With just over a week to go before the 2024 Vuelta a España starts in Lisbon, the question marks surrounding three-times former winner Primoz Roglič’s possible participation show no sign of disappearing.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe leader fractured a vertebrae in his lower back after a bad crash on stage 12 in the Tour de France, which subsequently forced him to abandon early on in the second week when he was lying sixth overall.
Although down on the provisional startlist for this Saturday’s very hilly Clásica San Sebastián, and despite an Instagram post showing him training in an undisclosed location in the mountains, his participation in the Basque Country’s only WorldTour one-day race was never guaranteed, and on Friday the 34-year-old did not appear on the team’s definitive list.
“Primoz is not in good shape yet,” sports director Patxi Vila told El Diario Vasco on Wednesday before his non-start in San Sebastian was confirmed. “He’s still got pains in his back after falling in the Tour.
"He can train, but not at high intensity, and in that condition, I don’t know what point there would be in bringing him [to San Sebastián].”
After it emerged Roglič would not do the Clásica, the even bigger question regarding his participation in the Vuelta a España remains unresolved. Spanish sports daily AS insisted on Friday morning that the Vuelta race organisers were still optimistic he would be taking part, pointing out that he was included in the preliminary start-list. That was also true for San Sebastián, though, and according to AS a definitive decision on whether Roglič races the Vuelta for a sixth time will only be taken early next week.
As the only member of the ‘Big Four’ of Grand Tour racing still with a chance of taking part, Roglič’s presence would represent a major boost for the Vuelta a España's startlist. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), both former podium finishers in the Vuelta, made it clear in the Tour de France that they would not be racing, and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who won the race outright in 2022, has never had a second Grand Tour on his 2024 program.
Greatly appreciated by Spanish fans for his track record in their home Grand Tour, Roglič is far and away the most successful Vuelta a España racer in the current peloton.
Roglič has triumphed in the Vuelta three times from 2019 through to 2021 as well as taking third overall and two stages victories last year, including one on the notoriously tough Angliru. Only Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) who has two overall victories and two runners-up spots comes anywhere close to Roglič's Vuelta achievements in the contemporary peloton, but it has already been confirmed that the Briton will not ride the race this year.
If Roglič were to ride and win the Vuelta, it would see the Slovenian equal the record held by retired rider Roberto Heras, who won his home Grand Tour in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Cyclingnews has contacted Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for comment.
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