Nordic Skiingthe character
Contrasti
A historic undertaking, born after a junior world title and a terrible fall in Planica. The story of a special career.
Monday 16 September 2019 7 minutes reading time
Primoz Roglic is the new hero of sporty Slovenia, having conquered for the first time in the history of the country, one of the three great laps in the world cycling scene.
On Sunday evening in Madrid, the 29-year-old from Trbovlje celebrated his success in the Vuelta Espana, to complete a 2019 as an absolute champion after also winning UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of Romandie and 3rd place in the Giro d'Italia. A race literally dominated by the Jumbo-Visma racer, who preceded the world champion, Alejanadro Valverde, and compatriot Tadej Pogacar by more than two and a half minutes, for a simply sensational double podium in Slovenia.
Many fans will know it, Roglic was an excellent ski jumper in his "first career", but there was a turning point in Primoz's life, tied to the wind that will return to being a determining factor in his cycling adventure; at the age of 18, in January 2007, the Slovenian champion won the junior world title in the team trial staged in Tarvisio with the national quartet. Two months later, the drama: it is March 22, 2007 and in the temple of Planica, just the wind will be decisive for breaking Roglic into flight, who loses control of the skis and falls badly. You will lose your senses even if, once transported by helicopter to the hospital, the damage will not be so serious to continue playing sports.
The mind of Primoz, however, is already on the other side: in the following 4 years there will be no more great results, the last race on a trampoline will be that of Szczyrk, on 16 January 2011, in that very place in the Bielsko-Biala district which, several times, will host a stage of the Cycling Tour of Poland.
The bicycle had already been an excellent traveling companion in the rehabilitation process, and here in 2011 comes the decision, after trying also with the duathlon, to get serious with the pedals: Roglic dispute for a couple of years various gran fondo, winning a lot, and in 2013 he finally found a professional contract, in the team with the greatest history of Slovenian cycling, the Adria Mobil.
At almost 24 years, everyone thinks that the chances of establishing themselves in such a sport are nil, but the determination of the future winner of the roja jersey is out of the ordinary; in May 2014 comes the first success in the world of adults, albeit in a second-tier race like the Tour de l'Azerbaijan (victory in the 2nd stage), while the second turning point takes place in 2016. The transition to a World Tour team like the Lotto NL-Jumbo means very different preparation and approach: immediately summoned for his first great career tour, Roglic touches on the pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia already in the prologue of Apeldoorn, burned by a breath only by a champion like Tom Dumoulin. It will be enough to wait a few days to celebrate, since the Greve in Chianti time trial, run under the flood and dominated, reveals its qualities against time to all.
From that day on an extraordinary escalation begins, from the first victory in the history of Slovenia in a stage of the Tour de France, signed in Serre Chevalier in 2017, literally gliding from the Galibier, to the silver in the world time trial of Bergen 2017 (back again to Dumoulin), passing through a 2018 again rich (successes in the general rankings of the Basque Country and Romandie, 4th place in the Tour de France with another stage won) and 2019 of the final explosion.
A special story that, probably, will live from the assault on the yellow jersey of the Tour 2020, demonstrating how a real athlete can emerge in various contexts and carry with him something from previous experiences, like the extraordinary aerodynamic position of Roglic who gave him the adventure in the world of jumping.
A world that Primoz has certainly not forgotten, it is not uncommon to see him in Planica watching his former colleagues jump ...
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