"Primoz was good, but not good enough on that day" - Primoz Roglic's DS speaks about the day he lost 2020 Tour de France

Back in 2020, Primoz Roglic entered the Tour de France as the main favourite for overall victory. With defending champion Egan Bernal fighting through intense back pain (and eventually abandoning the race in third week), the 2019 Vuelta a Espana champion seemed to be well on his way to the big Grande Boucle triumph.

Or at least until the infamous final mountain time trial with finish at La Planche des Belles Filles. On that day, Roglic lost nearly two minutes to the young prodigy Tadej Pogacar as well as the yellow jersey - on the last day possible. Roglic then went on to win his second Vuelta later that year, however he never came as close to winning the Grande Boucle ever again, with bad luck seemingly following his every step at the Tour since then.

Jumbo-Visma's sports director Arthur Van Dongen witnessed the unimaginable happen from within the team car on that day. "That’s the beauty of top-level sport, they’re still just people," Van Dongen begins for WielerFlits. "And Primoz wasn’t at his best that day. He was good, but not good enough and of course we learned from that, but of course those riders have to be able to do it. It’s as simple as that."

Despite the fact that the form of the rider plays the main role in explaining a lesser performance, the team evaluated more than just Roglic's quality after the time trial. "Organizationally, we were chasing the facts all day. That is not a reproach, but an observation," Van Dongen indicates.

"That wasn’t a very good preparation during the day, so we learned some things from that," concludes the Visma | Lease a Bike sports director. "But I also think that Primoz was just done. The day before, he didn’t have his best day either. That’s no shame, but it is a shame," Van Dongen concludes.