To win the Tour de France, you have to overcome Visma-Lease a Bike (led by Jonas Vingegaard) and UAE-Team Emirates (with Tadej Pogacar), winners of the last four editions. This is a goal pursued by director Ralph Denk, sports manager Rolf Aldag and, without a doubt, Roglic himself.
Praise from Zeeman and Plugge
During the BORA-hansgrohe media day in Mallorca, sports manager Rolf Aldag spared no criticism of Visma-Lease a Bike, in particular Merijn Zeeman and Richard Plugge’s continuous statements about the Slovenian cyclist since his move.
Aldag commented: “They are trying to keep Primoz by their side by constantly praising him. This is now part of the past; Primoz is here. Our real opponents are Visma, UAE and INEOS. There is respect, but we are not looking to build friendships.”
Sem Wout Van Aert
“The experience acquired by Primoz during his time at Jumbo-Visma is now with us, and it is exactly what we were looking for, as we share the same objective: to win the Tour”, continues Aldag, who also highlights the presence of Marc Lamberts, coach of Roglic, who joined him in the move.
“Primoz shares his leadership approach with us in a very positive way. It is essential that he has his coach Marc Lamberts by his side, someone who knows his trajectory.”
“We are on an upward trajectory, while Visma-Lease a Bike will remain in the same position… next year, they will not have Wout van Aert and Nathan Van Hooydonck, for example, in the gravel stage,” concludes Aldag firmly.
“They have demonstrated their ability to deal with challenges, but we feel we are improving and gaining confidence. We believe in our capabilities and, with that, we know that we do not need to imitate them, although we recognize that they have accomplished many things successfully throughout history.”