"You don’t bring a three-time winner here just for the sake of starting" - BORA head to first GC test of Vuelta a Espana 2024 optimistic of Primoz Roglic's chances

Stage 4 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana sees the Spanish Grand Tour head to the first mountains for the first time. For Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe leader Primoz Roglic, it's biggest test yet of his recovery from injury.

"You can never be certain after such injuries," admits Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's sports director Rolf Aldag in conversation with IDL, noting how Aleksandr Vlasov also is on the road back from injury. "Both of them did everything they could to make it to the start, but there was always a chance that Primoz's back pain could return during the final training session. If that had happened, we would have had to pull him out. The goal was to have him start, but we knew there would be many hurdles along the way."

So far, Roglic has done very well in the opening three stages and sits 8th overall, best placed of the likely general classification challengers. "It’s a step-by-step process. You start with the goal, but first, he has to recover. If the recovery goes well, you can start thinking about training. If he responds positively to that, then you can think about building form," Aldag continues. "And you don’t bring a three-time winner here just for the sake of starting. If we didn’t see a realistic chance, we wouldn’t have done it. That’s the mindset we maintain."

"I was happy with my result. It was a fast time trial, so I’m glad I had the speed. Now I’m looking forward to the important stages ahead. It gave me some motivation. Of course, it’s just the first stage, and it was only ten kilometres, but still, I’m very pleased," Roglic himself said after the opening stage. "Now we need to see how things go on the road bike, but in the end, the Vuelta will be decided in the mountains."

As always with Roglic however, it hasn't been completely plain sailing. The Slovenian got lost in the team presentation and then lost a tooth, needing an emergency trip to the dentist on the eve of the race. That, coincided with his back injury is hardly ideal preparation for a Grand Tour.

"My tooth fell out, but they managed to put it back in. Marginal gains, huh?" Roglic laughed about the incident, clearly seeing the funny side of the situation. "It’s one gram less, but we decided to put it back for the flat stages. It’s more aero. Thanks, guys."