Primoz Roglic is still in a lot of pain due to his crash in the Tour de France on Wednesday, but the Jumbo-Visma leader finished third on Friday in the stage with arrival at the very tough La Super Planche des Belles Filles.
It is half an hour after the finish of the seventh stage when Roglic gets off his bike at the Jumbo-Visma bus with all his effort and walks the 10 meters to the waiting journalists with his face contorted in pain.
“Pooh. I’m super happy to have made it to the end of a ride again,” he says. “You have to imagine that with every pedal stroke it feels like I’m being stabbed in the back with a knife.”
The 32-year-old Roglic crashed hard in the cobblestone stage on Wednesday, as a result of which he drives around the Tour with a very battered body. His back causes him the most problems. “My biggest goal at the moment is to get through the stages and try to recover. I know from experience that with an injury you never know what to expect the next day.”
Primoz Roglic climbs up the final kilometer of the steep La Super Planche des Belles Filles.
Primoz Roglic climbs up the final kilometer of the steep La Super Planche des Belles Filles. Photo: AP
Roglic struggled to get up on a steep final climb
Despite the pain, Roglic performed excellently on Friday in the first stage with an uphill finish of this Tour. On the mountain where he very painfully lost the yellow jersey to Tadej Pogacar on the penultimate day of the Tour de France two years ago, he is one of the best climbers.
Roglic crosses the line in third, twelve seconds from winner Pogacar and six seconds from number two Jonas Vingegaard, his teammate at Jumbo-Visma. “It was steep, wasn’t it”, says the Slovenian with a laugh. “I had big problems in the last 200 meters to reach the top. But I’m really happy with my performance today.”
Jumbo-Visma’s general manager Richard Plugge is not surprised that Roglic managed to swallow the pain in the Vosges. “Actually, it’s unbelievable. Try jumping out of a car at 50 km/h and then working the next day. But we have known for a long time that Primoz is the greatest fighter of our team.”
Before the ride, teammate Steven Kruijswijk had some doubts about the possibilities of his leader on La Super Planche des Belles Filles. “It was uncertain how Primoz would feel today. But he is mentally very strong and has recovered very well.”
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