Name: Can Primož Roglič Now Race Against and Beat Jumbo-Visma at the Tour de France?
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Can Primož Roglič Now Race Against and Beat Jumbo-Visma at the Tour de France?

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Roglič will now be racing against Jumbo-Visma? Will that help him or cost him a chance to win the Tour de France?Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!Download the app.Primož Roglič will be racing against Jumbo-Visma season next summer in his quest for the Tour de France.That much is certain. Just about everything else isn’t.Media reports are linking the Slovenian superstar to a deal with Bora-Hansgrohe in a move that will upturn the power rankings in July. The ski jumper-turned-cyclist was one of the key reasons Jumbo-Visma evolved into a Tour de France powerhouse.And now he’ll be racing against the team that he built.Roglič’s move away from Jumbo-Visma for 2024 will deliver another delicious storyline that will carry everyone all the way into next summer’s Tour.Now it won’t be just Jonas Vingegaard versus Tadej Pogačar.We’ll also have Roglič, and not to mention Remco Evenepoel, Carlos Rodríguez, Tom Pidcock, and maybe even Sepp Kuss.Chasing his chance to be an outright leader of an entire team might backfire. Or it could bring salvation and redemption to Roglič for the 2020 Tour that got away.With four grand tour victories (one Giro and three Vuelta’s), Roglič is the most prolific grand tour winner active in the bunch behind Chris Froome.At 33, Roglič wants his chance. And he deserves it. Our editors debate the possible outcomes of what will be one of the most talked about threads in 2024:The odds are absolutely stacked against him, but I believe Primož Roglič could beat Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogač at the Tour de France.We’ve seen two cyclists in recent history win the Tour after changing teams mid-career. Cadel Evans won it in 2011 at age 34 in his second season with BMC Racing. Bradley Wiggins won the 2012 Tour at age 32 in his third season with Team Sky.Both Wiggins and Evans had ridden grand tours for GC on their respective previous teams, but neither had ultimate leadership at the Tour. For both guys, moving to a new squad placed them squarely in the GC driver’s seat at the Tour, and it paid off.&nbsp; My assumption is that whichever team hires Roglič will make him the unquestioned focus for the Tour. That’s a checkmark in his favor.Roglič will turn 34 at the end of October, which places him near the geriatric zone for pro cyclists.But I believe Roglič is actually much younger than most pros in cycling age, because he picked up the sport later in life. Remember the whole ski jumper thing? Peter Sagan is retiring at age 33, but he’s been a full-time cyclist since he was a teenager.Roglič, meanwhile, didn’t really get going until he was in his early to mid twenties. He has far fewer miles on his body than Sagan, Egan Bernal, or any of the sport’s other wunderkinds. I believe he still has a few good seasons left before his body starts to truly slow down.With all that said, I would still take Vingegaard and Pogačar over Roglič in a head-to-head battle if all guys were firing on all cylinders. But of course this is pro cycling, and every year top riders crash, get injured, get sick, etc.Pogačar has shown us that he values fun and enjoyment over a monastic approach to racing, which is awesome and I hope he continues to pursue this. But he is one unicycle crash away from another broken wrist.So Roglič to Bora almost done and Wielerflits reporting these figures for Bora/Red Bull to pull it off:– 3 million euros to buy him out of contract– 5.5 million euro annual salary for two years7 million per year for the 3rd favourite at TDF 2024.https://t.co/uo8TDf0h4T— Aike Spann (@awesomewave13) October 3, 2023Vingegaard, meanwhile, seems unbeatable when his training and preparation follow the script. But hey, nobody has good luck forever, and there’s always a crash or a cold lurking. Plus, his Jumbo-Visma team is about to be shaken up by new sponsors and a merger. Will the changes impact his build-up for Le Tour? Will he be overwhelmed by media opportunities, sponsor obligations, and other non-racing commitments? It’s unlikely, of course, but it could happen.Roglič winning the 2024 Tour is absolutely a long-shot bet. But it’s not impossible. A lot of things would have to break right for him.Can he win the Tour de France? Of course he can.Can he win the Tour de France racing against Jumbo-Visma? Probably not.By leaving