Sunday 4th July 2021
Top favorite leaves the tour
Falling agony force Roglic to give up
Primoz Roglic, who was second in the previous year, drops out of the Tour de France after the first stage in the Alps. This is announced by his racing team Jumbo-Visma. The 31-year-old had already crossed the finish line in Le Grand-Bornand on Saturday, about 35 minutes behind the winner of the day, Dylan Teuns.
The Slovenian Primoz Roglic, second in the previous year, retired from the 108th Tour de France. The ailing captain of the Jumbo-Visma team got out before the ninth stage. This was announced by his racing team with reference to the injuries that Roglic had suffered early on during the tour. “We made this decision together,” said the disappointed Roglic: “Now is the time for me to relax and focus on new goals. I am very disappointed, but I have to accept it that way.” It is currently unclear whether Roglic will start at the Olympic Games as planned.
Vuelta winner Roglic had a bad fall on the third stage on Monday shortly before the finish in Pointivy and had since struggled with various painful wounds through the race. The 31-year-old suffered a bruised tailbone and large abrasions all over his body. “It just made no sense. I tried, but the pain was just too great,” said the Slovenian. He was next to defending champion Tadej Pogačar as a top favorite for the overall victory. On Saturday’s winner Dylan Teuns, he was around 35 minutes short of the finish in Le Grand-Bornand.
On Friday he had already lost a lot of time on his compatriot Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and lost all chances of overall victory. On Saturday, the Cottbus native Tony Martin’s team-mate fell even further behind and was almost 40 minutes behind the new man in the yellow jersey. Pogačar leads in the overall standings with almost two minutes ahead of Wout van Aert (1:48). The third-placed Kazakhs Alexei Lutsenko is already 4:38 minutes behind.
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