Steven Kruijswijk

Slovenian rider Primož Roglič is mounting an attempt at his first overall victory at the Giro d'Italia, arguably cycling's second most prestigious Grand Tour after the Tour de France. The 33-year-old is one of the two top favourites at the three-week race, his main rival being Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel.

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.

"I will appear in the Tour de France. I'm looking forward to the start there," Roglič announced at Friday's press conference of his Jumbo-Visma team, adding: "Our goal is to win the Tour. I want to be part of it."

This year's Tour of Slovenia will not feature Slovenia's best cyclist Primož Roglič, as the race's two-time winner, including last year, is taking a break after recently finishing third overall in the Giro D'Italia.

Ahead of the last stage, a 17-km time trial in Verona, the 29-year-old was fourth overall, but he showed his sprinting skills to overtake Spain's Mikel Landa to make it to the podium.

Competing for Jumbo Visma team from the Netherlands, Roglič finished the time trial in 22 minutes and 33 seconds to miss his third win in time trials at this year's Giro D'Italia by 26 seconds.