Primoz Roglic returns to training with no restrictions ahead of Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de France

Jumbo-Visma performance manager Mathieu Heijboer has told Het Laatste Nieuws that Primoz Roglic is no longer suffering from the knee injury that saw him pull out of the Ardennes classics, and has the green light to continue his preparation for the Tour the France in full force. 

His injury came to be at Itzulia Basque Country, where he didn't have the legs to defend his lead in the final two stages. Shortly after it worsened and the Slovenian had to take some weeks of the bike as a precaution measure. Now in Sierra Nevada, Spain, where the Tour de France block is preparing for the summer's main event, the signs that the three-time Vuelta a España winner gives are satisfactory.

Heijboer said that the block has been riding very well, and are very much within the expected numbers for this time of the year. “We are very pleased with how each member of our Tour pre-selection is doing. Compared to last year, we are a lot further ahead... Now everyone is fit. Primož Roglič's knee is also completely fine. He trains without restrictions"

The team will be using the Critérium du Dauphiné has a building block for the second Grand Tour of the season, and most of the riders that are currently in Sierra Nevada will make the trip to southern France. "For us, this is an important step towards the Tour. The time trial on day four counts as a test on the two chronos in the Tour and the penultimate stage is very similar to the twelfth stage of the Tour [with a finale at Alpe d'Huez]," Heijboer added.

We have not yet discussed the precise division of roles for the Dauphiné. If there is something for Wout to pick up, we will not pass it up, but it is certainly not the main goal," the team stresses. Heijboer stressed that the real ambitions come at the Tour, and despite it's reputation and points available, the Dauphiné will be a test.

"We ride the Dauphiné in function of the Tour. Our starting point is that we want to come out better than we go in. It is not the intention to waste energy there, which we then lack in the Tour," he concluded.