All eyes are on the World Championships in Rwanda, with a focus on Tadej Pogačar, but the defending champion has a very important wild card in Slovenia’s selection. Primoz Roglič may have had a somewhat disappointing Tour de France in the summer, but the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe veteran will have prepared excellently for the road race in Africa. National coach Uroš Murn is already full of expectation.

Roglič rode the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this year and will therefore have had some rest when he ended his summer in the Clásica San Sebastián at the beginning of August. He is a big question mark for the World Championships, because where should we place Roglič? Is it with the legs that won him the Tour of Catalonia convincingly this year? Or is it with the legs that fell short in the Tour, where he finished eighth?

Slovenian national coach Murn attended a press conference in Rwanda on Friday, where RTV.slo was also present. The leader of Pogačar and co was in good spirits. “We are the favourites. The first favourite is the defending champion Pogačar, but I also count on Roglič to turn the tables in Slovenia’s favour in the end. Roglič will join us directly from the high-altitude preparation. He went to Sierra Nevada for 14 days on his own initiative.”

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Primoz Roglic

Slovenia knows it can’t hide at the World Championships

“We all know how well prepared he is when he comes to the races,” said Murn. “I believe that Primoz will be perfectly prepared, so that he can mix things up in the final and secure the outcome. But the first favourite is definitely Tadej, who has now proven his strength in the races in Canada, just like last year.”

With Pogačar in the team, Slovenia will have to carry the race, as Murn knows. “There will be no hiding places for us in these Championships. Everyone will race against us. I expect some individual escapes from the start, and then an attempt by those in the stronger group to break away somewhere two-thirds of the way. I don’t think we will attack, just like we didn’t last year. The main thing is to cover the escape of good cyclists like last year.”

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Tadej Pogacar

In addition to Pogacar and Roglic, Slovenia has more World Championship power

To keep the World Championship in their hands, Pogačar and Roglič will get help from Matej Mohoric, Domen Novak, and Luka Mezgec, among others. Matevz Govekar, Gal Glivar, Jaka Primozic, and Matic Zumer will also be there in Rwanda. “I expect a similar story this year, that one of our riders will be there. I expect that he will be well prepared, certainly better than last year, Domen Novak, as well as Gal Glivar. Both of them successfully completed the Vuelta.”

“We saw that Matej Mohorič is good, probably in the best condition this year,” Murn continued. “I would say that we have an almost better prepared national team than last year. It’s a shame that Jan Tratnik is not there,” he said, referring to the injured Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider. Sunday’s time trial is certainly not a preview. “When he saw the time trial route, he immediately knew he had a chance to win. I think we will be watching a duel between Belgian Remco Evenepoel and Pogačar.”