Vuelta a Espana news: 'I'll definitely do my best' - Primoz Roglic determined ahead of Vuelta a Espana
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Published 13/08/2021 at 15:34 GMT
Following a Tokyo Olympics time trial gold medal, Slovenian rider Primoz Roglic hopes to secure a Vuelta a Espana hat-trick when he crosses the last finish line in early September. The Jumbo-Visma rider has to cope with the disappointment of his Tour de France withdrawal, but is focused on the task at hand.
Primoz Roglic celebrates | Tokyo 2020
Image credit: Getty Images
Primoz Roglic is hoping that the Vuelta is going to lift his spirit for a third successive year.
In 2019 he won in Spain to get over the disappointment of losing from a strong position at the Giro d’Italia, and last year he had to settle for the Vuelta after being pipped by countryman Tadej Pogacar for the Tour de France.
Fortunately for Roglic, he was able to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics time trial to mitigate his failure at the Tour de France after pulling out after stage 8 following a serious crash in the first week of the event.
“It’s a part of cycling and I think also a part of life,” told Cyclingnews of his Tour de France withdrawal.
“You go up, you go down. The most important thing is to keep moving. I try to follow that. Now I’m here and I’ll definitely do my best at this Vuelta.”
Speaking of his return to action at the Olympics, it was clear he was still struggling to recover his moral.
“In the end, the sooner you accept the way it is, the easier it is, so I went with it. I took it how it was and I just tried to recover somehow, but I was also feeling really empty immediately after, because I really put everything into that Tour,” Roglic said.
When I left [the Tour], I was sure I would do the Olympics, but after a week, I made a decision that I wouldn’t do it. But then a couple of days later, I thought again, and I said, ‘okay I will do everything to try to get ready and see how it goes.’
While far from arrogant, he nevertheless is optimistic about his chances, and the rest of his Jumbo-Visma team.
“The answer to this will be known after a couple of days, or at least at the end. I did everything I could and I feel confident. We’re here with a strong team and we have to go out there and try to have fun,” Roglic claimed.
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“It’s not different this year, I actually don’t know any of the climbs for this year, so we have to see. In the end, if you have the legs, it’s no problem. We have to deal with it the way it is and see how it goes.”
Team Ineos has a strong trio of Egan Bernal, Adam Yates and Richard Carapaz, backed up as well by Russia rider Pavel Sivakov, but Roglic is looking beyond a single rival.
“I’m more worried about the question of how to approach it day by day and how to approach it with the whole team so we don’t make mistakes, that’s what I’m worried about. As you know for sure, Egan is a super-strong guy but it’s not only him, you have a lot more strong guys and it will be a big fight between all of us all the way to the end,” Roglic stated.
“You journalists like to have two guys battling each other and make all the stories around it, but in the end, I don’t care who I’m against, if it’s Tadej or Bernal or Richie… You have so many guys who are strong and capable of winning, it’s stupid to think about it. We stay focused on ourselves and the whole team around me.”
If you’re the fastest or best, then it’s good, but if someone else is better, it’s good for them.
“It’s always the same. Three-week races are always honest races: at the end the strongest guy will win.”
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