Primoz Roglic mirrored his 2020 Tour de France nightmare with cruel luck to lose Paris-Nice to Germany’s Maximilian Schachmann. Photo: Twitter @ParisNice
Primoz Roglic mirrored his 2020 Tour de France nightmare with cruel luck to lose Paris-Nice to Germany’s Maximilian Schachmann on Sunday.
Roglic famously saw fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar overturn his lead in the penultimate individual time-trial stage of last year’s Tour de France.
Defending champion Schachmann of Bora-Hansgrohe went into Sunday’s final stage in second place, but ended up retaining the Paris-Nice title as Roglic endured a chaotic day in the saddle with two crashes.
“It’s not the end of the world,” said Roglic who dislocated his shoulder in the first fall.
“It was how it was, so there’s not much to add. Of course, we are disappointed but, like I said, the world will not stop and we will go forward.”
Roglic went into the eighth and final day with a healthy 51-second lead after picking up a record three stage wins up to that point.
After an early fall he was guided back to the peloton with a nasty graze visible on his left hip.
However, he then fell again and struggled to get his chain back on and his Jumbo-Visma teammates, exhausted from the previous slog to get him back to the peloton, were unable to help.
Roglic was soon distanced and despite a heroic solo performance to get back into contention, eventually finished 3:08 behind the winning time and ended 15th in the final standings.
The world’s No 1-ranked rider also missed out on the 2019 Giro d’Italia after enjoying a position of strength in the early stages.
🛠 🇸🇮@rogla a été victime d’un problème mécanique. Il a dû changer de vélo et tente de réintégrer le peloton.
🛠 🇸🇮@rogla had a mechanical problem. He had to change his bike and is trying to get back into the peloton. #ParisNice pic.twitter.com/u0NCXsol7l
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 14, 2021
