Primoz Roglic will rely on 21-year-old talent to win him the Giro: "Roglic has been outflanked by UAE Team Emirates"
Cycling
The second time trial of Giro d'Italia shook up the general classification, but ultimately Primoz Roglic is still trailing his rival Juan Ayuso by almost a minute. And the Spaniard has three more teammates within the top-7 with Isaac del Toro still in the overall lead. Can the patched up Roglic turn the tables in the second half of the Giro?
"When Primoz Roglic and his Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe teammates finally sat down and took stock at the conclusion of the first week of racing on Italian roads at the Giro d'Italia they would have realised that there was good news and there was bad news," Philippa York analyzes in her Cyclingnews column.
"The positives were that Roglic had already been race leader for two of those days," Yorks begins by outlining things that went well in the first week. However things started to go sideways as peloton approached the second rest day. "The negatives were that he had fallen, they had lost Jai Hindley and – the biggest worry of all – the 2023 Giro champion had been outflanked by UAE Team Emirates - XRG," she lists.
The major blow for Roglic came on the mini-Strade stage 9 when he lost a minute due to his crash and two minutes to the new Maglia rosa Isaac del Toro. Yet it shouldn't be surprising that UAE or INEOS tried to use all of their cards against weakened Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe in the one stage that dared chaos to break out.
"It was always going to be a possibility that UAE would play the numbers game when the opportunity presented itself and the gravel sectors on the way to Sienna seemed the mostly likely terrain for that to happen, so it’s not a great surprise."
In the high mountains of third week, Roglic should still have an advantage over Juan Ayuso (and Del Toro), but he'll also need to deal with UAE's inifinite team depth with many top-tier climbers on domestique duties. On the other hand according to York, Roglic can rely only on the 21-year-old Giulio Pellizzari.
"Compared to the UAE Team Emirates resources available, namely Adam Yates and Brandon McNulty, the critical role of climbing domestique is likely going to fall on the shoulders of Giulio Pellizzari who was the only teammate that Roglic had left in the final part of the fateful ninth stage."
Even though the team of Juan Ayuso holds all the trump cards, they should stay alert and try to put Roglic under pressure at every opportunity. "UAE have the upper hand but can’t lie back and risk Roglic wearing them down in the last week, they can’t let him take bonus seconds either."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 7visitors 7
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Roglic could not have won anyway, after Jonas followed him when Roglic decided it was his turn for a stage win. Jonas had already attacked Kuss twice, so it was Jonas who was within seconds of taking the lead before Kuss was 'gifted' the win. It felt a bit like Roglic was being thrown under the bus when the team made his unhappiness public.Hills3314-11-2026
- POG1, another nice doc about our favourite, I watched most of it with a big smile on my face (except for the bits about his crashes 😢 obvs!).Lozza14-11-2026
- Martinez had a good year! 5th at the Tour was a great result for him, albeit largely through getting in successful breaks, but he held it better than Pidcock who’d done the same.Lozza14-11-2026
- guess what Valgren, you're 34, and no you're not good enough. sorry to say.mij14-11-2026
- I'm a sepp fan and like to think he earned that LOL, indulge me : ) I think Jonas was fine. Roglic did not want to concede to Sepp. and I don't think you ever attack your own teammate in the leaders jersey if he is holding his own, which Sepp just about was.mij14-11-2026
- enough time? he's 24 years old. He's won 10 races over the last 2 years and some are significant. I won't argue about his attitude being good - it needs to improve. But with some coaching and mentorship he has a lot of winning ahead of him and has plenty of time to win a GT. I don't think he will ever beat Tadej, but everyone else is fair game Look at Mas and Valverde - they were 31 and 29, respectively, when they won the Vuelta.mij14-11-2026
- Pogacar has a fine head on his shoulders.Careful investments and a couple of coffee shops sounds like a wonderful way to chill after an intense career.Stay healthy GOAT.
Brucegel14-11-2026 - I live in Maribor.PogiSloFans14-11-2026
- I live in Ljubljana and often go on trips in the surrounding area, where I frequently see young cyclists in 'Pogi Team' jerseys training, either alone or in groups. By simply motivating so many young people to take up cycling, Tadej has already achieved something truly significant.Velijo14-11-2026
- That's an excellent point. It's interesting that Vader came to that realization only after he learned that his contract wasn't going to be renewed.
santiagobenites14-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment