{"id":251884,"date":"2025-07-09T22:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T22:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251884\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T22:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T22:29:10","slug":"does-primoz-roglic-actually-care-about-the-2025-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251884\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d actually care about the 2025 Tour de France?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been the intriguing subplot of the Tour de France <\/a>so far: is Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d <\/a>even bothered about doing well?<\/p>\n

Previously such an unthinkable proposition \u2013 this is, after all, a fierce competitor who has won five Grand Tours and almost 100 races \u2013 Rogli\u010d began the race by delivering an oddly humorous and blas\u00e9 press conference<\/a> in which he laughed his way through and stated that \u201cI don\u2019t really care much\u201d when asked if this could finally be the Tour in which he buries years of heartache. The message he was trying to project was that he doesn\u2019t need the Tour to define him.<\/p>\n

And he absolutely doesn’t, but most assumed his laissez-faire attitude was just an act, a ploy to detract attention from him. Yet that isn’t the case: his indifferent attitude continued when he lost 39 seconds on day one due to crosswinds and he stated once more that he wasn’t bothered. Three days later, when he finished 32 seconds adrift to winner Tadej Poga\u010dar on stage four<\/a>, he once again trotted out the same line: \u201cLike I always say, I always want to win, but in this case I don\u2019t care about the time gaps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019re used to the Slovenian reciting the same few lines over and over again, and at least this one is more entertaining than his usual chat of taking it day by day, you know, and needing good legs eh, but his mannerisms and his public performances \u2013 both vocally and on the bike, where he is now 2:30 off Poga\u010dar in the GC after only five stages<\/a> \u2013 have been both unexpected and curious.<\/p>\n

Concerning, too? The question people are now asking is how Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, the team that paid several millions of euros just 18 months ago to bring him on board, are taking his comments. \u201cIf he wouldn\u2019t care he wouldn\u2019t do a perfect warmup, a perfect food plan, a perfect sleep pattern, and on a final like yesterday [stage four] you wouldn\u2019t take such a high risk that you have to take the lead in the front, so he does care of course,\u201d the team\u2019s lead sports director Rolf Aldag told Cycling Weekly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what he tries to say is \u2013 and it’s very clear \u2013 is that he\u2019s achieved a lot in his career, he has a family, he is healthy, and he\u2019s not going to live or die because of the Tour de France. I do think in that sense he does not care, but he is trying his best, that is very obvious. If you do not care, you do not spend three weeks on altitude at 2,500m and suffer through all the heat and cold training sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a justifiable explanation behind Rogli\u010d\u2019s apparent apathy: just over six weeks prior, he abandoned the Giro d\u2019Italia after four crashes and was playing catch-up to be fit for the Tour. Just getting here, he claimed, took a lot of energy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was quite tough if I\u2019m honest to come here and it\u2019s been a tough start,\u201d he said after stage four. \u201cIf I would be flying I would be with one leg there, but I am suffering a lot these days to get through.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Aldag, both Rogli\u010d and his young teammate Florian Lipowitz are performing to pre-race expectations, and they aren\u2019t pressing the panic button. \u201cWe set a maximum deficit that we could adjust, and we are well inside that,\u201d the veteran German DS said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re 2:30 [behind], and if after the next four next stages we\u2019re at the same time then I think everything is still possible. Just remember that last year second was six minutes plus [to winner Poga\u010dar], third nine minutes plus, and the fourth was 19 mins [adrift].<\/p>\n

\u201cSo talking 2:30, getting into the big climbs healthy and fit, not mentally or physically exhausted, then you see what the outcome will be. I just refuse to draw any conclusions or make any predictions before we have climbed the first big climb.\u201d<\/p>\n

A podium finish is Red Bull\u2019s big objective, but at what point do they change tact? \u201cIf a podium isn\u2019t realistic we should switch, but until now it is, and I think we said clearly we target a podium in the Tour de France and that remains our goal for now,\u201d Aldag continued. \u201cIf we have to adjust it, then we adjust it, but right now we still see good opportunities and possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should Rogli\u010d give up on GC, is he, in his current condition, even physically capable of winning stages? \u201cI would never push away a stage win, but it\u2019s not easy,\u201d the four-time Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a winner said. \u201cFirst of all you really need to have the legs. If I do have them I\u2019d definitely go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

More to the point, does he even care about trying to win stages? \u201cI put everything out on the road day after day and we see what that means at the end,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

This is the new Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d: liberated, free, loose, nonchalant, incredibly blas\u00e9. Even Aldag has to laugh at his star rider. \u201cHe is really fun!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been the intriguing subplot of the Tour de France so far: is Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d even bothered about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-251884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114825643068637640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}