“We’ve seen before and we know from data that riders like Primoz and Wout can be good straight from training. From the moment they are racing they’re competitive. At least for us, we don’t see the sense sending them now to whatever, the Saudi tour at beginning of February for example.”
This weekend sees the French calendar filled up with the hilly Faun-Ardèche and Drome classics taking place. They will have the likes of Julian Alaphilippe and Brandon McNulty alongside the
Jumbo-Visma team who have brought a stacked team. After completing a 3-week altitude camp at Tenerife, Roglic will be joined by Tour de France runner-up
Jonas Vingegaard, aswell as Sepp Kuss and Steven Kruijswijk, putting the Dutch team as a main favourite to win both races.
Niermann completed, “Primož had a good winter, a quiet winter and he’ll head to Paris-Nice and we’ll see how well he trained. He’s been at altitude a lot and we’ve seen that works. We’ve seen before Primož, Wout, they are in top shape when they start the Tour, but they are also in shape when they come to training camp in January. Altitude camps work for them and we see why it works, rather than racing.”
This spring Roglic is racing Paris-Nice, Milano-Sanremo, Itzulia Basque Country, La Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In most of these he will be one of the main favourites, but the team is clear that his real goal lays further into the season as the Tour de France win is an absolute priority.