Dominant Roglič so close at Paris-Nice

Jumbo-Visma’s Slovenian GC prospect falls at the final hurdle, but shows good form

- James Shrubsall

Primox Roglic’s Grand Tour rivals will have looked on with a mixture of concern and respect last week, as he took Paris-Nice by the scruff of the neck and dominated from start to – almost – finish.

The Jumbo-Visma rider won three stages of the eight-stage WorldTour race, and having held the leader’s jersey from stage four onwards, looked well placed for overall victory going into the final stage. But two crashes – the first of which dislocated his shoulder – saw him dropped from the bunch and trail in more than three minutes down on the day’s winner Magnus Cort (EF Education-Nippo) and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), who took his place as overall victor.

The Astana team completed the GC podium with Aleksandr Vlasov and Ion Igazirre in second and third places respectively.

Roglic will rue missing another yellow jersey when it looked all but won, after coming so close in last year’s Tour de France. But the Slovenian remained pragmatic in the face of defeat.

“I made some mistakes today. In the first fall my left shoulder was dislocated. Then I fell again,” he explained. “I gave everything, but I couldn’t get [back] into the first group anymore. It’s a shame, but on to the next one. This is also part of the sport. We will definitely be back in the next races.