Primoz Roglic looks to win his third consecutive Tour of Spain

Primoz Roglic is looking to win his third consecutive Tour of Spain, to put him level with Tony Rominger, and one behind Roberto Heras

Primoz Roglic comes into this year’s Tour of Spain cycling event fresh off the back of his gold medal in the cycling time trial race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and is looking to defend his title as the reigning La Vuelta champion, a race that he has won for the last two years.

Having won the Tour of Spain for two consecutive years, a victory for the Slovenian rider in this year’s event will put him up there with the great riders, Switzerland’s Tony Rominger, who has won on three occasions, and Spain’s Roberto Heras, who has four Spanish victories to his name.

This year’s race starts from Burgos cathedral, and tours around Spain, finishing in Santiago, and Roglic is the bookies’ favourite to win again, especially as his nearest rival, and fellow Slovenian, Tadej Pogacar is not participating, although fitness, and recovery from injury, will play a huge part in his chances, after his nasty fall in the Tour de France that saw him leave the race.

As he explains about his French calamity, “I worked mentally, but those circumstances are part of cycling and life, sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down. The most important thing is to keep moving. I’m here and I’ll do my best in the Vuelta. I was disappointed because it was not my plan to quit on the Tour”.

He continued, pointing out how he decided, “to train hard to be ready, and do well until the end. After Tokyo I first celebrated the triumph, then I tried to realize what I achieved, and enjoy everything. In the last days, I have tried to train as well as possible before the Vuelta. We will see after a couple of days how I am, and I hope to get to the end well”.