“Interesting last few days…” was how Primož Roglič started an Instagram post last night, which was accompanied by a picture of the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider in ripped-up kit.
The Giro d’Italia favourite hasn’t exactly experienced smooth sailing during the last two days of racing, getting caught up in a crash on the strade bianche of stage 9 and then falling again on a course reconnaissance before the time trial on Tuesday morning.
“I’m more balanced now,” he quipped, post time trial in quotes published on RTV Slovenia. “On Sunday I fell on my left side, and today I rolled a little on my butt on the right side.
“We’ll see. As they say, pain that doesn’t reach the heart is not worth mentioning.”
The fall on Sunday’s stage 9 had left Roglič with a 2:25 deficit to race leader Isaac del Toro and 1:12 to the Mexican rider’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate, Juan Ayuso. Still, Roglič quickly started chipping away at their advantage on Tuesday, not letting the fall in the early part of the day disrupt his rhythm when it counted.
“I did well in the time trial and I’m really happy with this performance,” Roglič said after coming 17th in the race against the clock, but most importantly, crossing the line with a quicker time than his two key UAE rivals.
Roglič, who now sits 1:18 back from Del Toro and 53 seconds behind Ayuso, had to contend with rain starting to fall late on during his time out on the course. However, it then got increasingly heavier, giving the Slovenian rider an advantage on some of his later starting key rivals.
“There were a few drops in some places, wet sections. I was happy with every metre that was dry,” said Roglič. “That’s cycling.”
To follow on from Monday’s rest day and Tuesday’s time trial, riders will now head into a 185km contest in the Apennines for Wednesday’s stage 11. Roglič described the day, which features a first-category climb of the Alpe San Pellegrino and two second-category tests later on, as a “pretty demanding” stage.
There is no sense, however, that the rider is doing anything but recasting his plans in pursuit of pink
“I have no choice but to be here,” said Roglič. “Let’s move on. A lot of things will happen, but it’s up to me to give my best.
“It’s that simple. Be brave in the coming days.”
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