Jumbo-Visma, a prominent cycling team, faces the departure of Grand Tour winner Primoz Roglic, who announced his move to Bora-Hansgrohe on Friday.
Despite having a contract with Jumbo-Visma until 2025, Roglic’s transfer aims to position him as the team leader for the 2024 Tour de France. The confirmation occurred at a Bora-Hansgrohe press conference preceding the Tour of Lombardy race.
The 33-year-old Slovenian rider, having secured victories in the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España from 2019 to 2021, seeks the elusive Tour de France title.
Roglic’s Giro triumph initiated a successful season for Jumbo-Visma, followed by Jonas Vingegaard retaining the Tour title in July and Sepp Kuss securing the Vuelta last month. The team’s podium sweep in the Vuelta suggests their focus for the upcoming season.
Explaining his transfer, Roglic said: “The decisive factor was that the team is really motivated to work with me, and that we hold the same ideas.”
A former ski jumper, Roglic spent eight years with Jumbo-Visma and clinched an Olympic gold medal in the road time trial at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
He will bid farewell to Jumbo-Visma in his last race, the Lombardy one-day classic, taking place on Saturday. “We want to end Primoz’s time in our team with a top performance and hope that the polished diamond that Primoz is will shine again,” said sports director Marc Reef.