Primoz Roglic reportedly set to start Vuelta with revised ambitions

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, only official confirmation is still missing from Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, with the team now intending to bring the 36 year old Slovenian to the start in Monaco on Saturday, August 22.

Roglič's participation had been in serious doubt after he was hit by a car during a training ride at the end of July. The incident forced him to withdraw from both the Clásica San Sebastián and the Vuelta a Burgos, two races that had been scheduled as his final competitive preparation before the Vuelta.

As recently as last week, his chances of starting were considered roughly 50/50. Reports in Spain suggested Roglič was continuing to experience discomfort and that his recovery had not progressed as quickly as hoped. Red Bull therefore planned to leave the final call until the last possible moment.

Roglič is now reportedly feeling better and is set to start the Vuelta, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, although his ambitions in Monaco will be very different from those he had only a few weeks ago.

Instead of targeting a fifth overall victory, Roglič is expected to take the race day by day, first seeing how his body responds after almost two months without racing and hoping to find better sensations as the Vuelta progresses.

Roglič has not raced since the Slovenian national championships at the end of June, where he won the time trial and finished fourth in the road race. San Sebastián and the Vuelta a Burgos were meant to provide his final race kilometres before the Vuelta, but the training crash at the end of July forced him to miss both.

It is a major change of plan. Roglič had made the Vuelta a central goal of his season, having already won the race four times. Victory this year would have taken him past Roberto Heras and made him the outright record holder.

His preparation included a long altitude camp in Sierra Nevada in June, but the accident disrupted those plans at a crucial moment.

Even at full fitness, the battle for overall victory would have been difficult. Tadej Pogačar is set to return to the Vuelta for the first time since 2019 and will start as the overwhelming favourite.