Growth, splat, no matter onomatopoeic sound takes your fancy, it’s occurred once more. Primož Roglič’s Tour de France hopes seem to have ended how he least needed, however the way it at all times appears to: with a crash.
Stage 12 of the 2024 Tour was one other snooze-fest, regardless of the lumpy parcours, following the development of this version of excellent days being actually good and dangerous days being actually dangerous. With the breakaway of 4 caught – at the least there was a break right now – a small visitors island 10km from the end in Villenueve-sur-Lot noticed the peloton cut up in two, half going left, half going proper. It was unremarkable in how widespread an train this was for skilled bike riders.
However this time, catastrophe was to strike. An Astana-Qazaqstan rider collided with the raised pavement within the centre of the street, however most riders, virtually everybody, prevented the domino crash. However not Roglič. In fact not Roglič.
In 2021, a yr on from having yellow ripped from his shoulders by his compatriot Pogačar on the penultimate day time trial, Roglič crashed with 10km to go in a gap week stage and was shortly out of the race; in 2022, ditto, registering a DNF by stage 15; 2023 he was left at house; and now this, 2024, with a brand new workforce, Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, totally devoted to him, and two crashes in two days.
On stage 11 – sure, yesterday – he fell within the last two kilometres however remounted, and 24 hours on he was tumbling to the bottom as soon as extra. He completed 2:27 behind stage winner Biniam Girmay of Intermarché-Wanty and, extra crucially, his GC rivals, slipping from fourth to sixth on GC. He’s now 4:42 off Pogačar, his hopes nearly as good as extinguished. Yellow, so coveted and desired, is stubbornly elusive, maybe endlessly.
“Effectively, it’s horrible clearly, a frontrunner crashing and after yesterday additionally,” his workforce DS Rolf Aldag stated, the veteran sports activities director controlling spokesperson duties whereas Roglič was attended to by his medical workforce. “He got here to the end line however he misplaced a while. That was not good, definitely we needed to keep away from that. It’s by no means good, it’s by no means good and it definitely wasn’t the plan.”
The Curse of Roglič is one thing his new employers have gotten effectively acquainted to, solely seven months into their relationship. He was concerningly off the tempo at March’s Paris-Good, crashed in that crash at April’s Itzulia Basque Nation, and has lagged within the Tour’s first half, regardless of successful June’s Critérium du Dauphiné.
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At Visma-Lease a Bike, the workforce who seek advice from him as ‘The King’ after he delivered 74 wins over eight seasons, they have been empathetic for his or her former teammate, even when his fall provides Jonas Vingegaard a extra comfy cushion within the struggle for a Tour podium, and in addition reduces the battle for yellow to a few. “I really feel actually sorry for him – he’s had a lot dangerous luck like this already earlier than,” Wout van Aert stated. “A GC shouldn’t be selected a stage like this.” Frans Maassen, so typically the DS within the automotive accompanying Roglič, sighed: “It’s actually shit for Primož. We would like him to have some good luck.”
Pogačar, 9 years his countryman’s junior, was simply as sympathetic. “It was an enormous shock. Shit information, dangerous information, and I’m actually dissatisfied and unhappy for him. He was wanting higher every single day on this Tour, and was coming strongly into this second week. I want him the very best, I hope he didn’t injure himself. Everybody is aware of he’s an enormous fighter.”
The obvious voodoo afflicting Roglič must be put into context: he’s gained the Vuelta a España 3 times, been victorious within the Giro d’Italia, and has gained a mixed 19 levels within the three Grand Excursions – virtually a complete three-week race. However the Tour continues to withstand him, obdurately pushing again in opposition to his advances, slamming its figurative doorways in his face each time he seeks out its prime step. It’s not even a love-hate relationship anymore, however an affiliation the place there’s one solely keen celebration – and that celebration is approaching 35 years of age; just one rider, Firmin Lambot in 1922, has gained the race inside 5 years of his fortieth birthday. And he wasn’t competing in opposition to generational skills like Roglič is.
It’s not recognized how severe Roglič’s newest accidents are – Aldag, ever the compassionate one, confused that the significance was Roglič’s well being and never whether or not or not he’ll proceed within the race – however he doesn’t want an x-ray scan to diagnose the prognostic of his maillot jaune possibilities: they’re over, barring a Roglič redemption and a Pogačar collapse that will eclipse Planche des Belles Filles of 2020. “We may have totally different ideas on combating for the rostrum relying on how he’s and if he can proceed or not,” Aldag stated. “We should hearken to our medical workforce and what they assume and may do. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
