Drunk with happiness at the foot of the Colosseum on Sunday in Rome, Primoz Roglic savored his first victory in the Tour of Italy, which has redeeming value for the Slovenian, three years after his traumatic failure in the Tour de France. It is, after his three successes in the Vuelta, the fourth victory in a Grand Tour for the Jumbo-Visma rider. He leads by only fourteen seconds in the general classification the Briton Geraint Thomas, very worthy in the defeat and a luxury pilot fish on Sunday to take his compatriot Mark Cavendish to a 17th victory in the Giro.
“This success is really special, it will remain engraved in my memory until the end of my days,” said Roglic, who quickly sipped a beer before going to raise his arms on the podium with his son, at the less as happy as him. Frenchman Thibaut Pinot was crowned best climber.
For the 33-year-old Slovenian, this Roman triumph has a very special flavor, three years after having lived through a nightmare in the Tour de France when, yellow jersey on his back, he was knocked down by Tadej Pogacar in a time trial. tragic on the eve of the arrival. The revenge is all the sweeter as he lived this time the scenario in reverse. He took power over the Giro on Saturday by robbing the Welshman Geraint Thomas of his pink jersey on a last uphill time in the frightening Monte Lussari, in front of thousands of Slovenian fans in a trance.
Including – incredible twist of fate – one of his former national junior ski jumping team mates, Mitja Meznar, who happened to be right on the spot where he suffered a chain break and who helped get going. “The emotions I experienced yesterday on Mount Lussari will live on forever. I will never forget,” insisted Roglic.
Sunday, the last stage, a friendly parade on his beautiful pink bike in the postcard setting of the Eternal City, was a formality. Roglic finished warm in the peloton, sprinted by Cavendish in bright sunshine. For the British sprinting legend, too, the moment was quite incredible, as he just announced, at 38, that he was stopping his career at the end of the season. “I’m incredibly happy,” stammered the “Cav” after this 54th victory in a Grand Tour, launched by his old friend Geraint Thomas who is not yet in his team.
The coronation of Roglic, one of the fantastic six in cycling, is the high point of an extraordinary first part of the season. The Slovenian has simply won the three races he has contested this year, Tirreno-Adriatico, the Tour of Catalonia and the Giro. Brilliant strokes that fill an already full trophy cabinet and in which little more is missing than the Tour de France that he could compete in this year, even if his team’s projects remain unclear in this regard.
Roglic was the big favorite for this Giro with Remco Evenepoel, before a positive Covid-19 test for the Belgian after ten days deprived the race of the announced duel. The Giro d’Italia then got into a bit of trouble in terms of the fight for the general classification. Despite, or perhaps because of, a very difficult course, especially in the third week, the main favorites spent their time marking their pants in sometimes apocalyptic weather conditions, in the cold and in the pouring rain.
As abandonments multiplied, Roglic was not spared either. Even before the start, four of his teammates had to be replaced because of a positive test for Covid-19.
“We had to change the selection in a hurry, we were already happy to be able to start at eight”, recalled his sports director Marc Reef on Sunday, praising the strength of character of his leader, still involved in two falls which notably earned him a deep gash at the hip. Falls and injuries are an integral part of the Slovenian’s career. Cursed for a long time, he took a dazzling revenge on fate on Sunday in Rome.