"We can’t change his age, but there is no conversation about it" - Primoz Roglic has many years left at the top according to Red Bull - BORA hierarchy

Primoz Roglic is heading to the first Grand Tour of 2025 as the favourite to take the Maglia Rosa at the Giro d'Italia. If he could do so, the 35-year-old Slovenian would break Fiorenzo Magni's record as the oldest winner of the Italian Grand Tour in history. As proven by Roglic's recent win at the Volta a Catalunya though, he is showing no signs of slowing down.

“My personal opinion is that most riders have 10-12 really good years, or something like that, although a few can last a little longer,” Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's sports director Patxi Vila explains in conversation with Rouleur about Roglic still having a lot of fight left in his legs. “Primoz finished last season well in the Vuelta with some very good races, and nothing tells us that his performance levels should be going down. At the end of the day, we can’t change his age, but there is no conversation about it. We just focus on our daily business and on being as good as we can, no matter the age.”

At the 2025 Volta a Catalunya, Roglic overcame the challenge of UAE Team Emirates - XRG's Juan Ayuso, a rider 13 years younger. "Cycling changes so fast, and all these new and young guys like Ayuso are coming up so strong. He had a very good start to the season winning Tirreno-Adriatico,” Vila added about the Spaniard. “The young guys are pushing really hard."

As mentioned though, Vila, Roglic and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe are all confident that the Slovenian is going to be mixing it up with the next generation for a few years yet. "Every year is a new year to confirm your position, your status in the bunch and at the end of the year perhaps there are some new guys who’ve joined that club and it might be a Big Five or Six," analyses the DS, backing his whole team, not just Roglic. "With Jai Hindley in the [2022] Giro and Primoz in the Vuelta, we have shown that we are able to win a Grand Tour and in the last couple of years not so many teams have done that.”

“If you have a relationship, you need bad days to really find out if it’s a good relationship, and we had bad days during the Tour but we came back stronger. Setbacks help to create a stronger relationship and we did that very well in the Vuelta,” adds Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe boss Ralph Denk, in complete agreement with Roglic's longevity. “We believed that he started late and that he’s not so burnt. It’s a fucking hard endurance sport and hopefully – hopefully, but nobody knows it – his engine burns a bit longer. We’re quite optimistic.”