He was the world junior champion in ski jumping, the great hope of Slovenia, but in 2007 he suffered a heavy fall on Planica. He never fully recovered from it, success was nowhere to be found and he decided to say goodbye.
However, that was not the end, but only the beginning for Primož Roglič, who turned to cycling in 2012. From season to season he got better and better, and this year he is so good that he arrives at the first Grand Tour, the Giro d'Italia, as the biggest favorite. The man born 29 years ago in Trbovlje won titles in all three races of the world tour in which he participated this season - in Romandy, the United Arab Emirates and the prestigious Tyrrhenian-Adriatic race, which earned him the status of first favorite "Djira".
Roglič took the cup from the nose of Simon Yates, the current champion of the "Vuelta a España", on the Tyrrhenian-Adriatic, thus showing that he is ready for great deeds, but now he has three more stages waiting for him...
- We have a very strong team and we made special preparations for the "Djiro". I'm not worried about the outcome, because we did a great job and I can't wait for the race to start - said Roglič, the leader of the Jumbo-Vizma team. There is no defending champion Chris Froome, nor Geraint Thomas, the owner of the most prestigious cup in cycling, the one from the Tour d'France, but a spectacle is expected in the next 23 days. In addition to Roglič, Yates will also fight for one of the most visually beautiful cups in world sports, then the drivers who finished behind Froome last year - the 2017 champion Tom Dumulan and Miguel Angel Lopes, as well as the favorite of the local fans and two-time winner of the "Đira", Vinćenco Nibali.
- The "Giro" is the first big race I've participated in and I've been dreaming about it since I was a boy. I won the title twice, I fulfilled that dream, but I want to feel that charge and emotions that the championship cup brings again - said the 34-year-old Sicilian, known by the nickname Shark.
The 8,2nd edition of "Đira" starts with today's time trial in Bologna, 2 kilometers long, and ends on June XNUMX with another one in Verona, but twice as long. The last stage will not, as before, be used only for taking photos, and the last week will be very difficult, with as many as four mountain challenges...
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