Primož Roglič's dense palmares and brilliant week-long stage racing track record mean he is inevitably one of the top favourites at the Volta a Catalunya. But as the race gears up to hit the high mountains on Wednesday, his team are staying resolutely relaxed about his options for success.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk told Cyclingnews that Roglič has already shown strongly enough on stage 1 to raise their hopes about a solid climbing performance.
However, given the fast-looming Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double, as well as Roglič's near-complete dearth of racing in 2025 - so far this year he's only taken part in the Volta ao Algarve before Catalunya - there's no sense of the Volta being a crunch race for the Slovenian.
Even if two important elements of their probable Giro d'Italia lineup, 2022 winner Jai Hindley and 2024 runner-up Dani Martínez, are missing in the Volta a Catalunya, the race is acting as a key component for May in another way. The week-long WorldTour race provides a 'live' setting, too, for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe to carry out vital behind-the-scenes team building work for cycling's first Grand Tour, and beyond.
"Stage 3 is the first big day of the Volta, a really tough mountain stage and I think every contender here will go deep," Denk told Cyclingnews before stage 2.
"It's the first opportunity to make a difference on GC and from what I saw yesterday [Monday] from Primož and what I heard from him, what he reported, he feels good."
"He knows the stage, la Molina is in the Volta every year, so let's see. But we are quite optimistic."
La Molina is a very well-known ascent, and Roglič was narrowly defeated there by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) in 2023, but he remained in control of the lead to claim the overall victory in 2023. However, several other sports directors and team staff pointed out to Cyclingnews that the harder build-up to La Molina, on a stage with 5,000 metres of vertical climbing, including the 20-kilometre Col de la Creuta, will make for a much tougher day than usual.
"Endurance is important, especially tomorrow, but I am not worried that Primož might have a problem about that," Denk said confidently, before adding, "Maybe the opposite is true, maybe it [the tougher course] even suits him a bit better."
While the Volta is obviously an important goal, Denk says they have also opted for a much lighter racing schedule in the first half of 2025 to ensure Roglič will be in the best possible condition come the summer and a program of two Grand Tours back-to-back.
"We have a different approach here, that's why we are racing less than some years ago," Denk explained to Cyclingnews. "Because if the plans work, then the Giro and the Tour will be for Primož and that's why we're not stressed if he is not at the highest level tomorrow. We're quite relaxed."
"Also name-wise, Primož is definitely the reference point for the Volta, but you can see in modern cycling there are a lot of young kids coming up, even yesterday," Denk pointed out with a smile, referring to stage 1's victory by 19-year-old Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Beyond the final results come Sunday in Montjuic Park in Barcelona, Denk recognised that the Volta provided an excellent scenario for team-building work, even if Hindley and Martínez were not present. "Definitely it's a good opportunity to race together to learn from each other and create trust. Tomorrow, too, I'll have more of an idea [about Roglič's own performance."
As for the Australian and Colombian and the Giro, Denk said that "our main goal is to bring Dani and Jai in the best shape possible to the Giro since the whole cycling world already knows what they can do [achieve]."
"If Dani is in good shape and Jai is in super shape, then I'll be relaxed, and everything else will fall into place by itself."
And as for the current condition of Red Bull's team leader for the Giro d'Italia, that will become a lot clearer in the Volta a Catalunya mountain stages: in other words - extremely soon.
