"We'll see who's the best in Rome" - Primoz Roglic keen on naming Remco Evenepoel 'among the absolute favourites' for Giro d'Italia

Remco Evenepoel has made a statement. His strong and all-rounded performance at the UAE Tour was the evidence of a good winter of work and the climbing capacity to fight for the Giro d'Italia win in 2023. Primoz Roglic has seen his rival's performance, and is aware the Belgian is among the big favourites.

“Everything is going as we wanted. The pain was very bad. With all my experience I have to say that we will only see in competitions how things really stand. We'll have to wait and see," Roglic said in words to RTV Slo.

Now fully recovered from his injuries and operations over the winter, the Slovenian restarted training in early December. He will be taking in an unusually light calendar towards the Giro, making his season debut and only competitive outing at the Volta a Catalunya where he'll face the World Champion.

Catalunya and the Tour de Suisse remain the only main World Tour stage-races he's yet to conquer. Asked if that changes his schedule plan he responds: "Absolutely. These are achievements that no one has ever achieved before. It's always interesting to write cycling history, but first we have to start with Catalunya. That will be my first race after many months of absence, so we'll see how it goes there."

Nevertheless, this remains secondary, as Roglic looks to get back to his best level towards the Giro d'Italia where he will lead Jumbo-Visma but will simultaneously have a very hard task as he faces a brutal course.

"The Giro is extremely demanding," he admits. "Many time trial kilometers have been included in the course. Hopefully I can compete there with the best time trialists and GC riders in the world. It is always a difficult question who are among the absolute favourites, but Evenepoel is certainly one of them. He has shown a lot in recent years and the Giro's course fits well with his qualities. We'll see who's the best in Rome."

Finally, Roglic was asked if he was to watch the Jumbo-Visma documentary on the 2022 season, to which he replies: "No, I haven't seen it yet. I'm very hesitant to watch that sort of thing. I'm catching enough from other comments. I don't have to waste my time on all that stuff."