Former three-time Tour de France green jersey winner and 12-time Tour stage winner Robbie McEwen has questioned the decision of Jumbo Visma to allow Primož Roglič withdraw from the race.
Speaking on Eurosport after news broke that Roglič was not going to start today’s stage 15, McEwen expressed surprise at the development at a time when Jumbo Visma had the yellow jersey in the team.
He said while Roglič was injured from his stage 5 crash, he was still very capable of giving significant assistance to team mate and race leader Jonas Vingegaard as he attempts to hold off Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) for the next week and win the race overall.
“He’s done what’s been asked of him, what’s he needed to do so far,” McEwen said of Roglič, who came into the race as a potential winner but lost over two minutes on stage 5 when he dislocated his shoulder in a crash.
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“I still find it quite strange that they (Jumbo Visma) are willing to let him pull out of the race. When you look at yesterday, the work that he did on that final climb – he split the field to pieces. There was only the top 20 left and even some of those were in huge trouble.
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“And to let a guy go home at this point when you’ve got the yellow jersey in the team; no matter his standing within the team, that yeah he can back it up and win the Vuelta… at this point, with the yellow jersey in the team in the Tour de France, I find it a really strange decision to let him go home.
“OK, he’s healing from injuries. He’s no quite himself but he’s still really, really good. I’d be doing everything to keep him in the Tour of I was the team boss.”
Frans Maassen, the former pro rider who is now a directeur at Jumbo Visma, said Roglič was “really dropped” yesterday in the first section of the stage, even though he was strong later in the race.
He said he had watched the Slovenian coming back onto the team bus after each stage and that he was clearly suffering. He also said Roglič was “not happy” about the decision to withdraw from the race.
But Maassen believed the team would still be very strong and were motivated to retain the yellow jersey. He added he expected Roglič to ride the Vuelta - aiming for a fourth consecutive overall win - later this year once his injuries had properly healed.
