Primoz Roglic disappointed with "my worst season so far" but hoping to recover towards 2023

By most rider's standards, victories and Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné would make a season. For a rider of the caliber of Primoz Roglic however, those came as consolation as the Slovenian was forced to leave both his main goals of the season due to bad crashes.

"It is the way it is. Falling out is part of cycling. I have already left it behind. Paris-Nice and the Criterium du Dauphiné are great races. Of course it was my worst season so far, but it certainly wasn't a catastrophe. Nor should we dramatize it. I am now looking forward to new goals," Roglic said in an extensive interview with Wielerflits.

Roglic started off his season strong with success in France, and followed that up with another big triumph right before the Tour de France. There, he would share the leadership with 2021's runner-up Jonas Vingegaard, but the orders had changed when he crashed on the 5th stage inbetween cobbled sectors. He dislocated his shoulder and broke two vertebrae.

Later, after managing to recover in time for the Vuelta a Espana, he crashed out of the race in sight of the line of stage 16. He did not suffer fractures, but took time out of his schedule to undergo a surgery that will prevent him from having further shoulder damage. “It is tough because I now have a period in the middle of my career in which I have not been able to work on my fitness for more than three months. I now suddenly had to take a mandatory rest to allow my body to recover properly," he said.

Now, several months later, Roglic's shoulder is healing and he is back on the bike. He will have a calmer start to the season likely, however is happy with the outcome of the procedure. “I couldn't take it anymore. I could hardly sleep," he described. "It is very painful when your arm slips out of its socket. That must have happened 30 to 40 times."

"I had to do something about it. I could not have made a decision other than surgery. The scan has shown that everything has grown back together and healed. That gave me the green light to join the team's training camp in Denia in December. In the second training camp in January I hope to get a feel for how I can organize my season," the Jumbo-Visma rider shared. 

“Look, I probably won't make it to the Tour Down Under. I am confident that I will be able to ride my first races again in March. That was the last few years when I picked up the competition again. Everything now depends on how the recovery continues," he added. It is yet unknown what his goals will be, that will soon come depending on his early-season form.

"What my season will look like is still a mystery to me at the moment. It makes no sense to indicate whether I will ride the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France or Vuelta a España," the 33-year old continued.

“There are many races in cycling, so you can set many goals. I am still trying to win several competitions that are still missing from my palmares. Then I think of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and both the World Championship time trial and the World Championship on the road," he concluded.

Roglic has won an Olympic title in the Tokyo time-trial event in 2021, but is aiming higher still when it comes to the medals. As for Grand Tours his three consecutive Vuelta a Espana triumphs have proven his worth as a GT winner, however he still dreams of landing the yellow and pink jerseys.