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"Roglič is our king and the king is difficult to let go" - Plugge says there is full intention on team to keep Primoz Roglic onboard
CyclingMonday, 18 September 2023 at 10:10
Some rumours spread like wildfire. Although he holds a contract for two more years and has ever talked about leaving Jumbo-Visma, for several months some have argued that he should leave the team in search of more freedom and leadership. Richard Plugge, team general manager, discards these rumours completely.
"There’s been no approach. Roglič is our king, as I’ve texted you in the past, and that’s still the case. He has won every GC race he’s started this year apart from this one and he has won 15 races this year. Why would I consider letting him go?" Plugge told GCN. "That’s a really difficult discussion but if teams are interested and there are rumours then maybe one day he is knocking on my door, but not yet. Roglič is our king and the king is difficult to let go. If you compare him to football, he’s a goal scorer who scores the most goals for our team, together with Jonas. If he leaves then we miss a lot of goals and we have to find someone who scores more goals and there’s not many people who can do that," Plugge added.
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Namely INEOS Grenadiers, Movistar Team and Lidl-Trek have been mentioned, two teams now with very large budgets. The main point within the rumours focuses on how the Slovenian will never have a chance to lead the Tour de France again, because of Jonas Vingegaard's presence in the team. Roglic, an extremely successful rider this year who continues to show his very best level after a Giro d'Italia win, has been supported by the team in every race he's been at, now with the Vuelta a Espana however presenting a different challenge.
"We’ll see. We’ll see what the discussions will be and I can’t look forward or dive into things that might happen. We have to have the discussion and put it all on the table," Plugge said of a possible Roglic leadership at the Tour de France in the future. With Vingegaard being a reigning double Tour de France winner it will indeed be a hard task for the Slovenian, who now also was not overly satisfied with having to settle for a minor podium place at the Vuelta a Espana as Sepp Kuss benefited from a breakaway and is now heading towards a likely GC win.
“It was our challenge already and we have big stars in the team with also Wout van Aert, and Olav Kooij is winning more than 10 races this year. We’re used to it and we have to manage these stars," Plugge concludes. "We’ve done it for a couple of years and it’s not a bigger issue this winter than it was before. We don’t see it as an issue because we ask what people want and we find the best plan for everyone.”
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- No, it didn't. It has been debunked by the team that there was anything wrong with his feeding. Pogacar went too early and paid the price.maaiikeen31-12-2024
- Strong team around Jonas and pray each day that Tadej forgets to eat in the decisive stages (col du Granon). It also happened this year, stage 11 when Jonas won the sprint (incredible! Tadej was empty).
maria2024202430-12-2024 - Not quite yet I’d say but she could reach and surpass. You probably forgot Vos’ 2 track WC titles that outweigh the total and it has to be said more of PFPs MTB titles are a bit far fetched than Vos but yes they are comparable. It’s strange that with her consistent participation in xc she’s never ever managed to win even one race, Marie Schreiber can at least retire with that achievement ;-)Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- He may be known as “The goat” but I can’t realistically consider him a top ten candidate taking together all forms of cycling. Vos had 28 UCI WC wins, Absalon 33, Schurter 34, MVDP 41 and counting. As far as world championships they are all ahead too Longo, MVDP, PFP, Merckx, de Vlaeminck, TP and at least a half dozen others from long ago are surely higher up, or what criteria are you privileging other than a nickname?Mistermaumau30-12-2024
- and yeah, i’m a ridiculous blowhard for writing THAT MUCH. seriously, f me…OCexile30-12-2024
- this has diverged from being a per se cycling discussion, but that’s cool with me. so i live in the united states. for background, i grew up in southern california, educated at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley, and except for chunks of a 22 year Navy career i’ve lived here most of my life. there are things about this country, the way its social, political, and economic institutions function that IN MY OPINION fail considerably in comparison to other developed democracies. BUT, one thing that i think the US does excel in is that we have an extraordinarily high level of freedom of speech. now, that certainly opens the door for the alex joneses of the world to weaponize/monetize speech in utterly disgusting ways that do actual damage. it also gives freedom to politicians to say that the press is corrupt and should be jailed, like in russia, iran, or venezuela. these are DANGEROUS uses of freedom of speech. but as much as that freedom may imperil the well being of individuals and ideas — like the idea of liberty itself — it’s that freedom that has, over time, marked the SLOW movement toward greater equality and well being. this extreme level of free speech is certainly the primary fundamental right in the united states that has functioned, over time, to actively drive social progress. i mean, quack quack quack, right? the kind of speech that MOST needs protection is UNPOPULAR SPEECH. we KNOW this. but if you can only engage in unpopular speech IN PRIVATE, as you suggested, and be BARRED from a public platform to share those unpopular ideas, then your freedom to speak means very little and the whole project of social change and social progress grinds to a halt. “YES, you can talk about all races being equal to your friends, but you can’t publish any articles making that argument.” “YES, you can say that homosexuality isn’t a dangerous perversion that must be legislated against so long as you ONLY say it to your friends, but you can’t say it on a radio show.” so the problem is, if there’s going to be prior restraint of speech, the only person I’M gonna trust to decide who can say what before they say it is ME. if somebody wants to let me and my friends make all those decisions, then i’m IN. i’d expect a little pushback on that idea though. alex jones would probably like that job, too. lance would love that kind of power i bet. sooooo…. maybe it’s better to just leave things like they are. it’s ugly and messy and people get hurt, but once you SURRENDER that nearly unlimited freedom you’ll never get it back. and yes, society has drawn lines: still can’t threaten to blow up a mosque or share child pornography, etc. — that’s a pretty good idea. but erring on the side of freedom rather than censorship has been critical in preserving valuable free speech rather than seeing it slowly winnowed and legislated away. so yeah, there WILL be another alex jones, neonazis get to deny the holocaust, and lance gets to talk about cycling all he wants. and if you don’t like the source or the content then YOU are free to rail against it, or just not listen. as always, totally appreciate and respect YOUR perspective, brother. and i do get where you’re coming from. there are individuals in the US who have (or are about to have) the biggest platform there is who say things that drive me mad because i find them so dangerous and misleading, but the american version of democracy, with all its notable failings, has survived by preserving freedom of speech in the face of these types, not by limiting it.OCexile30-12-2024
- There is a cyclist, recently retired who raced as a Junior in 1997, and is known as 'The Goat'. Downhill legend, Greg Minnaar......wipperman9530-12-2024
- The road bias of this site shows up as PFP isn't mentioned - who is as successful as Vos, and from memory has more World titles.wipperman9530-12-2024
- his wife was surprisingly accurateabstractengineer30-12-2024
- Its the wrong thing to do the Vuelta after getting exhausted in the TDF. This is going to reduce his career potentialabstractengineer30-12-2024