Seeing the glass half consisted, Monday evening, for Primoz Roglic (BORA-Hansgrohe) estimated that in his best years, he would have made short work of a finish like that proposed on the 2nd stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Seeing the glass half full meant thinking that the final climb was not selective enough and that being beaten by Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X) is nothing to worry about. In fact, the Slovenian would rather be optimistic in this 2024 season.
At 34 years old, “Rogla” took on quite a challenge by leaving the team which should have crowned him king of the Tour without that cursed Planche des Belles Filles and his crooked helmet which could remain the image of his career, a injustice for a man with a more than solid record and more than 80 victories. Goodbye Visma and hello BORA, its ambitious project with the arrival in its capital of the powerful Red Bull.
We would have liked to win the general classification in the Basque Country
The German team, which had taken advantage of the arrival of Peter Sagan in 2017 to grow and move up to the World Tour, wanted a man capable of winning the Tour and the others were not on the market. Helmed by Jonas Vingegaard, Roglic wanted full powers as well as solid teammates. An obvious marriage then, but a winning one? So far, no and if we could argue that the real objective, the Tour de France, is still to come, the start of the season raises questions precisely because it concerns Primoz Roglic.
Roglic: “We’re all thinking about the Tour de France”
“It is certain that we would have liked to win the general classification in the Basque Countryrecalled Rolf Aldag, sports director of BORA last week. The result is not there, but there is only Paris-Nice, which did not go as planned.” Only 10th in the general classification, Roglic had worried because he was transparent while even beaten Remco Evenepoel had played the match with Matteo Jorgenson until the end. “It’s sure he wasted time“, Aldag noted again in reference to the massive fall in the Basque Country which had left Roglic with his body too bruised to continue.
This Basque stay started perfectly with a victory in the time trial despite a course error, proof that he was well above the others. Was he going to continue his momentum? No one knows and it is with a single victory that Roglic enters the month of June, which has not happened to him since… 2016. A year in which he did not triumph in any stage race in the first months of the season, a habit (1 in 2017, 2 in 2018, 3 in 2019, 1 in 2021, 1 in 2022 and 2 in 2023) which he therefore lost.
Hindley and especially Vlasov are on the lookout
“The yellow jersey is the medium-term objective“, tempers Ralph Denk, the manager of BORA-Hansgrohe but Jai Hindley recalled that his team came to the Critérium du Dauphiné to “earn“.”It’s a bit like the last dress rehearsal. If you are good here, you will normally be good at the Tour and I hope we will be.” At BORA, Roglic has not yet quite made his mark, nor has he established himself as the indisputable leader.
Cort Nielsen cuts through the fog and the heart of Armirail
Of course, his record (4 Vuelta, 1 Giro) speaks for himself but in his team, Hindley also won a grand tour (the 2022 Giro) while Aleksandr Vlasov still has personal ambitions. “This year, we will also go to the Tour with the best. This does not mean that I will ride for Roglic from the first kilometer and abandon the classification from the start. First you have to see how the race goes“, Vlasov warned at the start of the season.
Does his work for Roglic in the final of the stage this Monday mean that he has entered the ranks? To avoid this kind of debate, the Slovenian would have every interest in becoming indisputable by the start of the Tour de France and he only has the Critérium du Dauphiné left to do so.
