Primož Roglič has revealed the extent of his shoulder injury, which he said became dislocated up to 40 times and was so painful he could not sleep. The Slovenian added he had no option but to have surgery to correct the problem and ensure his shoulder stopped dislocating.
Roglič (Jumbo Visma) famously popped has arm back in on the roadside after his stage 5 crash on the pavé stage of the Tour de France this year; a race he later abandoned due to his lingering injuries, saying now the pain he was in was "unbearable". He then crashed out of La Vuelta while attacking race leader Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl), saying now he was still "getting better every day" in that race.
However, while he said 2022 was his worst season, the Jumbo Visma rider believed there was still lots more to come in his career. And he planned to race beyond the end of his current contract to the end of 2025.
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"I see myself cycling at the highest level for at least another four years. Valverde, Nibali… they are all riders who have achieved great performances at an older age. Why couldn't I?" he said in an interview with WielerFlits.
Roglič added crashing out of races was part of cycling and he wasn't going to treat it as a "catastrophe". While he was unlikely to make it back to race shape for the Tour Down Under, he expected to race in Europe from March. Furthermore, he said it made no sense to decide now whether he would ride the Giro, Tour or Vuelta as his recovery had taken time and was continuing. However, he believed the Giro would probably come too soon for him.
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“Three months is a very long time," he told WielerFlits of his rehabilitation period following his shoulder surgery. "But sometimes a different approach is also good. Maybe it will be a season in which I hardly set goals in the spring and that will work out better for the following months. I do not know yet. I now have to have confidence in this approach.
"They took part of my bone and added it to the shoulder area. The first period after the operation I could hardly move my arm. Now, I still can't straighten my arm all the way. Fortunately, I am not a swimmer, because then such an intervention would have a much greater impact.”
He added that it in the "middle" part of his career he had been faced with a period of months during which he was not able to work on his fitness. However, he had no option but to have the surgery and then face into that prolonged period on the sidelines.
“I couldn't take it anymore. I could hardly sleep. It is very painful when your arm slips out of its socket. That must have happened 30 to 40 times. I had to do something about it. I could not have made a decision other than surgery," he said.
Looking ahead, he said he still wanted to win races that were missing from his palmares; the Tour de France, the road and TT world titles and the Giro. At present he is Olympic TT champion and also has three Vuelta GC wins on his palmares. However, his team mate, Jonas Vingegaard, won the Tour this year and now Roglič's plans will have to gel with the Dane's. However, he says he is still very hungry for success and that training is not a chore or sacrifice. He also insists his older age - especially in comparison to an increasing number of pros in their early 20s - is not holding him back.
Asked if he had unfinished business with the Tour, he said: "The future will show what is still possible. I definitely want to return to the Tour de France. My first assignment will be to make it to Paris again. After the last two disappointing editions, I have to go back to basics and try to achieve that first goal again. But of course I want to compete in the top of the standings. The coming edition is going to be special anyway with Jonas wearing number 1 and we have to defend the title as Jumbo-Visma."
