After arriving in Paris, he could have taken the rest of the shortened season off if he wanted. So that he could clear his head, recalibrate after the devastation atop La Planche des Belles Filles. But he didn’t. Instead he gutted out a ruthless World Championships circuit in Imola one week after his Tour loss where he finished a highly respectable 6th place among the lead group, utterly spent. The Sunday after that, in the grueling Liege-Bastogne-Liege that traverses the hills of Wallonia, he won the elite five-up sprint with his bike throw in front of the swashbuckling Musketeer Julian Alaphilippe (of Deceuninck-Quickstep) who celebrated too early. To win a Monument such as Liege would be the pinnacle of most riders’ careers, but after the 2020 Tour de France this Monument could only feel like a well-earned consolation prize. But this tank’s, this machine’s season did not end at Liege. A fortnight later, he was up for it. He wanted to attend and contend for the year’s final Grand Tour. The one he had won last year: the Vuelta a Espana. As the Vuelta’s defending champion, he pinned the #1 Bibs on his back and started right where he left off winning the first stage of the race in the Basque Country atop the steep Arrate climb, donning the Red leader’s jersey once more. It was the first of his four stage wins at this Vuelta. And yes, this Sunday, he completed the Rebound by sealing the Overall General Classification in Madrid to win his second Vuelta a Espana and second career Grand Tour. Primoz Roglic (of Jumbo-Visma) was beaten at the Tour de France, but he was not defeated.
Was it Rebound or Redemption? Perhaps you shall disagree, but I say Rebound, for full Redemption in my eyes can only be achieved by wearing Yellow in Paris. Nonetheless what a Rebound it was, surely beyond only a mere consolation prize. The racing was fierce, as all the Grand Tours are in this era, but this was truly a relentless Vuelta. And yes, yes, finally we have a suitable nickname for our Rebounder: Roglic the Relentless. Does he ever fatigue? Sure, sure, he has proven he is physically beatable and even vulnerable at times—the legs are not always as fresh as he would like and thus top-steps on a few podiums have slipped away. O! But after this 2020 season he’s proven: he has a mind of titanium, a will of iron, and a heart of gold. Within hours of being dealt the most devastating loss in the past 30 years of cycling by a mentee, friend, and compatriot—a figurative little brother, Primoz Roglic and his Jumbo-Visma team reflected and accepted that a better man had won the 2020 Tour. They rode hard for three weeks around France and put it all out there, including in that final fatal Time Trial, but they were unseated by a better performance (in fact, a performance by Tadej Pogacar (of Team UAE) I claim to be the greatest ride against the clock in the history of the bicycle—see my 2020 Tour Stage 20 reflection). Via such a realization, it seems Roglic has recovered—almost not even skipped a beat. He was bested at the Tour—the biggest prize, but other prizes could still be won and he immediately turned his eyes towards them instead of wallowing in self-pity. Surely, such a resilient mind should be studied, analyzed, and admired; what life lessons this man could teach. A true champion is he: so gracious and accepting in defeat, and back in the saddle to winning ways so soon afterwards. Yes, Relentless, in my eyes.
I say Relentless over Resilient for aesthetic reasons as well. His riding style is distinct in the peloton. First, he is surrounded by an armada of wasp yellow and black Jumbo-Visma jerseys for the majority of the stages. As the roads pitch up navigating never-ending mountain passes or onto severely steep-graded “goat-tracks,” he is always one of the last to look uncomfortable—if he even gets to that point. Then compared to the other extremely lean General Classification riders—the ones who vie in the high mountains for the Pink, Yellow, and Red leaders’ jerseys of the Grand Tours—he seems to have at the very least much more muscular thighs which he harnesses as absolute pistons with a high cadence less only perhaps to Chris Froome (of the Ineos Grenadiers). Combine these observations with an average cyclist height (5’10”), he looks like a compact and efficient cycling unit almost always in control with the power of a mainline steam engine. Thus despite the extremely small time gaps on GC throughout this race and despite seeing him lose time on a couple of the highest summit finishes which twice even cost him the race lead, from his Stage 1 win he seemed firmly in the driver’s seat of this Vuelta from wire to wire. If you doubt me, simply look up the finishes of the stages he won: two wins atop proper mountains, a powerful sprint win on a tricky and steep 1-kilometer finishing climb, and a narrow stage victory in the time trial that has always been his bread-and-butter; all of them were exercises in domination.
Though Roglic seemed to have a firm grip throughout, Richard Carapaz (of the Ineos Grenadiers) and Hugh Carthy (of EF Pro Cycling) pushed him the entire race and proved very worthy adversaries—ready to twist the knife if Roglic ever had an off day. Carthy’s stage win on the mighty Angliru—unquestionably one of the two or three hardest climbs in cycling—was an epic and put all the others on the ropes. For Carthy to finish off the Vuelta with a 3rd place on GC is head-and-shoulders above any of his former results and was earned by attacking on all the biggest opportunities to dislodge other GC favorites. For years we had hoped to see this Carthy character from Lancashire mix it up with the best, and now Primoz Roglic can tell us that this is a reality…though Hugh was not his biggest rival this Vuelta. Twice, for two short stints, Richard Carapaz took the Red Jersey off the back of Roglic. Never was he out of striking distance. He made us all hold our breaths when on the penultimate stage, a summit finish atop La Covatilla, he halved Roglic’s tenuous 45 second lead Overall. He attacked and had a 20-second gap in an instant with still 5 kilometers to go; the attack was so ferocious that every mind replayed the scenes of La Planche des Belles Filles and wondered if Roglic would suffer two heartbreaking Grand Tour losses in the same season—“O! Good Heavens no!” we thought. And the answer was no. This was where Roglic proved the Relentless once again: riding his own tempo, spinning his high cadence smoothly and in control, maintaining the 20 second gap. He seemed relatively comfortable given the stakes, the chaos of the race, and the harsh November weather, and he limited his losses to perfection. Yes, every Bonus Second Roglic earned throughout the race proved essential to hold such a small lead over the strong climbing Ecuadorian, Richard Carapaz—the man who beat Roglic at the Giro last year.
Ah! Primoz Roglic, could anyone else make a 23-second Grand Tour victory look so never in doubt? Here at this Vuelta, Roglic highlighted the Relentlessness he has had his whole career. When he was an unknown in the 2016 Giro, when he was in his ascendancy in the years leading up to this Tour. After his incremental rise to the pinnacle of the sport was stopped one step from the top, he was not thrown into a freefall or shot down into a downward spiral of paralyzing defeat. No, he was still Relentless, he continued his disciplined practices and processes that made him a champion in the first place. And now they have earned him his first Monument and a second Grand Tour late in the season, the greatest Rebound possible after such a Tour blow. Primoz Roglic, to see such a Rebound makes us so supremely happy for you; it is true, from now on all your victories make our day—yes, welcome to that exclusive Club. We look forward to seeing your exploits in 2021 and beyond. You are a tenacious and yet gracious competitor of the highest class. Though you can occasionally be bested physically, your mind is uncrackable. From the chilly winter weather of February warm-up races to the Autumn sunsets of the last Italian Classics, you are always prepared for battle. You are a captain. You are a rock. You are resilient. You are Roglic the Relentless.
