Primož Roglič is used to being chilled, projecting a nonchalant persona. Cool, calm and collected is a phrase he epitomises. But this, the deep and prolonged reflection, free of his usual cliches, was something else. This was Primož Roglič without pressure and stress, this was the Slovenian liberated. No more asking him if he’ll ever win the Tour de France, he’s totally at peace with his career arc.
“Everyone is writing their own story and their own things. This is my story and I am the main actor,” the 35-year-old told the assembled press ahead of his seventh Tour, the race in which he so heartbreakingly lost yellow in 2020, and has suffered more subsequent pain in the ensuing years, failing to finish the last three editions.
