Primož Roglič withdraws from the Tour de France
Primož Roglič withdraws from the Tour de France
Primož Roglič will not be at the start of stage 9 of the Tour de France. Together with the Jumbo-Visma team staff, the Slovenian made the decision following Saturday’s first mountain test.
“We made this choice together”, Roglic said. “It doesn’t make sense to continue this way. Now it’s time to recover and focus on my new goals.”
Roglič crashed on stage 3, landing hard on his coccyx and losing a lot of skin. He continued the Tour wrapped in bandages, and though his seventh-place finish in the stage 5 time trial looked promising, he struggled on Friday’s longest stage of the race and finished in the gruppetto on stage 8.
Asked about the injuries he sustained in his crash and whether he thought it affected his chances of reaching Paris, Roglič was pragmatic.
“I never look that far ahead, I’m just trying to be in the moment. After a couple of days I saw that I was getting nowhere and it doesn’t make any sense to continue. Even though I surprised myself in the time trial, the day after I was feeling bad again with a lot of pain. In the time trial, somehow I really went over myself, I really pushed myself, but with the more normal hard stages, it’s too much for my body at the moment and I could not race.
“I am very disappointed, but I have to accept it as it is. I remain optimistic and look forward to new goals.”
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