Primoz Roglic 'won't win another Grand Tour in his career' despite racing at La Vuelta 2022, says Jens Voigt

ByEurosport

Updated 19/08/2022 at 07:58 GMT

Primoz Roglic will return to action at the Vuelta a Espana in his bid to win a fourth successive red jersey, but Jens Voigt does not believe he will win a Grand Tour again. He said: "I still believe Roglic is capable of winning stages, a mountains jersey or top-five finishes in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta - but he is no longer a contender for the victory." Stream La Vuelta on discovery+.

'I'm here, I'm ready' - Roglic says he is fully prepared for La Vuelta

Eurosport cycling expert Jens Voigt does not think Primoz Roglic will win another Grand Tour in his career.

A dislocated shoulder and a back injury sustained in Stage 5 at this year's Tour de France led to the three-time Vuelta champion retiring nine stages later.

After failing to compete in any other race since then, the Jumbo-Visma rider has been passed fit for an attempt to win what will be his fourth successive Vuelta.

Giro d'Italia

'All I'm thinking about now is the Giro' - Thomas focused on first Grand Tour of the season

16/04/2024 at 07:39

However, Voigt does not think he is capable of winning the Grand Tour and predicts he will come third.

He told Eurosport: "Primoz wouldn't start at the Tour of Spain if he had won the Tour de France first. But that hasn't worked out for him yet.

"Sometimes a crash intervened, sometimes he came in a close second.

"If it goes well, he will be third. In other words: From my point of view, Roglic won't win another Grand Tour in his career."

Asked to explain why he thinks Roglic will not win any of cycling's most prestigious events again, he said: "For my taste, he crashes once too often. Roglic's crash rate is very high, too high. In addition, the accidents were sometimes bad, hurt and he lost a lot of skin in the process.

"Last year he lost Paris-Nice on the final stage because he crashed twice.

"He has already had to abandon the Tour de France twice because of crashes, and in 2020 he gave it away on the penultimate day in the mountain time trial.

"When he triumphed in the Criterium du Dauphine this season, he was no stronger than his best aide Jonas Vingegaard.

"I still believe Roglic is capable of winning stages, a mountains jersey or top-five finishes in the Giro, Tour and Vuelta - but he is no longer a contender for the victory."

Vuelta 2022 route: Climbs galore and the team time trial is back...

Voigt also listed his favourites to win La Vuelta with Roglic not making the cut.

He said: "Tao Geoghegan Hart of Ineos Grenadiers is one of them, especially since the team has another extremely good winger in Richard Carapaz. Then there is Jai Hindley from Bora-hansgrohe. He brings the necessary confidence and has already won a Grand Tour this year with the Giro d'Italia.

"Simon Yates of BikeExchange-Jayco is also on my list. Remco Evenepoel of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl is still missing.

"In general: Carapaz, Geoghegan Hart, Yates and Evenepoel are all stronger than Roglic. Joao Almeida of UAE Emirates might also have a chance as an underdog."

- - -

Stream La Vuelta live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.

Cycling