Bora-Hansgrohe have confirmed they are going to goal the 2024 Tour de France with Primož Roglič as their sole chief, whereas Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov have been chosen in key supporting roles.
Roglič’s arrival at Bora-Hansgrohe has elevated the crew’s ambitions for July, with total victory the final word objective. The Slovenian’s season and that of his new crew will thus focus massively on the Tour.
“I goal to be at my highest degree for the Tour de France,” Roglič advised reporters in the course of the crew’s media day in Mallorca on Wednesday.
Roglič will solely begin his 2024 season in March after an altitude camp. The early a part of the season can be about Roglič and his new teammates studying from one another and making a well-oiled squad for the Tour.
“For me it’s undoubtedly fairly an enormous change, eh… There are fully completely different colors,” Roglič joked of his transfer from Jumbo-Visma to Bora-Hansgrohe.
“There are new guys, new stuff, and new challenges forward. In spite of everything these years with Jumbo-Visma crew, becoming a member of Bora-Hansgrohe is an excellent welcome step for me. I’m wanting ahead to coaching extra with everybody, to satisfy and converse to everybody after which we’ll see out on the highway how we go.
“I’m excited for the brand new issues we do collectively, we’ll push one another and attempt to create nice recollections and nice tales collectively.”
Roglič completed second within the 2020 Tour de France, shedding the yellow jersey in heartbreaking style on the penultimate day to his compatriot Tadej Pogačar. The 34-year-old has gained the Vuelta a España on three event and he added the Giro d’Italia in 2023. Solely the Tour stays to be gained, and Roglič’s Grand Tour expertise offers him the conviction he can win the race in Good on July 21.
“I’m assured. It’s about executing it,” he mentioned. “We shouldn’t be afraid, then the result’s what it’s, we are able to solely do our greatest, then we are able to all be joyful.”
Requested how he can beat former teammate Jonas Vingegaard, Roglič mentioned: “There’s not a lot you must do, you simply need to be higher than him. You may speak lots, however at finish of day you simply have to complete forward.”
Bora-Hansgrohe efficiency supervisor Rolf Aldag spelled out the technique and rider lengthy checklist.
He confirmed that Roglič and the crew has nonetheless to resolve if he’ll journey Paris-Good or Tirreno-Adriatico and he hinted at a restricted race programme, because of the Tour de France being the most important, final objective.
“We’ll have a single chief technique: Roglič. However you must have tactical choices too,” Aldag mentioned of the choice to subject each Hindley and Vlasov on the Tour relatively than ship one among them to steer on the Giro.
“We can not idiot the world by saying we now have six leaders. We have now a standard objective. However we are going to give alternatives to Jai and Alex too in different races.
“We’re underdogs however we have been within the 2022 Giro too, however we celebrated the win. Are we anticipated to regulate the race? Probably not, so we are able to do one thing out of the field.”
Aldag steered that the 2022 Giro winner Hindley and Vlasov could be joined by Matteo Sobrero within the Tour line-up, whereas Nico Denz and Danny van Poppel are in competition to journey for Roglič on the flat.
The participation of Daníel Martínez and Lennard Kämna will rely on how they recuperate from their exertions on the Giro d’Italia in Might.
“For the Tour, we now have a protracted checklist, a mix of climbing help and completely different tactical alternatives. It is a hectic and anxious begin, so we now have to be prepared,” mentioned Aldag, who added that new arrival Sam Welsford would chase dash victories on the Giro.
“We even have main Giro ambitions, with Daní Martínez and there is additionally Sam Welsford. There are maybe eight sprints and that may take stress off the crew early. We have now a number of objectives in 2024.”
