“Primoz will forever remain in my heart as our king" - Richard Plugge's glowing tribute to departing Roglic

With the news of Primoz Roglic's imminent departure from Jumbo-Visma now fully confirmed, the team's CEO Richard Plugge has paid a glowing tribute to the Slovenian.

“Primoz will forever remain in my heart as our king," says Plugge of the man who brought Jumbo-Visma a quartet of Grand Tour successes, (3x Vuelta a Espana & 1x Giro d'Italia), in quotes collected by Wielerflits. “We are very grateful to him for the upward path we have taken together. I will always admire him on a personal level."

Despite the vast love and mutual respect between Jumbo-Visma and Roglic, Plugge also admits that the time was right for both rider and team to go in a different direction. "There comes a time when parting ways is the best choice," Plugge explains. "He recently submitted a transfer request. We understood his request and we have too much respect for each other to let anything get in each other's way. We gave him the green light, just like we did with Dylan Groenewegen.”

Interest in Roglic is thought to be incredibly high, something that will have been dampened in no way whatsoever by the Slovenian's stunning victory at Giro dell'Emilia ahead of Tadej Pogacar in one of his final races for Jumbo-Visma.