Already a three-time winner of the race, Primož Roglič goes into La Vuelta with his best preparation for three years and is aiming for explosiveness immediately he returns to racing today at Vuelta a Burgos after a break of over two months.
However, while the Slovenian has not raced since the end of the Giro 2½ months ago, he has not been sitting still. Indeed, having endured a difficult build up to La Vuelta last year and the previous season, he goes into the 2023 edition with all his ducks in a row.
He has a Grand Tour win under his belt already this season and has had no illness or injury concerns. He also took a break after winning the Giro and has long returned to training, including a chunk of time at altitude. It sounds like the perfect build-up for joining forces with team mate and Tour winner, Jonas Vingegaard, in a bid to topple Vuelta title holder Remco Evenepoel (Soundal Quickstep), a scenario many people expect to play out.
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First, Roglič goes into Vuelta a Burgos and his team says he is not only targeting stages and the overall, but wants to immediately hit a very high level of performance in the build-up to La Vuelta.
Jumbo Visma manager Marc Reef said the 2020 season was hit by Covid-19, when the schedule of races was squeezed into the latter part of the prolonged season, with Roglič finishing 2nd at the Tour - losing to Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) - and then going to La Vuelta two weeks later and winning.
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"In 2021 and 2022, Primoz fell each time in the Tour and it was always very unclear whether he would be able to ride the Vuelta," added Reef, though Roglič won the Vuelta in 2021 before looking on course to do the same again last year - or at least go really close - only to crash in the final week.
"Last year there was only real certainty about this a week before the start. So now he has a normal, good summer for the first time in years with a decent preparation for the Vuelta," said Reef. "Since 2019, he did not have such a solid preparation for the Vuelta. He was able to rest, and then he had altitude training to build up as planned. He is in good shape now.
“He started training; first at home in Slovenia, and then three weeks at altitude in Tignes. Primoz had his last day there on Friday. In Burgos we now want to dot the i's and cross the t's towards the Vuelta. That is the preparation that we had already drawn up in the winter.”
In Burgos, Reef said Roglič aims to hit the ground running in terms of both stage wins and the overall. "The fourth stage has an explosive final that should suit Primož well. After that, the uphill finish on the final day will be a good indicator."
The TTT in Burgos would also be important for Jumbo Visma for fine tuning towards La Vuelta, where the first stage is also a team time trial.
"It is good to refresh the automatisms once more. The Tour of Spain's opening stages are not really straightforward, and the third stage already has an uphill finish. It is critical to start strong. Therefore, having the Tour of Burgos in their legs already is beneficial for riders coming off a training block.”
