“The radio stopped working after about a kilometre” - Primoz Roglic rolls back the years with remarkable home European title as uncertain off-season looms
Cycling
Primoz Roglic has spent much of 2026 being asked what comes next. On Wednesday in Slovenia, the 36-year-old showed again that he is not done yet. Roglic won the first European time trial title of his career on home roads, beating Bruno Armirail by 7.13 seconds over the 21.8-kilometre course and finally giving the Slovenian crowd the elite men's victory they had been waiting for all week.
He managed almost the entire ride without radio communication. "The radio stopped working after about a kilometre," Roglic revealed afterwards. "I basically rode the whole race by feel."
That left him to judge his effort himself on a course where the early climb and faster run towards the finish made pacing especially important. "We'll have to look at the data, but I definitely left absolutely everything out on the course. Fortunately, it was enough for the title."
Roglic had already put nearly 13 seconds into Armirail at the first checkpoint after eight kilometres. The Frenchman gradually brought some of that time back through the second half, but never got close enough to overturn it. Roglic stopped the clock in 28:16.061 and took gold by just over seven seconds.
Another major title against the clock
It is five years since Roglic won Olympic time trial gold in Tokyo, and a lot has changed since then. He has added a Giro d'Italia title and a fourth Vuelta a España to his palmares, but he is no longer at the stage of his career where the next few seasons feel obvious.
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe's future is increasingly being built around younger riders, while Roglic has repeatedly been asked how much longer he plans to continue. Earlier this year he made clear retirement was not yet on his mind, but he has kept his longer-term plans open. "I don't know what the future brings," he said during the Vuelta.
His 2026 results have still given him plenty of reasons to keep going. Roglic finished second at the Vuelta before turning his attention to the late-season championships. He was 21st in the World Championship road race in Montreal and then 10th in Sunday's European road race as Remco Evenepoel took the title. The time trial was a different story.
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"This is for all of us"
For Roglic, winning it in Slovenia clearly meant more than simply adding another title. "It's really beautiful. Of course this success is mine, but it's for everyone here," he said. "Not just today, but throughout the whole championship. This success is for everyone who made sure these championships could take place here. This is for all of us."
Slovenia had gone into its home championships without Tadej Pogacar, while Sunday's road race had also passed without the home result Roglic and the crowd had hoped for. Three days later, he was fastest from the first major split to the finish.
Armirail made him work for it and cut into the early deficit, but Roglic still had seven seconds in hand when he reached the line, having ridden almost the whole effort without the radio he would normally rely on.
What happens next remains less clear. Roglic heads into the off-season with questions still hanging over his future and where he will race in 2027. For now, though, he leaves Slovenia with a European champion's jersey he had never won before, claimed at 36, on home roads, and after a ride that looked a lot like the Roglic of old.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- So great to see. The "old" guy still has some life left in the legs! Bravo Primoz!mobk07-10-2026
- couldn't agree more. this might be the perfect moment to retire ... but then, he is obviously good for another couple of years in the peloton!Ketterechts07-10-2026
- Am I surprised? A little bit. Am I happy? Truly truly happy. Congratulations, Roglič! How wonderful to have a Slovenian win the last race at the championships in Slovenia. Fabulous!RidesHills07-10-2026
- I don't want to state the obvious, but after reading your posts, I want to say that your opinion is completely irrelevant.MajorPayne07-10-2026
- It's crazy when a car or van does it, and worse when a police or race motorbike does it, especially if going in the opposite direction. Yes, accidents happen with bikes (ask Geraint Thomas or Julian Alaphilippe), and it's never safe, but this kind of thing should not be happening.RidesHills07-10-2026
- Zonneveld continues his "I hate Pogi rhetoric"slappers6607-10-2026
- Some tagline to his career.... If it wasn't for Pogislappers6607-10-2026
- The reason for that is that although the camera is recording at 1300 fromes per second it isn't capturing all the movement. The bicycles are travelling at such a high speed with the wheels spinng at a high revolution at the same time, that even 1300 frames per second does not capture all of the movement. The techy term for that is rolling shutter. It is further compounded by how the camera shoots each frame. Each single frame is scanned from top to bottom. That takes time even if done even at a high speed. Multiply that single frame time period by 1300 frames that have to be scanned and an overall time delay is happening. The bent spokes you see are a compounded image of the spoke movement being stopped on every frame at that moment. "rolling shutter." The cameras gubbins then creates an image showing this movement as best it can. To eliminate this issue would need a much faster camera shooting at many times the 1300 per second frame rate or use a camera with what is called a "global shutter" Global shutters eliminate much of that wubble you see in the spokes. Motion picture cameras have a global shutter. You will rarely see odd shaped moving images in high quality films.Prorodsandstuff07-10-2026
- yes I should have qualified the all continents. maybe they can do a TdF TT prologue there - it seems the TdF route planning committee is always looking for a novel and inconvenient place to start a race. then McEnremcoe could truly be an all continents winner.mij07-10-2026
- although he'll never be able to beat a healthy pogi in a grand tour, this year's tdf has demonstrated that in his absence he can probably win any grand tour...Ketterechts07-10-2026
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