Primoz Roglic to face Remco Evenepoel in the only preparation race for the Giro d'Italia

It has been a long and strange winter for Primoz Roglic, but his preparation for the Giro d'Italia will take place just as planned. The Jumbo-Visma rider will race only the Volta a Catalunya before beginning the Corsa Rosa, and he will go face-to-face with Remco Evenepoel in the Catalan mountains.

"Primoz has no other races scheduled before the Giro d'Italia," team DS Merijn Zeeman admit to Gazzetta dello Sport. The decision comes as a surprise taking into consideration that Roglic has not raced since last September, when he abandoned the Vuelta a Espana, consequence of his injuries following a crash on stage 16. 

At the time, he was attacking and trying to take time on Remco Evenepoel. At the end of March, Roglic will start his season and at the Volta a Catalunya he will have three high-mountain stages, as well as the explosive final circuit stage into Barcelona to test his legs. This will be his only race, as Roglic focuses on high-quality training before the Corsa Rosa in order to prepare himself.

The Slovenian has spent three months throughout the winter off the bike and only returned to the bike in early December, following fatigue from the 2022 season and an operation that was meant to reduce the chances of him continuously suffering from shoulder dislocations. As Evenepoel races the UAE Tour - and the Vuelta a San Juan where he began his year - Roglic has been spending time in Teide at altitude with Jumbo-Visma.