Primoz Roglic, captain of Red Bull. © ANSA / KIM LUDBROOK

How is the tour premiere going for Red Bull?

On the rest day of the Tour de France, Primoz Roglic strolled leisurely through a hotel in the north of the city of Orléans in flip-flops and a short-sleeved shirt.

July 09, 2024

From: dpa

The Slovenian seemed completely relaxed, even accepting the loss of his important assistant Alexander Vlasov stoically after the initial shock. "It's a big loss for our team," said the 34-year-old. "But ultimately we can't change it. It is what it is."

Vlasov had left shortly before with a broken ankle. He broke his ankle in a serious fall on the gravel stage on Sunday and will be missing from Roglic's important stages in the mountains. "Ideally, we want to win the Tour with Primoz. And it is not Primoz who broke his foot, but Alex. The goal remains the same. The path to get there will be much more complicated," said sports director Rolf Aldag.

Overall victory a long way off

The cycling team from Raubling in Bavaria has already realized after nine stages of the Tour that the overall victory in the three-week national tour would probably be a surprise. Before the season, Red Bull signed Roglic. The goal was clear from the start: the experienced professional should win the first Tour victory in the team's history.


But the three-time Tour stage winner is currently the furthest away from that from the circle of the fabulous four around Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and himself. The three-time Vuelta winner, who narrowly missed out on winning the Tour in 2020, is in fourth place in the overall standings, 1:36 minutes behind fellow countryman Pogacar, just under a minute behind time trial world champion Evenepoel and 21 seconds behind defending champion Vingegaard. "It is the reality at the moment. It is what it is," said Roglic, recalling the Rhenish commandment "et kütt wie et kütt".

Primoz Roglic is currently ranked 4th. © APA/afp / THOMAS SAMSON

His team boss was more explicit about the result: "We are happy that we are still in the game. But it would of course be nice if we were a few seconds behind," said Ralph Denk before the rest day on Monday. "I wouldn't say that we have to or should give up. The podium is definitely possible. Maybe even more."

The biggest challenges are still to come in the third week with the tough mountain stages. The three other candidates for the overall ranking could have created a good basis for a place on the podium on the tough gravel stage. But in the end Roglic crossed the finish line at the same time as the group of favorites.

On Tuesday, Roglic and Co. will be racing on the tenth stage. From Orléans, it is more than 187 kilometers to Saint-Amand-Montrond. This is where the sprinters are likely to shine again.