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Teams & Riders Everybody needs a little bit of Roglstomp in their lives

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This was great to see:

View: https://x.com/RBH_ProCycling/status/1832864420889825563


The way he made new friends and forced a new destiny for himself at Bora after last year's Jumbo debacle is an integral part of his extraordinary journey, IMO.

In any case after reflecting on this Vuelta a bit I think anything that comes next... is totally bonus. I mean he entered the history books, he's got 5GT wins, he gave Ralph Denk a GT win (thus justifying the transfer & salary fee) & basically proved he could win with any team - not just at Jumbo.

I think notwithstanding Olympics year, there's basically 9 major prizes in a normal cycling season no matter the rider profile: 5 monuments, 1 world championship road race and 3 GT's. Then there's a bunch of other slightly lesser prizes as well. But those 9 races are the main ones.

Flanders & Roubaix? Van der Poel's playground. Milan-San Remo? It seems way too easy for sprinters (even Pog hasn't won that one yet), Liège? Pog & Evenepoel territory. Lombardia? Pogi again. Worlds? Yeah good luck with that one versus the current one day monsters. That leaves 3GT's.

The Tour? Yeah, no. Not with Pog & Vinge at their current level. That leaves the Giro & the Vuelta. And... Rog just won the Vuelta. So there's a logic in what happened but he also had to actually go & win the damn thing, which is easier said than done. And he did so whilst arguably pushing his career best numbers at nearly 35 years old.

So... chapeau Rog.
 
Roglic to QS as part of a swap for Remco? Can Roglic nix this? or can he be traded without approval? Regardless, at least for now, Remco says he is staying at QS.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk celebrated Primož Roglič’s Vuelta a Espana victory in Madrid but could not escape questions about Evenepoel.

Some reports have suggested that Roglič could be part of a swap deal with Soudal Quick-Step. Last year he left Jumbo-Visma for a Tour de France leadership role. However Red Bull then took a majority stake in the team and Roglic crashed out of the French Grand Tour, while Evenepoel proved his Tour credentials.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/th...l-despite-reports-of-red-bull-transfer-offer/
 
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The thing is, Giro next year might be open if none of top 3 goes there. I know Tour is still his missing goal but Pog&Ving are just too good. He would need a Nibali 2014 situation.

But I guess he wants to be able to say he went up against two of the best riders of all time while they were in their peak and at the biggest event. Maybe the best he'll do is 3rd, but at least he'll know and it won't be a question that haunts him in retirement. "Grandpa, what was it like riding against the best rider of all time?" "I dunno, I avoided him and went to the Giro". From a purely palmares perspective, Giro + Suisse + Vuelta makes the most sense. Probably the most rewarding from a fans perspective too. But it's not surprising the he feels he has unfinished business at the Tour. If he does do the Tour, I just hope he has his normal build-up rather than the Nibali 2014 style super-peak.
 
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But I guess he wants to be able to say he went up against two of the best riders of all time while they were in their peak and at the biggest event. Maybe the best he'll do is 3rd, but at least he'll know and it won't be a question that haunts him in retirement. "Grandpa, what was it like riding against the best rider of all time?" "I dunno, I avoided him and went to the Giro". From a purely palmares perspective, Giro + Suisse + Vuelta makes the most sense. Probably the most rewarding from a fans perspective too. But it's not surprising the he feels he has unfinished business at the Tour. If he does do the Tour, I just hope he has his normal build-up rather than the Nibali 2014 style super-peak.
He was pretty clear in his post Vuelta interview about his philosophy, essentially saying it's about doing your best in the moment every day, giving it your all and if someone is better so be it. This was about whether he expected to win this Vuelta or not, but I assume he approaches the Tour in the same way.

It's the best mindset you can have really. He says a lot of nothingburger bs in interviews but between the lines is really admirable mentality to me.
 
He was pretty clear in his post Vuelta interview about his philosophy, essentially saying it's about doing your best in the moment every day, giving it your all and if someone is better so be it. This was about whether he expected to win this Vuelta or not, but I assume he approaches the Tour in the same way.

It's the best mindset you can have really. He says a lot of nothingburger bs in interviews but between the lines is really admirable mentality to me.


Agreed.

But I'm also all-in on the 'nothingburger bs', i.e. Rog has an absolutely wicked sense of humor. For real. It's an acquired taste but he's permanently taking the p*ss out of interviewers before & after the stages.

Also, I think something which yesterday demonstrates is the importance of scoring a big win. People are constantly comparing GT riders with a pure watts versus watts argument (it's been like this forever) but really, who gives a sh*t if Vingegaard or someone else can push higher numbers. What matters is what happens out there on the road & who wins. I mean Ben O'Connor literally just grabbed a second place in a GT whilst consistently being something like the 10th best climber in the race.

That's how it should be, aka not all mathematical & about science or data but about racing. I think if Rog goes back to the TdF next year he'll race without pressure & see where he ends up.
 
But I guess he wants to be able to say he went up against two of the best riders of all time while they were in their peak and at the biggest event. Maybe the best he'll do is 3rd, but at least he'll know and it won't be a question that haunts him in retirement. "Grandpa, what was it like riding against the best rider of all time?" "I dunno, I avoided him and went to the Giro". From a purely palmares perspective, Giro + Suisse + Vuelta makes the most sense. Probably the most rewarding from a fans perspective too. But it's not surprising the he feels he has unfinished business at the Tour. If he does do the Tour, I just hope he has his normal build-up rather than the Nibali 2014 style super-peak.
He already did a couple times.
 
But I guess he wants to be able to say he went up against two of the best riders of all time while they were in their peak and at the biggest event.
While I must admit Pogacar is already there (among the best of all-times), Vingegaard has a long, long way to get there. Right now, he's in Fignon (actually not quite), Thevenet and Delgado teritory, and below Roglic.
 
Thanks. Goes to show the small amount of bs that always surrounds Roglic before a Vuelta where he crashed out of a Tour. 95-97% of max capacity at the start line is pretty damned good, and 3 weeks of 30 hours in very good. That means he got to start training pretty seriously 7-10 days after the crashed, so the lay off was quite low which is not what most people within that camp wanted us to believe. He was ready, and of course he was, we would see that from the very start on stage 1 and 4.

The triple GT is interesting. If he's serious about that, with his age, that should happen next year. Or at the very, very latest in 2026.
 
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Thanks. Goes to show the small amount of bs that always surrounds Roglic before a Vuelta where he crashed out of a Tour. 95-97% of max capacity at the start line is pretty damned good, and 3 weeks of 30 hours in very good. That means he got to start training pretty seriously 7-10 days after the crashed, so the lay off was quite low which is not what most people within that camp wanted us to believe. He was ready, and of course he was, we would see that from the very start on stage 1 and 4.

The triple GT is interesting. If he's serious about that, with his age, that should happen next year. Or at the very, very latest in 2026.
I very much doubt he can ride 3 GTs in a season and be competitive in all of them. I also don't know what would be the point. He's going to the Tour and if he's serious about it, he shouldn't ride Giro. He won't stay upright anyway.

On the other hand if he goes to Giro 100% ready, he might fight for the win (Pog and Vinge won't go next year for sure), then he goes to Tour for stages and gets ready for another Vuelta.