Roglič to go for Tour victory, to skip Vuelta

Amsterdam – Primož Roglič, the Slovenian rider topping the UCI world individual ranking, will make a renewed bid at winning the world’s No. 1 race, Tour de France, after being pipped to the top spot by his compatriot Tadej Pogačar last year. He will not defend the Vuelta win though.

Roglič set out his plans and expectations for the season at an online presentation of his Dutch team Jumbo-Visma, which he will captain in their attempt to win the Tour de France along with co-captains Tom Dumoulin and Steven Kruijswijk.

Having won the Vuelta for two years running, the 31-year-old will give the tour of Spain a miss this year. But he will appear at the Tokyo Olympics after the Tour de France.

Meanwhile, his rival Pogačar will appear in both the Tour and the Vuelta for UAE Team Emirates this year.

Roglič will open the season on 7 March in the iconic Paris – Nice race before heading for the Tour of the Basque Country, and on for the spring classics Amstel Gold, La Fleche Wallonne, and will defend his victory in the Liege – Bastogne – Liege race.

He will then focus fully on the Tour, with the cycling site Wielerflits reporting that he will skip all the multi-day races in the run-up to the Tour.

“The plan is for all of us to be in the best shape for the Tour. We’ll see then who’s strongest in the end,” said Roglič, who is self-isolating in Monaco after being contact with a person who tested positive for coronavirus.

Roglič will start the late season in Canada at the Grad Prix Cycliste de Quebec and Montreal, finishing it off with the trio of Italian day races, the Giro dell’Emilia, Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli and the Tour of Lombardy.

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