Primož Roglič to sit out world championships time trial, Tadej Pogačar to ride TT, road race for Slovenia
Olympic champion Roglič to sit out worlds time trial before joining Pogačar and Matej Mohorič for road race.
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Primož Roglič will not be adding rainbows to Olympic gold this year at this year’s road world championships.
The Olympic time trial champion Roglič will sit out the worlds TT this Sunday. He will instead return to action for his first competition since winning the Vuelta a España at the road race on September 26.
Roglič will ride the road race alongside Tadej Pogačar, who will also be representing Slovenia in the time trial this weekend.
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Roglič and Pogačar will be joined by Matej Mohorič, Domen Novak, Luka Mezgec, Jan Polanc and David Per for the the road race. Jan Tratnik will ride with Pogačar in the time trial.
Slovenia will bring Eugenia Bujak, Urška Žigart, Urška Bravec and Špela Kern to the women’s road race. Bujak will also ride the time trial.
Roglič would have made for a top contender on the long, flat TT course on tap Sunday. The 31-year-old dominated the Olympic race against the clock, and won both his individual efforts on the way to claiming a third red jersey at this summer’s Vuelta.
With the worlds TT falling just three weeks after the Vuelta rolled into Santiago de Compostela, however, Roglič may be favoring an added week on the couch – or as Instagram suggests, on vacation – to leave him fully rebooted for a final flourish at the worlds road race and October’s Italian classics.
Slovenia’s “other” grand tour great Pogačar has seemed a half-watt off his best after winning a second Tour de France title and Olympic road race bronze earlier this year. The 22-year-old did not finish his comeback race at the Bretagne Classic late August, and looked a percentage from his best at last weekend’s European championships.
Mohorič could make for a dark-horse contender for a rainbow jersey at this year’s road race. The 26-year-old is carrying red-hot form after winning two stages of the Tour de France, three times visiting the podium at the Tour de Pologne, and winning the final stage of the Benelux Tour.
Slovenian selection for 2021 road worlds:
Men’s road race: Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič, Matej Mohorič, Jan Tratnik, Luka Mezgec, Domen Novak, Jan Polanc, David Per.
Men’s time trial: Tadej Pogačar, Jan Tratnik.
Women’s road race: Eugenia Bujak, Urška Žigart, Urška Bravec, Špela Kern.
Women’s time trial: Eugenia Bujak.