Roglic should win the tour
German cycling team signs absolute superstar
October 6, 2023, 11:39 a.m
Won the Giro d’Italia, dominated the Vuelta – all Primoz Roglic is missing is the triumph at the Tour de France. To make this dream come true, the cycling superstar is moving to Germany. To the Bora-hansgrohe team. His boss also mentions the financial risk of the commitment.
The top German racing team Bora-hansgrohe has signed cycling star Primoz Roglic and is aiming to win the Tour de France next year. Team boss Ralph Denk confirmed the transfer of the 33-year-old Slovenian, who previously rode for the Jumbo-Visma team and won the Giro d’Italia in May. With the former ski jumper, the racing team from Raubling, Bavaria, can seriously compete for overall victory in the tour in 2024. The route will be presented on October 25th. The team did not provide any information about the duration of the contract.
“This is a milestone for Bora-hansgrohe,” said Denk about one of the most spectacular transfers in the history of the racing team. “Not only is he very professional, but he also loves what he does. And this love will also help him achieve top performance at a relatively old age.”
The signing, which will see the team further increase its focus on three-week tours, is likely to see a significant change in the salary structure at Bora-hansgrohe – Roglic was one of the highest-paid professionals in cycling last year. “We were able to finance the deal from reserves and equity. It was not necessary for a sponsor to increase,” said Denk. The fixed-term deposit account has now melted badly.
Roglic was demoted at Jumbo
At the end of September, Roglic announced his departure from Jumbo-Visma, where he had ridden alongside Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark and other top stars such as the Belgian Wout van Aert and Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss. “You’ve seen in this year’s major tours that we’re missing something,” said Denk: “Primoz can close this gap. We can put together a great team for him.” Roglic is not bringing any other drivers with him. However, an agreement is being reached with his coach Marc Lamberts.
The former ski jumper Roglic is one of the most successful professional cyclists of the past ten years. He won the Tour of Spain three times in a row (2019 to 2021) and the Giro d’Italia this year, and he is also the Olympic champion in the individual time trial. There are also successes at the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2020 and at Paris-Nice 2022. Along with Vingegaard and his compatriot Tadej Pogacar, he is currently the best tour driver in the world. His big goal is to win the Tour de France, which he narrowly missed in 2020 when Pogacar snatched the yellow jersey from him on the penultimate stage.
In his Jumbo-Visma team, Roglic had recently fallen behind Jonas Vingegaard in the rankings, who won the tour for the second time this year. When he had to bow to team orders at the Spanish Vuelta and let the American Sepp Kuss win, the veteran’s dissatisfaction increased. “He was no longer happy in the situation at Jumbo,” said Denk. At Bora he has first-class helpers in the mountains in Jai Hindley, Dani Martinez, Alexander Vlasow and Emanuel Buchmann.