Watch all the best , with the Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes and much more.
The news of Roglic’s move to BORA-hansgrohe was confirmed on Wednesday (AEDT), with the immediate thought from most of the cycling world being around the balance of power at the Grand Tours. They were dominated last year by Jumbo-Visma, winning all three, with Roglic 1st at the Giro d’Italia and third at La Vuelta as part of a 1-2-3 for Jumbo-Visma.
However, the impact on another Grand Tour winner, Australian Jai Hindley, winner of the 2022 Giro d’Italia, hasn’t been as high on the list of analysts despite his impressive showing before injury at the 2023 Tour de France, where he won a stage, wore yellow and was placed third overall midway through the race.
SBS Sport caught up with esteemed cycling commentator and expert Matthew Keenan for his analysis on the blockbuster move.
“When I first heard the rumour of Roglic joining Bora-hansgrohe, thinking about Jai Hindley's leadership position, I hoped it wasn't true,” said Keenan. “I hoped that he was leaving Jumbo, as he wants another chance at the Tour yet he was never going to get that at Jumbo, but I didn't want it to be for Bora. I was hoping he'd go to Bahrain.”
The focus is on the biggest race of the season, the Tour de France, and how BORA-hansgrohe will utilise their two Grand Tour-winning stars.
“Even though Jai Hindley has won the Giro d'Italia he's not one of the big favourites for the Tour de France,” said Keenan. “Vingegaard and Pogacar are in their own category, Jai is in the next group and so is Roglic, Remco Evenepoel, Carlos Rodriguez and I'd have Juan Ayuso with these guys if he wasn't on UAE with Pogacar.
“If Roglic and Hindley can genuinely work together, having two contenders increases the chances of BORA winning the Tour or at least getting on the podium.
“Bora can assemble one of the strongest teams for the Tour de France. Roglic and Hindley supported by Lennard Kamna, Emanual Buchmann and Aleksandr Vlasov makes for an incredible combination in the mountains, with Marco Haller, Nico Denz and Danny van Poppel providing plenty of muscle everywhere else. Plus, they've signed Dani Martinez for the next four years. It's a super team.”
BORA-hansgrohe have employed a strategy in the past of equal leadership in the biggest races, in both of his Giro d’Italia podium finishes, Hindley went in as part of multi-pronged team strategy on the general classification. However, Roglic reportedly chafed under the joint leadership role at La Vuelta, being the one of the Jumbo-Visma trident of eventual winner Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard and himself to promote an intra-team competition for the win.
“If Hindley and Roglic can work together, the same way Hindley did with Wilco Kelderman, when they finished 2nd and 3rd at the Giro, this signing could be fantastic for Hindley,” said Keenan.
“Roglic will be the centre of attention, which takes some pressure off Jai Hindley. It also gives him a greater chance of being able to make the sort of move he did on Stage 5 at this year's Tour de France.
“If they get the working relationship right, across the whole team, this can be great for Jai Hindley. But make no mistake, Roglic will want to be the number one man at the Tour for Bora.”
Apart from 2024, there are long-term considerations for Australia’s premier climber, Hindley out of contract at the conclusion of the season.
“I don't see Roglic joining BORA having any negative impact on Hindley's long-term future, whether that's at BORA or elsewhere,” said Keenan. “Jai is only 27, Primoz is 33. At 34 Cadel Evans is the oldest, post second World War, winner of the Tour. Primoz turns 34 in two weeks.
“Even though he was late to the sport it's against the odds to be better at 34 or 35 than you were at 30, when he almost won the Tour.”
“There's still more improvement for Jai, I don't see where the improvement is going to come from for Primoz. I think Primoz Roglic is the third best grand tour rider in the current peloton, but Jumbo-Visma got his best years.”
It shapes as a fascinating narrative to keep an eye on heading into the biggest race of the season in 2024 and is no doubt a topic that writers and commentators will keep discussing.
The 2024 Tour de France will be live and free exclusively on SBS and SBS On Demand.
