"The goal is still the same" - Only victory is on the mind of Primoz Roglic for Giro d'Italia

Primoz Roglic takes to the Grande Partenza in Albania with the Giro d'Italia victory on his mind. In the press conference leading up to the race the Slovenian was in a relaxed mood and did not give away much about what he thought of the route and his rivals, rather keeping it very vague and light-hearted.

"At the end of the day, in the race, it doesn't really matter where you start, the goal is still the same. You try to do your best because at the end it's a three-week race, so you try to go full without any unnecessary problems," the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe rider said - next to Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert, Juan Ayuso, Tom Pidcock, Richard Carapaz, Egan Bernal and Giulio Ciccone who were also called in to be on stage.

The 35-year old has won this race two years ago with a strong performance in the final week, and this time around the same days could prove to be the decisive ones - although the time-trialing kilometers end up early on. Roglic will need his absolute best climbing level throughout the three weeks to be able to take the pink jersey in a field where he will have strong rivals.

But he wouldn't name them: "You saw them here, and it's not just these guys either, all of them are dangerous, so it would be really unfair to point out which one. Hopefully, I can fight with them and we can have a good show of racing." Roglic kept it light and gave the impression of someone who isn't under a lot of impression.

However relaxation can't be confused with the lack of top level, as he believes he's prepared quite ideally towards the race: "Ten (out of then, ed.). Which is good enough to win the Giro, obviously. But you never know, maybe somebody is at 15. So then, in that case, it's not good enough," he joked.