Skilled biking strikes shortly and, simply days after profitable the Giro d’Italia, ideas have turned to what’s subsequent for the winner, Primož Roglič.
In accordance with stories in Switzerland, the Jumbo-Visma rider will likely be again in motion as quickly as subsequent Sunday, lining up on the Tour de Suisse, one of many treasured few top-level stage races he has but to win.
In the meantime, Roglič himself has stoked the embers of a potential Tour de France participation with a cryptic response on Dutch tv this week, though the group have once more performed down that prospect.
Radiotelevisione Svizzera, broadcaster for the Italian-speaking nook of Switzerland, states that Roglič “appears to have made his selection” to journey the eight-day Tour de Suisse, which is “simply ready for the official announcement”.
The Tour de Suisse will get underway on Sunday June 11 and finishes every week in a while June 18, with a filling of mountains bookended by a pair of time trials.
The lion’s share of Tour de France contenders, together with Roglič’s teammate Jonas Vingegaard, are set for the sooner Critérium du Dauphiné, however the RSI report additionally suggests Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Roglič’s principal rival for the Giro till he deserted with COVID-19, will likely be on the beginning record.
The Tour de Suisse is among the solely main stage races lacking from Roglič’s palmarès, which incorporates the Giro d’Italia, Vuelta a España, Critérium du Dauphiné, Paris-Good, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of the Basque Nation, Volta a Catalunya, and Tour de Romandie.
The Tour de France is the opposite standout absentee, and hypothesis has arisen over a spectacular return in July. After the Giro, Roglič flew from Italy to Amsterdam, the place he has been doing the rounds within the dwelling nation of his Jumbo-Visma group.
Requested in regards to the Tour by NOS, he mentioned: “No. Perhaps. I do not know,” earlier than including: “No, no, no, no.” When pressed on “no or perhaps”, he added, “Who is aware of?”
There was a equally non-committal response when he joined group supervisor Richard Plugge and director Merijn Zeeman on the OP1 present on Tuesday night.
“Most likely sooner or later,” he mentioned when requested if the door to the Tour was open. “First I wish to come dwelling. Ask my spouse about this concept.”
Roglič would in idea be there to assist Vingegaard, though his presence may give chief rival Tadej Pogačar an added headache, particularly after the two-leader technique final 12 months drew the UAE Group Emirates rider into his personal demise.
“We’ve got different plans,” Zeeman mentioned, taking part in down the rising pleasure over Roglič to the Tour. “He has been on the street with the group for 4 months continuous, with a couple of days at dwelling from time to time. That’s the foundation for a prime efficiency, however you additionally want the identical interval for the Tour.
“It is rather tempting to suppose that it may well now even be the identical within the Tour, however the legal guidelines of prime sport are very arduous. That is the results of a really lengthy course of, however you additionally want such a course of for a superb Tour or Vuelta.”
The final rider to drag off the Giro-Tour double was Marco Pantani in 1998 though Chris Froome received the Giro and completed third on the Tour in 2018, the identical 12 months Tom Dumoulin completed runner-up in each.
