‘He’s only going to get better’ - Fisher-Black backs Roglic after Pogacar exit

Pogačar had built a commanding 3:50 lead when he crashed on the run to Xeraco on stage 8. He was taken to hospital with concussion, a displaced left clavicle fracture and a stable C7 cervical fracture, bringing his Vuelta to a sudden end.

Roglič now sits second overall, 1:18 behind Enric Mas, but Fisher-Black insists Red Bull’s targets remain largely the same.

"To be honest, Tadej was in a league of his own. So the guys we were racing before he crashed, we're still racing now," Fisher-Black said on the Domestique Hotseat podcast.

"Mas, Onley, Gall, these guys we're still going against. It's just now it's not Tadej a minute up the road each day. So for us, nothing changes, the tactics are the same. We're just still trying to beat those other GC guys. The difference is just now that there is a potential win on the table."

Fisher-Black was in the peloton when Pogačar crashed and said the gravity of the situation quickly became clear.

"You could tell immediately, the speed went out of the bunch, because this was a decisive climb we were entering into. If that crash hadn't happened, that climb would have been all out," he said.

"Our DS even said on the radio, as he passed the crash, it would have been 30 seconds after he crashed. He said it really doesn't look good. And then every DS would have been saying the same thing, guys, respect the jersey, don't attack. Probably half of that climb, five minutes later, they said he abandoned."

Red Bull came through a chaotic day that featured several crashes without losing any riders, while Jordi Meeus finished third in the sprint.

"We were following UAE and then for some reason we got pushed inwards into the bunch, and we kind of just completely went to the right of his crash," he said. "Those days you kind of have to be a little bit grateful. We could have also crashed and been on the floor 30 kilometres ago."

Fisher-Black also expressed sympathy for his former UAE teammate, pushing back against the idea that Pogačar’s previous success makes the setback any easier to accept.

"I'm just gutted for Tadej really. People think that he wins so much so he probably doesn't even care anyway, or it's about time he had bad luck. But everyone starts each race the same, and he wants to win just as much each day," he said.

"It's not like he's so good that he just turns up without training. He's been on the beach for three weeks. It would have been a big investment to be here, and a lot of pressure on his shoulders as well."

The New Zealander had not yet been able to speak to Pogačar following the crash. "I think he's in a pretty bad way with a concussion. I was speaking to his teammates and even they haven't really been able to speak so much."

Pogačar’s withdrawal has put greater focus on Roglič, whose own preparation for the Vuelta was disrupted by an accident in late July.

Fisher-Black was at the same training camp when Roglič was hit by a car outside the team hotel and said the extent of his injuries left Red Bull unsure what shape their leader would bring to the race.

"He got hit by this car right outside the hotel and he was genuinely pretty hurt. His leg was basically all purple. He was struggling to get on the bike, I think he had a week off," he said.

"Since then we were kind of like, we don't know what to expect. The expectations weren't anything really. But we always believed he's going to be in shape, and it was just for him to confirm that. This first week has been really good, and I think he's only going to get better, because he's basically training. Only a few weeks ago he couldn't ride, and now he's building that engine again. I think in the last week he'll really shine."

Fisher-Black believes there are already signs that Roglič’s confidence is growing as his condition improves.

"You can tell what Roglič you're going to get today by how chilled out he is, and the more chill he is, the better he performs. He's just happy to be here and happy to be riding with his mates," Fisher-Black said. "He's gaining that confidence that his form is there, and maybe it's not as bad as he thought it was going to be."

While Red Bull’s GC tactics may not have changed dramatically, Fisher-Black expects the character of the Vuelta to be very different without Pogačar and UAE controlling the race from the front.

"The only team that was really able to control the race was UAE. So there are a lot of stages now where Movistar or the other GC teams might think, we don't want to spend the team today," he said.

"There will be a lot of opportunities in the next few weeks of breaks going to the line, and I'll always try to be in them and pick the right ones."

That freedom is likely to extend to UAE’s remaining riders, with Fisher-Black expecting riders such as Jay Vine and Pavel Sivakov to become regular fixtures in the breakaways.

"I think there's more chance that the breakaways survive. UAE are all winners themselves, I expect them in every break now. Going up against guys like Jay and Pavel in the mountain breakaways is a scary thing," he said.

"But I'm not going to look at a breakaway and see Jay or Pavel there and go, maybe not for me today. I'm always going to give it a shot."

Red Bull also find themselves in a useful tactical position. Roglič is close enough to challenge for the overall victory, but without the race lead the team does not yet carry the responsibility of controlling the peloton.

Fisher-Black believes that gives Red Bull’s support riders more freedom than their counterparts at Movistar, who now have Mas in the red jersey.

"Their sole goal, they're probably in the bus saying, all right guys, we're all in now for red. There's probably not a whole lot of freedom left for the other guys," he said. "For us it's lucky what we have. Primož is happy to do his own thing, and he's also happy for us to be up the road. So we still feel a bit of that freedom, and we don't have the red to look after. Hopefully just yet."

That freedom does not mean Fisher-Black is detached from his duties towards Roglič.

He made the breakaway on the Alto de Aitana stage on Sunday, but once it became clear that a stage victory was out of reach, his role shifted towards helping his leader.

"I was in the breakaway basically after 100 kilometres, I knew I wasn't going to win a stage. So I was just waiting for the call to drop back to bring Primož some ice and then call it a day."

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