Further tests have revealed that Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) suffered a fracture to his lower back in the crash that forced him out of the 2024 Tour de France.
Roglič announced the news late on Tuesday night through his Instagram, having been in recovery since abandoning the Tour ahead of stage 13. This plunges any participation at the Vuelta a España into doubt, which starts on August 17.
“Life is not the easiest sometimes, huh?” said Roglič. “Further examinations after the [Tour de France] crash showed a nondisplaced lwk3 fracture of processus transversus in the lower back so last week I was recovering at Red Bull Athlete Performance Center, where they were taking the best care of me...
“I’m slowly getting back on the bike and taking my time to recover and will see where this takes us… In this time I realised, once again, that I have the best fans In the world. Thank you.”
Roglič’s crash during stage 12 to Villeneuve-sur-Lot came on an innocuous run-in to a sprint finish, when a dividing piece of road furniture made Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) come down, sending him into the other side of the peloton and causing a domino effect of riders braking and swerving to avoid the crash.
The Slovenian wasn’t as lucky as most who avoided the incident, coming down hard at high speed. Although his injuries were unseen, it became clear Roglič was seriously hurt as his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates opted to gently ride to the finish, instead of chasing hard to bring back the 2:27 deficit.
As the camera finally got a view of his right side, Roglič had scuffs to his helmet and rips on the right shoulder of his jersey, however, the back injury is worse than the initial assessment seemed.
Roglič came into stage 12 in fourth on GC, just 2:15 away from eventual winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and one minute behind former teammate Jonas VIngegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in third. But the crash ruined any chance for a showdown between the ‘big four’, which also includes Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), in the final nine stages.
As a three-time winner of the Vuelta a España, Roglič was expected to start the Spanish Grand Tour again according to reports from Vuelta director Javier Guillén. However, Roglič’s team boss Ralph Denk denounced these rumours, admitting nothing was confirmed as the Slovenian recovers.
“The director knows more than me. Primož is currently only training a bit on the indoor trainer, I don't think it's clear yet whether he will participate in the Vuelta,” said Denk on the Inside Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe podcast. "I'm sure the director would like to have him at the start, but I can't confirm that yet."
If Roglič was to return and win a fourth Vuelta with his new team, it would put him equal on the most wins at the Spanish Grand Tour with Roberto Heras.
