AMSTERDAM – Slovenian Primoz Roglic will focus on the Giro d’Italia next season while Danish teammate Jonas Vingegaard will defend his Tour de France title, their Jumbo-Visma team said on Thursday.

The 33-year-old Roglic was a runner-up in the Tour in 2020.

He failed to finish the last two editions of the race after heavy crashes, but in 2022 he stayed in the Tour long enough to help Vingegaard into the yellow jersey.

The Dane went on to win the race.

“Wilco Kelderman will support him and we will build a solid team around Primoz,” said sporting director Merijn Zeeman during the team presentation.

“Having two strong leaders is a luxury and we will give everything to win this Giro.”

Roglic was not at the presentation owing to family reasons but he had doubted that he would be fit to compete in the Giro after undergoing shoulder surgery in October.

In an announcement video, he described thr Giro as “a race I love but haven’t won yet”.

He added: “I’m still recovering from surgery, but by May, I hope to be in good shape. In any case, I will do everything I can to achieve that.”

Vingegaard was present and he thanked Roglic while also outlining his aims for the Tour.

“I was happy having Primoz by my side and my wish was to go back to the Tour de France to defend my title. I’m happy I can go and we’ll try to go for one more,” he said.

“It’s different going to the Tour now, compared to last year. Somehow there’s more pressure but also less pressure because we did it. If I don’t win it again in my career, I can still be super happy with what I’ve done.” 

Zeeman added: “We figured out how to defeat (Tadej) Pogacar last year.

“We know his strengths and the areas in which Jonas is superior to him. We return to the Tour with a solid plan, and we believe that we can aim for yellow again with Jonas.”

Roglic, who has three Vuelta titles, is not the only big name who will miss the 2023 Tour de France.

In November, Vuelta and world road race champion in Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s Remco Evenepoel announced he would also be riding the Giro and skipping the Tour. AFP