with poor prep - crashes. This isn't CX, where you can turn up and win - the top MTB riders have got skills and MTB isn't just about watts......wipperman9507-01-2025