Big downer for Primoz Roglic: rider gets off in Tour de France | Tour de France

sport">The 31-year-old Slovenian leader already lost time in the third stage, but on Friday another four minutes was added compared to his competitors in the standings. On Saturday the peloton entered the Alps and Roglic had to release at an early stage.

sport">His team previously reported that Monday’s rest day would be used to think about his plan for the coming weeks, but the decision has already been made. Roglic wants to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.

sport">In a recorded message on Twitter, Roglic says that the decision to stop has been made in consultation with the ‘whole team’. “We came to the conclusion that it made no sense to continue in this way,” says Slovenian, who has won the Vuelta twice, among other things. “I never thought that far ahead. We looked at it day by day, but in the end we saw that this wouldn’t get me very far. Really terrible, but there was no point in continuing.”

sport">His seventh place in Wednesday’s time trial came as a surprise to the rider. “But the next day the pain was back in full force. The time trial went better than expected, but it is of course a short effort. In the ‘normal’ stages afterwards it turned out that it was too much for my body. We are now going to focus on new goals.”

sport">“I am very disappointed, but we have to accept it and believe that this is the only right decision. It is now important to look optimistically to the future.” Sporting director Merijn Zeeman already hinted on Saturday about a possible participation of Roglic in the Vuelta.

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