Roglic had absolute best week at Tour of Catalonia: "I don't really want to do these kind of things"

With a dominant solo effort on Sunday’s final stage, Primoz Roglic seized control of the Tour of Catalonia. The Slovenian rider from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe won stage seven in style with a clever solo and claimed the overall title at the Volta a Catalunya for the second time in his career. Afterwards, a visibly satisfied Roglic spoke to the cameras.

“It was about time for me,” the 35-year-old Slovenian began in his flash interview. “I’ve finished second here twice before, so it’s nice to finally close it out.” That he was able to do so was in large part due to some gutsy moves in the intermediate sprints. “We did well there. I’m not a sprinter, and honestly I don’t really like doing these kind of things. I’d rather settle things in the mountains or on the climbs. But in the end, this Tour of Catalonia came down to bonus seconds.”

“In the end, I just had the legs,” Roglic continued his analysis. “I really enjoyed it. It’s great to finish it off here, with the nice weather and the incredible support from the fans along the road. After that second intermediate sprint, I didn’t have a choice. If I wanted to win, I had to make something happen.”

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Roglic won Sunday's Tour of Catalonia for the second time

Roglic calls Tour of Catalonia "always a fair race"

Due to Saturday’s heavily wind-altered stage, the decisive battle came down to Sunday. “Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it—everything came down to the final stage,” Roglic acknowledged. “I always say: the Tour of Catalonia is a fair race. It’s where the legs do the talking. But this time, I didn’t really feel that until the very last stage. The big mountain stage I was hoping for yesterday got canceled.”

“The team was strong today. We raced well and had a great time out there,” Roglic said with a wide smile. It turned into a brilliant week for the Slovenian. “It was beautiful. Like I said, I really enjoyed myself here. I had done some training before coming, but I wasn’t entirely sure how I was feeling. Pretty quickly, though, I felt that I was ready—and that my legs definitely were too. So yes, this week was a real joy.”

What’s next on Roglic’s calendar? “A little vacation,” said the four-time Vuelta winner, already looking forward to the coming weeks. “Then we’ll start building up slowly toward the Giro.”

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