Primož Roglič has officially signed with Bora-Hansgrohe, with the announcement delivered in a team press conference on Friday. His coach Marc Lamberts is also shifting to the German team.
The Jumbo-Visma rider confirmed he would leave his current team, despite having a contract through 2024, before the Giro dell’Emilia last Saturday.
The team have lost title sponsor Jumbo and are reportedly contemplating a merger with Soudal-Quickstep. Amid the discussions, Jumbo-Visma boss Richard Plugge confirmed the team “gave the green light” for Roglič to leave mid-contract.
There were rumours linking Roglič to Ineos Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek or Movistar but news that he was close to signing with Bora-Hansgrohe emerged earlier this week.
Roglič started his career with the Dutch outfit in 2016 after making the transition from ski jumping to cycling with the Slovenian Adria Mobil outfit. He won the Vuelta a España three times and the Giro d’Italia once, and finished second in the Tour de France in 2020.
However, during the Vuelta this year, Roglič had to share leadership with Jonas Vingegaard but in the end, it was yet another teammate who stepped up to the top spot. Sepp Kuss won the overall after he claimed the leader’s jersey on stage 8 and held off the challenge from both outside and within his own team.
During the Vuelta Roglič seemed to question the team’s decision to support Kuss after the Angliru stage, saying “I have my own thoughts about it”.
At Bora-Hansgrohe, Roglič is unlikely to face quite the same level of leadership challenges, which have left him secondary to Vingegaard over the last few years. The German team have 2022 Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley, Cian Uijtdebroeks – who was eighth in his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta this year – and Alexander Vlasov as Grand Tour contenders.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…