Primoz Roglic on Tadej Pogacar's Giro challenge, decision to move to BORA and Visma departure: "Jumbo-Visma was flooded with Grand Tour riders"
Cycling
Primoz Roglic has trained at altitude in Teide, Tenerife, preparing for the 2024 season. It will be a key season in his career as he moved away from the team where he's achieved the most; a new challenge awaits the Slovenian. He discusses compatriot Tadej Pogacar, his former Team Visma | Lease a Bike team and his move to BORA - hansgrohe.
According to him, the German team made a complete change to focus on Grand Tours, and that was a turn-around point in his decision to join BORA. "That made me decide to ride for this team. They have completely changed their strategy and objectives in the last two years. It's a completely different team now. I have seen how they have competed in the Grand Tours over the past two seasons. It is well armed to support me," Roglic tells in an interview with L'Équipe.
The Slovenian has had a quite few first months of the year, training on his new Specialized bikes, preparing for Paris-Nice where he'll start his season - and battle Remco Evenepoel. A formula that in the past has worked, Roglic will then race Itzulia Basque Country, and follow afterwards a traditional preparation for the Tour de France. He will be a big rival for his former team, but lead a very strong BORA - hansgrohe which should feature Jai Hindley, Daniel Martínez and Aleksandr Vlasov among others.
"I had been with the same team for quite a long time. It didn't suddenly occur to me, but especially in the last week of the Vuelta, it occurred to me that I needed a different environment," Roglic admits. This coincides with the internal clash with Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss. Dreaming of a Tour de France win, it was the decision to make for the 34-year old. "At some point you have to take the plunge, but only if all the elements are in place. Jumbo-Visma was flooded with Grand Tour riders and I have listed twenty races that I would still like to win and that are not yet on my record. So I had to change teams if my team couldn't give me those opportunities."
"I was dead serious when we said that we were at the start of the Vuelta with three leaders. We all know Sepp's qualities and we had a plan that could put him in a leading position. Afterwards he showed that he was strong enough to win and he can certainly win another Grand Tour. He will still be the same rider and he has just as much chance of winning as the rest. In our sport you always have to start over and every race is a different story," he tells.
The signal was clear. Roglic only weeks after moved away into BORA. Since, he admits his full focus on the Tour despite the tough competition, and BORA has also confirmed to have an all-in lineup to perform in France. It will make for an exciting battle, as UAE Team Emirates and Soudal - Quick-Step are also set to go all-in, whilst Team Visma | Lease a Bike will continue to have a strong team.
Roglic was also asked about Tadej Pogacar, who is doing the Giro-Tour double this summer. An exciting challenge, which Roglic talks about: "It's great that he has made this decision. He does not yet have the Giro d'Italia to his name. It might be easier for him to win than for me. We don't know all the contenders yet, but it will be difficult for anyone to beat him. He likes rain and bad weather, so this year's course should suit him perfectly."
He concludes with some interesting insight on their relationship: "In 2020 I barely knew him, but now I know he is a really nice guy and a great champion. It's hard to describe our relationship because we do the same job, come from the same country and both live in Monaco. We are also rivals. We get along great and he's a great traveling companion and he obviously has all my respect.”
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- No, it didn't. It has been debunked by the team that there was anything wrong with his feeding. Pogacar went too early and paid the price.maaiikeen31-12-2024
- Strong team around Jonas and pray each day that Tadej forgets to eat in the decisive stages (col du Granon). It also happened this year, stage 11 when Jonas won the sprint (incredible! Tadej was empty).
maria2024202430-12-2024 - Not quite yet I’d say but she could reach and surpass. You probably forgot Vos’ 2 track WC titles that outweigh the total and it has to be said more of PFPs MTB titles are a bit far fetched than Vos but yes they are comparable. It’s strange that with her consistent participation in xc she’s never ever managed to win even one race, Marie Schreiber can at least retire with that achievement ;-)Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- He may be known as “The goat” but I can’t realistically consider him a top ten candidate taking together all forms of cycling. Vos had 28 UCI WC wins, Absalon 33, Schurter 34, MVDP 41 and counting. As far as world championships they are all ahead too Longo, MVDP, PFP, Merckx, de Vlaeminck, TP and at least a half dozen others from long ago are surely higher up, or what criteria are you privileging other than a nickname?Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- and yeah, i’m a ridiculous blowhard for writing THAT MUCH. seriously, f me…OCexile30-12-2024
- this has diverged from being a per se cycling discussion, but that’s cool with me. so i live in the united states. for background, i grew up in southern california, educated at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley, and except for chunks of a 22 year Navy career i’ve lived here most of my life. there are things about this country, the way its social, political, and economic institutions function that IN MY OPINION fail considerably in comparison to other developed democracies. BUT, one thing that i think the US does excel in is that we have an extraordinarily high level of freedom of speech. now, that certainly opens the door for the alex joneses of the world to weaponize/monetize speech in utterly disgusting ways that do actual damage. it also gives freedom to politicians to say that the press is corrupt and should be jailed, like in russia, iran, or venezuela. these are DANGEROUS uses of freedom of speech. but as much as that freedom may imperil the well being of individuals and ideas — like the idea of liberty itself — it’s that freedom that has, over time, marked the SLOW movement toward greater equality and well being. this extreme level of free speech is certainly the primary fundamental right in the united states that has functioned, over time, to actively drive social progress. i mean, quack quack quack, right? the kind of speech that MOST needs protection is UNPOPULAR SPEECH. we KNOW this. but if you can only engage in unpopular speech IN PRIVATE, as you suggested, and be BARRED from a public platform to share those unpopular ideas, then your freedom to speak means very little and the whole project of social change and social progress grinds to a halt. “YES, you can talk about all races being equal to your friends, but you can’t publish any articles making that argument.” “YES, you can say that homosexuality isn’t a dangerous perversion that must be legislated against so long as you ONLY say it to your friends, but you can’t say it on a radio show.” so the problem is, if there’s going to be prior restraint of speech, the only person I’M gonna trust to decide who can say what before they say it is ME. if somebody wants to let me and my friends make all those decisions, then i’m IN. i’d expect a little pushback on that idea though. alex jones would probably like that job, too. lance would love that kind of power i bet. sooooo…. maybe it’s better to just leave things like they are. it’s ugly and messy and people get hurt, but once you SURRENDER that nearly unlimited freedom you’ll never get it back. and yes, society has drawn lines: still can’t threaten to blow up a mosque or share child pornography, etc. — that’s a pretty good idea. but erring on the side of freedom rather than censorship has been critical in preserving valuable free speech rather than seeing it slowly winnowed and legislated away. so yeah, there WILL be another alex jones, neonazis get to deny the holocaust, and lance gets to talk about cycling all he wants. and if you don’t like the source or the content then YOU are free to rail against it, or just not listen. as always, totally appreciate and respect YOUR perspective, brother. and i do get where you’re coming from. there are individuals in the US who have (or are about to have) the biggest platform there is who say things that drive me mad because i find them so dangerous and misleading, but the american version of democracy, with all its notable failings, has survived by preserving freedom of speech in the face of these types, not by limiting it.OCexile30-12-2024
- There is a cyclist, recently retired who raced as a Junior in 1997, and is known as 'The Goat'. Downhill legend, Greg Minnaar......wipperman9530-12-2024
- The road bias of this site shows up as PFP isn't mentioned - who is as successful as Vos, and from memory has more World titles.wipperman9530-12-2024
- his wife was surprisingly accurateabstractengineer30-12-2024
- Its the wrong thing to do the Vuelta after getting exhausted in the TDF. This is going to reduce his career potentialabstractengineer30-12-2024