Primož Roglič once again proved he can fly up, and down, mountains, whether it be on a bike or on skis. In this year’s decisive individual time trial at the Giro d'Italia to the top of Monte Lussari, the Jumbo-Visma rider needed an unlikely assist that even a television script writer may have found too far-fetched to consider.
Trailing then-race leader Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) by 26 seconds as the two rocketed through the 18.6km mountain time trial on stage 20, he made up that deficit and put in another 14 seconds to swipe the maglia rosa and carry it into Rome for his first Italian Grand Tour win. But it wasn’t just the clock which Roglič fought on Saturday, but also a mechanical issue with his bike and a fortitude to stay calm.
The Slovenian came to a standstill on the decisive climb, broadcast cameras catching him muttering "no, no, no, no" as he worked to put a slipped chain back on his bike. From behind, a Jumbo-Visma mechanic jumped into action from a trailing motorbike but fumbled with a replacement machine on the steep gradient of the road. Cyclingnews' Barry Ryan called it "20 seconds of panic" in his recount of the incident.
Then, a spectator in a red T-shirt and shorts ran a short distance down the hill and sprang into action, providing a push of a lifetime. It turned out he was also a former ski jumping teammate of Roglič's from Slovenia, Mitja Mežnar.
"I just put my chain [on] and just thought, 'push, push, push, push'," Roglič said soon after the finish.
The right place at the right time doesn't even sound precise enough for this script. "Incredible" was the term the new Giro winner used to give the scenario an exclamation point. The Jumbo-Visma team called it "nail-biting".
"He's a super good friend. He was my roommate in the past when I was a ski jumper," explained Roglič. "He was one of the four guys in the [Slovenian] team when we were junior World champs in 2007, in the same place in Tarvisio. It's incredible, huh?"
Both Mežnar and Roglič had made the Slovenia ski jumping team for the 2007 FIS Junior World Ski Championships. On the men's Normal Hill, the Slovenian duo finished just off the podium, Mežnar in fourth and Roglič in fifth.
Tarvisio, Italy was not only the site where the two competed at those world championships 16 years ago, but the city served as the start to the time trial for stage 20.
Mežnar later spoke on Slovenian radio station Val 202 and confirmed that he was indeed the lone spectator on the critical section of the mountain time trial who gave Roglic a surprise assist.
"It was completely subconscious. When I saw that he was on the ground and had a mechanical, I was shocked," said Mežnar, who competed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, coming away with eighth place in the team large hill event.
"But then I reacted completely instinctively and tried to get him back in motion as soon as possible to continue his fight. The whole thing unfolded extremely quickly."
