Red Bull may purport to give you wings, but any guardian angel in service to Primož Roglič has not accompanied him to this Tour de France.
As tortured as that opening sentence was, it pales in comparison to the anguish experienced by the Slovenian contender himself, who now faces putting together a potential triptych of consecutive crashes.
Yesterday, on the electric stage 11, Roglič crashed in the final 3 kilometres, unscathed both in body and general classification, as the 3 km rule saved him a few dozen seconds.
Today, on the transitional stage 12, the Slovenian fell once more, with 12 km to go, as Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) hit a piece of road furniture and the resulting fall ricocheted across the bunch.
Roglič eventually crossed the line 2:27 after Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) had taken his third stage this race. Immediately post-crash, Red Bull sent five riders back to pace Roglič, but the team captain looked slightly uncomfortable and the group lost time as the sprinters teams wound things up at the front.
The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe bus was one of the first after the finish line, and Roglič rolled up with his jersey shoulder torn, dismounted his bike and headed straight onto the bus. After a few minutes, the TV cameras decided to move on, getting the sense that the 34-year-old would not be coming back off to talk to them any time soon, if at all.
Water began to flow out of the bottom of the bus as the riders took their showers – presumably cold ones after a day that got hotter as it went on, a return to the heat after a few days of respite, and a weather trend that will continue until they seek the altitude of the Pyrenees.
Associate director sportif Enrico Gasparotto spoke briefly with Italian television station RAI, but few details were available, and after a minute or so he promptly got back onto the bus. A set of rollers laid out for a post-stage warm down, maybe for Roglič, were soon packed away.
Eventually, sports director Rolf Aldag made his way off the bus to face the media and allow his team to leave and lick their wounds at the hotel after a terrible day at the Tour de France.
“Terrible, obviously,” was Aldag’s opening assessment, almost whispered into the microphone such was his dismay at the day’s events. “Our leader crashing after yesterday and then today, a heavy crash. He’s in the shower now cleaning up everything [his cuts]. Obviously they all came to the finish line, lost some time, that was not good and certainly I would have wanted to avoid that.”
Had Roglič explained what happened?
“No, not yet, I think everyone is just under the impression that the crash happened, we lost a lot of time and we care about his health right now because that’s the most important [thing].”
Podium?
Aldag chuckled, cursing his team and rider’s misfortune.
“We have different thoughts on fighting for the podium, really, how he is, and if he can continue or not. We have one of the best medical teams and we’ll see what tonight and tomorrow brings … we’ll listen to our medical team to see what they think and what he can do.”
Not exactly encouraging words, and should Roglič’s wounds be mostly superficial, the fact is he now sits sixth overall, 4:42 down, having dropped behind João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers).
There was some discussion immediately post-stage over the marking of the road furniture that was involved in Tejada’s crash that then brought down Roglič amongst others. Aldag understood it as a reality of bike racing in 2024.
“I think that’s what we’re dealing with now, every day,” he said. “We all have up front cars, we know after a day like this that everyone would be really, really tired and things like that happen. The situation is good for 364 days a year to protect people in normal traffic but it’s really not protective for the riders in the final, but there’s nobody to blame. It was right there, we knew it was right there, and I don’t think there’s any alternative to get to the city centre.”
Tadej Pogačar, after another day in yellow, gave his condolences to his compatriot who now looks to have had another potential yellow jersey shot pass him by once more.
“It’s really shit news, I’m really disappointed for him,” Tadej Pogačar said in his post-stage press conference. “He was looking every day better in this Tour and coming strong into this second week. I wish him the best, hope he doesn’t injure himself or anything and he continues.”
Roglič, at the time of publication, had still not spoken. We await news of his condition, whether he can continue this race, but what else is there for him to say as a new era for him at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe has the first chapter drawn to a premature close.
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