"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
Cycling
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.”
Read also
Just in
Play for FREE! Fantasy Tour of Flanders
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
The climbs of the 2025 Tour of Flanders
Popular news
Latest comments
- if there is an actual weakness in wout even when completely healthy, it’s that he’s in his head too often. this has been pointed out many times by much more acute observers of cycling than ME, certainly. it may be that he’s been like this since he was a little kid. we are who we are. or that he was shaped by having faced van der poel SOOO many times. mvdp has zero second thoughts. he wastes no time at all on doubt. that has, in the past, led him to do some pretty insane things and make mistakes that wout would never have committed. but it also makes him a killer. you can see wout’s split seconds of doubt and hesitation everywhere in their head to head battles. those hesitations spill over into other races at times like dwars, when doubt creeps in. i believe that currently he is still coming back from physical problems due to injuries, but even when he’s full strength the mental game is an area of potential concern, AND potential improvement.OCexile03-04-2025
- Not only the public, just about every analyst and commentator had been piling it on. Under the circumstances I’d even say he’s showing real character. Not sure likeable Tadej would manage as well during a longer rough patch.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Took a while but we finally have a more nuanced analysis.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- If I remember right, it was those same hungry journalists selling us a different story less than a year ago about the bleak future of Dutch (men’s) cycling with no possible successor for MVDP ;-)Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Good, hopefully Jonas goes also so we get a nice duelvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- right? i think it’s hungry journalists that fuel this, and i understand the jam they can be in trying to create stories, but you’d hate to think ANYONE is failing to appreciate how RARE someone like van der poel is (or how LUCKY we are to have both mvdp and pog racing at the same time). a little perspective is a good thing…OCexile03-04-2025
- Anyone know how long that 213km ride took? Coz without that the segment speeds don’t reveal anything surprising. If it took him Less than 5h ok but otherwise it was just some interval training for him.Jumpyjohn03-04-2025
- Hinault was even lighter than Pog at 62 kg when he won PR in 1981, beating Roger van Vlaeminck no less (albeit at the fag end of the latter's career), so it can be done.Cooldude03-04-2025
- Having to shoulder too much pressure from the Belgain public too much that he made a tactical mistake. That's what public pressure does to you. Poor Wout! Hopefully, lady luck befalls him soon.
KerisVroom03-04-2025 - If he's very lucky maybe he can podium a Tour one season, I certainly don't believe he can win it, evervappaxbipmv03-04-2025