With his 2020 Vuelta a España victory, Primož Roglič claimed his 47th career win, taking him ahead of four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome’s tally.
Now, in only his fifth WorldTour season and having already taken two wins at Paris-Nice (so far), the Slovenian is on track to tick off another stage race to add to his burgeoning palmarès.
“It is unbelievable how he carries on here again,” his team-mate Steven Kruijswijk told NOS, the Dutchman having previously held ambitions of becoming the main man at his native Jumbo-Visma team but now left in the wake of the imperiously consistent Roglič.
“Right at the start of the season, this was a main goal for him. When you see how easily he finishes it in the sprint…it doesn’t affect him and he just stands there.”
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Roglič won the first uphill test at Paris-Nice on stage four, powering away solo to take the yellow jersey, before adding further bonus seconds after outsprinting Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) and Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) on stage six.
“We were all tired so I thought why not give it a try? Nice that I could finish it,” Roglič said, matter-of-factly, after stage six.
It was the same line delivered after stage seven – “why not give it a try?” – as Roglič swallowed up Gino Mäder (Bahrain-Victorious) to clinch his third stage victory in the very last metres.
If the miss at the 2020 Tour de France shook the Slovenian’s foundations, he is yet to show it. Having already bounced back with wins at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Vuelta at the end of last year, Roglič will be looking to build up once more to the French Grand Tour this July and right the wrongs of last year.
Following the Tour of the Basque Country in April, which he won in 2018, the 31-year-old is slated for the Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège.
Then the Dauphiné beckons, a race he debuted at in 2020, abandoning before stage five through injury. The 2021 edition will offer him the chance to tick off victory at nearly all top-level week-long stage races.
And should his preparation be good, it will surely take another Tadej Pogačar-shaped performance to deny him the yellow jersey he really wants.
