Now the 3417 kilometer loop: Primoz Roglic drives to victory in the Tour of Spain Vuelta

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Primoz Roglic has his sights set on the third Vuelta victory

Photo: STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS

Ten years ago, Primoz Roglic had come a long way.

When jumping in Oberstdorf he jumped 183 meters, Roglic was still a ski jumper at the time, one of the best in the country.

He fell badly that year, and Roglic made his best decision.

He stopped ski jumping.

A decade later, the now 31-year-old Slovene is not only one of the best in the country, he is one of the best in the world.

He has twice won the Tour of Spain as a professional cyclist, he has returned from the Olympic Games in Tokyo as a gold medalist, and nobody was able to endanger him in the time trial.

When the Vuelta starts on Saturday as the third and last big tour of the year, there will be several favorites for victory.

But there is only one favorite.

Roglic wants the triple, and if everything goes well, he'll get it.

Even if Richard Carapaz from Team Ineos is someone in the field who wants to make it as difficult as possible for him.

Like Roglic, Carapaz is a freshly crowned Olympic champion, he was the matador of the Tokyo street race, impressive how he dominated the race.

But the Vuelta is not a one-day race, no one is as up to the various tasks of a tour as Roglic, who can dominate the mountain stages as well as the time trial. Roglic is the complete cyclist, made for the big bows and made to win the Tour de France.

The Tour de France, the greatest that can be won in cycling, is the festering wound in the career vita of high-flyer Roglic.

Last year he performed like the ruler on the tour, the stages turned into demonstrations of power by his Jumobo Visma team, Roglic actually already had the overall victory in his pocket.

Then came the time trial on the penultimate day, Roglic experienced a disaster.

In the last few meters, so to speak, he was overtaken by an unleashed Tadej Pogacar;

Pogacar is the superstar of the scene

Since then, Pogacar has been the superstar of the scene, at the Tour de France 2021 he did what he wanted with the field.

While Roglic had to give up exhausted and exasperated after a serious fall.

Since then, Roglic had meticulously prepared for the Vuelta, it is his terrain.

And because Pogacar had originally also registered for the Tour of Spain, Roglic trained a bit more doggedly than usual. The Vuelta was supposed to be the place of revenge, but now nothing comes of it: Pogacar canceled his participation at short notice.

A week ago he announced by video message that he wanted to take a rest after the Olympics.

The big Slovenian showdown has thus been postponed until next year.

Pogacar had only taken part in the Vuelta once, that was in 2019, when he had won three stages.

The overall victory, however, went to Roglic.

The hierarchy was still intact at the time.

Vuelta director Javier Guillen had already raved about the "wonderful duel" in advance, so that has been canceled for the time being.

It can still be a duel between Roglic and Carapaz, Egan Bernal, the 2019 Tour winner and Giro winner of this year, is also registered for the Vuelta for the first time.

Guillen has therefore turned around in terms of marketing and now calls the duel between the 31-year-old Roglic and the seven-year-old Bernal "the battle of the generations".

So there is enough competition even without Pogacar that wants to dispute the three-time triumph for the Slovenian.

Win the Tour of Spain three times in a row, that was achieved by Tony Rominger from Switzerland and Roberto Heras from Spain, nobody else so far.

For this, too, Guillen has the right slogan ready: "We live in an era of records."

The riders have three weeks and 3417 kilometers ahead of the final stage on September 5, when the greatest difficulties await, especially in the last few days. "It will be the toughest third week that the Vuelta has ever seen," said Race Director Guillen, the next superlative. In the final week, several more mountain stages are scheduled.

A profile that Roglic accommodates: On the last day there is another mountain time trial to the destination Santiago de Compostela, this year also a place of pilgrimage for cycling fans. It is possible that the overall victory will only be decided there. Guillen says: “We want to incorporate as much drama as possible into the race.” The German Maximilian Schachmann, who is celebrating his Vuelta premiere, puts it this way: “It gets hot and it gets tough. But I prefer that to boring races. ”The race director's heart should open at such a sentence.