The Slovenian takes third place in a 34.4 km time trial and climbs to second place overall behind Remco Evenepoel
While the majority of attention was focused on Remco Evenepeol (Soudal-QuickStep) after his victory in the 4th stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) also took a big step during his first race since Itzulia Pays Basque with a third place in the standings. against the watch.
Roglič was only beaten by world champion ITT Evenepoel and second European champion Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) in the 34.4 km time trial, and now sits in second place overall at only 33 seconds from the Belgian’s lead.
This is an important step in Roglič’s preparation for the Tour de France, where he is expected to lead Bora-Hansgrohe after joining the Jumbo-Visma team. However, after his crash yesterday, the Slovenian was just happy to stay on the tires.
“I’m happy, I stayed on the bike so it’s a clear improvement compared to yesterday,” Roglič said with a big smile to journalists, including CyclingProNet, after the line. “Everything was fine, stay on two wheels and it’s nice.”
Although he took the yellow jersey, Evenepoel affirmed before the race that he was not heading to the Dauphiné with the ambition of aiming for the general. However, that could still be the case, as he and Roglič are well aware that the toughest mountain stages that will decide the race have not yet arrived at the end of the week.
“It’s just the beginning, it’s the first,” Roglič said before admitting that tomorrow’s stage to Saint-Priest is “easier”, with the trio of summit finishes starting on Friday likely to decide victory.
The Slovenian admitted he is still not 100% after returning from the massive Itzulia crash and a long-altitude camp in the Sierra Nevada with many members of the Tour de Bora provisional team. But he was enjoying getting more racing experience on his new team’s TT gear for 2024 and racing instead of training.
“I trained quite a bit. Definitely, I’m not at my best coming here but I think it’s still better to race than to train,” said the 34-year-old.
“I never do that sort of thing in training, it’s certainly necessary. It’s quite a change (the equipment) and in fact, it’s really my first time trial. Basque was more of a prologue.
He also claimed to have no lingering problems following the stage 3 crash which left him with a torn jersey and visible abrasions on his back, admitting that his legs hurt even more during the effort. 42 minutes at full throttle.
Roglič wasn’t too happy with his pace either, joking that he always tries to get a fast start but can’t. However, being only 26 seconds behind Evenepoel and 24 seconds behind Tarling – two of the top three time trial riders in the world – after the first 10 kilometers on the flat, is far from a sign of poor form. .
“I always try to start hard but I never succeed so I’m always better at the end. So fortunately we take the time at the end and not with the first intermediate,” Roglič joked.
In addition to a strong start, Roglic, the Olympic time trial champion, would only lose 13 seconds more by the time he reached the finish, showing good signs for the Tour. Most of the remaining GC platoons lost over a minute and many of them two by the time they reached Neulise.
The Slovenian was quick to point out how different the 4th stage of the Dauphiné was from the final ITT stage of the 2024 Tour de France, which will pass through La Turbie (8.1 km at 5.6%) and part of the Col d’Eze (1.6 km at 8.7%) during an effort of 33.7 km. However, with 59 kilometers in total time trials coming up on the Tour, Roglič appeared to be close to approaching his best time trial form.
