I agree the crashing has been rough, Paris-Nice was bad, and all in all that amounts to a bad year so far, despite some bright spots. But I also think stage 11 provided some evidence for optimism. Had he paced that better, he likely would have finished ahead of Remco on a parcours that favor Remco. On stage 15, while it’s impossible to say, I think he likely would have finished with Remco. Roglic put out similar watts on Angliru. While that was an easier stage, he also didn’t have too much at stake, it wasn’t paced hard from the start, he pulled all of the hard part, and he seemed to ride within himself.
Regarding future outlook, while I thought he would have won in 2019 had he raced, should have won 2020 had he approached it differently, and could have won in 2021 and 2022, I don’t see any way he could have beaten Vingegaard last year or Pogacar this year. The problem is that he has no advantage against those guys on any stage type. Pogacar and Vingegaard can outclimb him, beat him in the ITT, outperform him apparently on gravel, and out position him on the flats. That doesn’t mean he should give up though. I’d really like to see another clean run at the Tour where he puts it all together and sees where he stands. That might be third or fourth, but it’s be great to see. Meanwhile, I hope he recovers and wins the Vuelta.