It’s rare that you see Primož Roglič vexed and angry. Frustrated, yes – he’s had too many Tours de France spoiled by crashes and heartbreaking defeats not to be visibly sour – but irritated and aggrieved are not part of his character. After stage three of the Volta a Catalunya, though, where Roglič was Roglified by Juan Ayuso at La Molina, a finishing climb seemingly designed by Roglič Architects, the Slovenian cut a picture of indignation. No post-race debrief with the media, barely a word muttered to his teammates. In the grand scheme of things, losing an uphill sprint to Ayuso in what is essentially a warm-up race for the Giro d’Italia didn’t matter, but Roglič was evidently bitter and annoyed. And those feelings were directed at himself, because even though he’s in the twilight of his storied career – he turned 35 in October – he’s not slowing down, and he’s not becoming any less of a competitor. He’s still here to win, and win a lot.
And so over the following four days, Roglič bested Ayuso in another uphill sprint in Montserrat, and then in a daring and adventurous move that he is not so known for, he attacked 21km from the line in Barcelona to win the Catalan race for the second time in three years, overturning a one second deficit to Ayuso to beat the Spaniard by 28 seconds. A few days before, he said he and Ayuso were “equal” and he reiterated that thought after his latest GC victory, insisting that “this win doesn’t really influence the outcome of the Giro.” But make no mistake: Roglič is now the favourite for the Giro, and despite his advancing years, the four-time Vuelta a España winner is as strong as ever.
“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 sports director Patxi Vila told Rouleur at Catalunya, where Roglič won the three main jerseys. “Primož 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.”
It was Roglič's second victory at Catalunya. Photo: Josep Lago/Getty
Famously, Roglič joined the cycling world at a much older age than almost all of his companions in the peloton – quitting his first sport of ski jumping and eventually being snapped up by LottoNL-Jumbo (now Visma-Lease a Bike) at the age of 26. Since then, the Slovenian has won 91 bike races, including topping 23 general classifications. So many of his wins have been built on his trademark punch, attacking in the final kilometre or just edging out a rival in a finish line sprint.
But on occasions – including in last year’s Vuelta when he gave Ben O’Connor a five minute head start – Roglič has demonstrated that he is capable of going longer to force an advantage. His victory in Catalunya was another one of those examples, a move he was forced into after stage six’s route was cut from a mountainous circuit to a 25km mostly downhill criterium due to high winds. “The big mountain stage was cancelled… I don’t want to do sprints, I want to decide a race in the mountains or the climbs,” he said. “But I had to do something. I always say that Catalunya is an honest race where the legs do the talking, but I really didn’t have a great feeling until the last stage. It’s hard to plan the final stage and I didn’t really think about it before. I just had to do it and it was fun.”
Roglič won a record-equalling fourth Vuelta a España last September. Photo: Unipublic / Cxcling
For the past few years, Roglič has formed part of cycling’s Big Four, the quartet of generational talents winning pretty much every Grand Tour. But the maturation of Ayuso, still only 22, and other potential three week winners like João Almeida and Matteo Jorgenson, is threatening the established order. Nevertheless, Red Bull remain buoyant in their veteran superstar. “So far those four have been above everyone else…but 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. “The young guys are pushing really hard. 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. But with Jai [Hindley] in the [2022] Giro and Primož 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.”
Red Bull’s manager, Ralph Denk, highlighted the journey the team and Roglič have been on since he joined at the start of last season. “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.”
As the clock ticks ever closer to the Giro, where Roglič will be aiming to win his second maglia rosa in three years, Denk echoes everyone else in his team in believing that their main man will continue to defy age. “We believed that he started late and that he’s not so burnt,” the German said. “It’s a fucking hard endurance sport and hopefully – hopefully, but nobody knows it – his engine burns a bit longer. We’re quite optimistic.”