Jumbo-Visma, Roglič might think he’s giving himself the best chance to win the Tour. And in many ways, that’s right. At the Killer Bees, he’s queen bee No. 2 behind Jonas Vingegaard.Yet by leaving Jumbo-Visma, he will likely be No. 3, because there’s another Slovenian in the form of Tadej Pogačar who is bent on regaining his No. 1 spot, with Remco Evenepoel trying to elbow his way into the party as well.Whether he likes it or not, Roglič’s his best chance at winning the Tour would be remaining at the team that is now dominating the Tour, and that’s Jumbo-Visma.The yellow jackets of Jumbo pulled off the unthinkable by beating back Pogačar. At the end of 2021, everyone was expecting the dawn of the Pogačar era, with five yellow jerseys in a row. But the Dutch outfit found Pogačar’s soft underbelly, and exploited it.They beat him the old-fashioned way by grinding him into the ground day in and day out, and then letting Vingegaard use that paper-thin advantage at altitude to get the better of Pogačar.Jumbo-Visma broke the Pogačar code, and Roglič would be the biggest benefactor of the team’s collective might, if he had stayed.Nothing is ever a guarantee in the Tour. Vingegaard could fall victim to a crash, an illness, COVID-19, food poisoning, or any other innumerable things that can befall a Tour rider across three weeks. Roglič would be right there ready to step in.Nieuwsblad today:✅️ Management Primoz Roglic let other teams know he’s available for 2024.✅️ Jumbo-Visma agrees on Roglic leaving the team.✅️ Movistar &amp; Lidl-Trek best chances on signing the Slovenian.✅️ Team that signs him needs to pay buyout to Jumbo-Visma. pic.twitter.com/fHTlUqh9Q7— Domestique (@Domestique___) September 29, 2023By leaving Jumbo-Visma, Roglič now becomes the enemy.Inside the Jumbo wheelhouse, Roglič could have played a free role, ride the team’s collective coattails, and keep his GC hopes alive until the decisive moments. And who knows? Maybe he’d be stronger than Vingegaard on the road.Now on a rival team, Roglič will have to beat both Pogačar and Vingegaard, not to mention the rest of the peloton. Talk of a possible merger with Soudal Quick-Step didn’t help.If he lands at Bora-Hansgrohe, he’ll find a solid and improving grand tour team, but it won’t be the tried-and-true Jumbo-Visma machine.I totally get why Roglič wants full leadership, and he deserves it. And there’s the chance the team wouldn’t bring him back to the 2024 Tour, just like it did this year. More than anything, that’s probably why he walked.Yet by leaving the peloton’s strongest team Roglič has only set himself up to race against it.Andrew Hood, aka “EuroHoody,” is the European editor for Velo. Since joining the title in 2002, he’s been chasing bike races all over the world. He’s covered dozens editions of the spring classics and the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta a España, as well as numerous world championships in road, track, and mountain biking. He’s also covered five Olympic Games and traveled across six continents for bike races. Beyond the Outside cycling network, his work has appeared in…Fred was the editor-in-chief at VeloNews from 2016 to 2021. Prior to that he was a regular contributor to&nbsp;The Wall Street Journal, USA Today,&nbsp;and&nbsp;The New York Times.&nbsp;Fred is a 2010 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Today he writes for Outside.How Primož Roglič took Jumbo-Visma to the Top of the World: ‘He’s Our King’Jim CottonPrimož Roglič Confirms He Will Leave Jumbo-VismaJim CottonPrimož Roglič Gaps Tadej Pogačar with Crushing Giro Dell’Emilia SprintJim CottonLefevere dishes more details of mega-merger between Quick-Step and Jumbo-Visma, expects ‘more clarity by Monday’Jim CottonWhat’s it like to be an American cyclist living in France? Watch to get professional road cyclist Joe Dombrowski’s view.

Roglič will now be racing against Jumbo-Visma? Will that help him or cost him a chance to win the Tour de France?Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!Download the app.Primož Roglič will be racing against Jumbo-Visma season next summer in his quest for the Tour de France.That much is certain. Just about everything else isn’t.Media reports are linking the Slovenian superstar to a deal with Bora-Hansgrohe in a move that will upturn the power rankings in July. The ski jumper-turned-cyclist was one of the key reasons Jumbo-Visma...

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Can Primož Roglič Now Race Against and Beat Jumbo-Visma at the Tour de France?

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