He was there again, on the top of the podium of a grand tour. Primoz Roglic won the Tour of Spain in 2024 for the fourth time in his career. This makes him the only 30-year-old in the past six seasons to win a grand tour, a curious fact about current cycling, in which the top riders peak earlier than ever before.
Just look at what happened before: Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins. All were past their 30s at the time of their successes, and even further back in time, almost no Tour winner who managed to win the world's biggest race under the age of 30. This makes a case for Roglic, who told Cyclingnews more about it.
Read more below the photo.
Because next winter and spring, it will again be a matter of guessing: can Roglic still compete with the Tadej Pogacars and Remco Evenepoels of this world? "This is something added, it attracts me, I would say," Roglic said about keeping pace with the evolution of the sport. "I don't need to, on the other hand, win any one race to say that will change my career because I'm really happy with everything that I've achieved, but still [there's] always challenges that can push you forward.' So he does not need to win the Tour again, and who can blame the Slovenian when you see today's competition? 'Although those challenges are fun to undergo and try to achieve."
"So what is a challenge to me is just to still be going with these steps of the younger generation… to try to adapt to this kind of way, style of racing," he refers to the explosive part and also the early attacks in the race. "In the past how we were racing was mostly all the time saving, saving, saving and spending energy on some right moments or right places." Only to then refer to the present and the move he wants to make. "But nowadays, or especially in the races against him [Pogačar], every day is the day. So, yes it's from the first day and it's from the first day, 100k to go or whatever. That is the day you are there, or you can lose it."
"It's a completely different way of thinking, a completely different way of racing, of level itself. That's, I think, quite a challenge for all of us older guys that still try to achieve good results," he describes the steps he has to follow. Roglic also hopes to win the race based on his experience. "I mean, it's a fact, I'm not 20 years old, but on the other hand, yes, with getting older, you also gain on many different aspects. You are getting experiences with every year … I just always try to improve a bit, you know still try to be just the best version of yourself and I think that's something that drives you."