Primoz Roglic is ready to step up and win a Grand Tour title

Matt Jones - Editor 15:53 03/03/2019
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  • He is not among the most well-known names in cycling – but Primoz Roglic’s stunning 2018 and bright start to 2019 make him a contender to wear a Grand Tour crown this year.

    Whereas he might not be the most famous face in the peloton, there are not many in better form. It’s been a stunning 12 months for the Slovenian who earned a slew of victories in 2018 – the Tour of the Basque Country, Tour de Romandie and Tour of Slovenia among the highlights.

    He won a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico as well as Stage 19 at the Tour de France, his second after an initial victory at the 2017 version.

    On his Grand Tour debut a year earlier he won the Chianti time trial at the Giro d’Italia. His second stage win at Le Tour a year ago, meanwhile, contributed to a stunning overall finish of fourth.

    And he has picked right up from where he left off in the early part of 2019 – winning two stages and the overall GC title at the inaugural UAE Tour this week, leading the event wire to wire.

    The fact he was able to keep the likes of Alejandro Valverde, Tom Dumoulin, Vincenzo Nibali, Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish and Elia Viviani – illustrious names of recent Grand Tour cycling – at arms’ length should tell you a great deal.

    Roglic’s rise is all the more remarkable because, almost unfathomably, he only became a full-time professional in 2013, only taking up cycling seven years ago.

    Before that he was a ski jumper and a pretty good one too. He was a junior world champion in 2007 but suffered an accident that same year and opted to walk away from the sport to try his hand at something else.

    If he found ski jumping too difficult, cycling was hardly a vocation to smoothly and seamlessly transition to – it is arguably the most physically demanding and dangerous sport on the planet.

    And yet, Roglic has thrived. He hasn’t had to tread water early on either, he’s been successful every year since swapping the slopes for the saddle.

    In 2016 – his debut with Team Jumbo-Visma (formerly LottoNL-Jumbo) – he finished fifth overall at the Volta ao Algarve. A year later he was champion. In 2017 he was third overall at the Tour de Romandie and fifth at the Tour of the Basque Country. He was on top of the podium at both a year further down the line.

    Part of his success can be put down to the fact he very much fits the bill of a modern rouleur-climber – riders with all-round abilities.

    He appears equally adept on the grueling mountain ascents as he does on the cobbles, in the crosswinds or during a time trial.

    His prowess was on full display all week in the Emirates as he took down victory at the opening time trial in Abu Dhabi before finishing second to Valverde on the Stage 3 ascent to Jebel Hafeet.

    Primoz Roglic

    A day later he was third on the largely sprinter friendly Stage 4 to Hatta Dam before tasting victory again, atop Jebel Jais, on Stage 6.

    In contrast, some of his main Giro rivals were kept quiet. Dumoulin had a bad day on the opening mountain stage, ultimately finishing over a minute down in sixth in the GC.

    Nibali, meanwhile, kept a very low profile and struggled on the mountain finishes, trailing in 35th overall. He may have been crowned world champion in September but even Valverde – winner of last year’s Abu Dhabi Tour – could not match him, finishing runner-up.

    Roglic is perhaps the only rider in the world who can climb and time trial with Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome, and Dumoulin.

    He is likely to take on the Giro and Tour double this year. May’s Giro will be his main focus while riding in support of Steven Kruijswijk at Le Tour in July.

    Another reason for optimism is his Jumbo-Visma team. It is stacked with support climbers and has an attacking spirit, one that caused Team Sky no end of discomfort throughout the Alps and Pyrenees last July. Many of his support cast in the UAE – including a rejuvenated Laurens De Plus – will accompany him to Italy.

    In terms of past performances, Roglic’s record at Grand Tours does not exactly stand out compared to the myriad stars who’ll be tackling the Giro and Tour later this year.

    Dumoulin won the Giro in 2017 and has three individual stage triumphs. Nibali is a two-time Giro champion (2013, 2016) and has accumulated nine individual stage victories. He was also Tour champion in 2014 and has won five stages.

    Valverde registered four stage wins at Le Tour, won once at the Giro and hoisted the Vuelta a Espana title in 2009.

    Froome has won four of the last six titles in France and is going for a record-equaling fifth in Team Sky’s swansong.

    Roglic has featured just three times at Grand Tours and while his first two appearances at the Giro and Le Tour were, at initial glance, nothing to get excited about, they don’t paint the full picture.

    He sloped to 58th at the 2016 Giro and improved slightly to 38th at the 2017 Tour, more than an hour-and-a-half behind champion Froome. And yet, in three appearances, Roglic has three wins.

    It was his skyrocketing to fourth in the race for the yellow jersey a year ago that made the critics really sit up and take notice. He could have even usurped a below par three-time defending champion Froome to finish on the podium, but the Briton fought back to eventually claim third and push Roglic into fourth.

    His rise really is rather remarkable, and lends weight to the belief that the former ski jumping champion is now ready to conquer some very different slopes.

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