How Primoz Roglic overcame the odds to triumph at Giro d'Italia

Primoz Roglic has crowned himself the winner of the 2023 Giro d'Italia. The Slovenian was by far the best in the decisive time trial and won La Corsa Rosa for the first time ever. Let's have a look at how Roglic went from losing the Tour de France in dramatic fashion to triumphing in Italy.

In another sporting life, Primoz Roglic was a ski jumper. In 2013, however, he decided to try his luck as a pro cyclist, a decision he would not regret.

Since then, Roglic has become one of the best riders in the peloton, winning the Vuelta a España for three years in a row (2019-2021).

It was not all roses for Roglic in his pro cycling career, however, who experienced one of his darkest episodes as a rider in 2020, when he dramatically lost the Tour de France.

It was fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar who won the penultimate stage of that year's Tour, a time trial over 36.2 kilometres to the mythical climb La Planche des Belles Filles.

With a 57-seconds lead in the general classification, Roglic was expected to retain the yellow jersey and win the Tour de France for the first time in his career. However, things turned out very differently that year.

As Roglic had a bad day and Pogacar flew on his bike, the GC was turned upside-down, and we were in for a huge surprise on the penultimate stage of the 2020 Tour de France.

Pogacar won the time trial, with a lead of 1:56 over Roglic, taking the yellow jersey and his first ever Tour de France GC win. An incredible turn of events!

Roglic had cracked physically and mentally during said time trial. After finishing, the Jumbo-Visma rider sank to the ground, looking emotionally destroyed.

However, Roglic recovered quickly in 2020 and won the Vuelta that same year, a feat he would repeat the following year.

In 2023, Roglic set his eyes on the Giro d'Italia, a race that he had never won in his career.

His biggest rival for the GC was not just anyone. None other than Remco Evenepoel came to Italy with just one goal: winning. Cycling fans from all over the world were gearing up for a legendary battle.

The battle between the two big favourites lasted until stage 9, after which Evenepoel had to abandon the race due to a positive COVID-19 test.

Roglic suddenly became the main favourite to win the Giro, but a crash on stage 11 complicated things for the Slovenian. However, the Jumbo-Visma leader was able to ride on and chase that first Giro GC win of his career.

Roglic's new main rival for the GC was now Geraint Thomas, who wore the pink jersey after the withdrawal of Remco Evenepoel.

As the race progressed, it looked like everything would be decided in the brutal time trial towards the summit of the Monte Lussari on the penultimate day of the race. At that point, Thomas was still wearing la maglia rosa, with a 26-second lead over Roglic.

Roglic was the better of the two from the start and gradually overtook his opponent in the GC. Not even a chain problem could stop the Slovenian on his way to his glory in Rome.

At the finish, a superiour Roglic had a 40-second lead over Thomas, won the time trial and took first place in the general classification with a 14-second advantage.

By winning the 2023 Giro d'Italia in similar conditions to the 2020 Tour de France, Roglic showed his mental strength and his never-give-up mentality, which was underlined after the race by teammate Sepp Kuss.

"He’s such a fighter and I think that’s what makes him a true champion; the way he overcomes all the setbacks he’s had in his career", Kuss was quoted by Cyclingnews.

After a lot of setbacks, Primoz Roglic managed to write his name into the history books of the Giro d'Italia, and no better place to do so than Rome, the eternal city.