Further assessments have revealed that Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) suffered a fracture to his decrease again within the crash that compelled him out of the 2024 Tour de France.
Roglič introduced the information late on Tuesday night time by means of his Instagram, having been in restoration since abandoning the Tour forward of stage 13. This plunges any participation on the Vuelta a España into doubt, which begins on August 17.
“Life shouldn’t be the simplest typically, huh?” mentioned Roglič. “Further examinations after the [Tour de France] crash confirmed a nondisplaced lwk3 fracture of processus transversus within the decrease again so final week I used to be recovering at Red Bull Athlete Performance Center, the place they have been taking the most effective care of me…
“I’m slowly getting again on the bike and taking my time to get better and can see the place this takes us… In this time I realised, as soon as once more, that I’ve the most effective followers In the world. Thank you.”
Roglič’s crash throughout stage 12 to Villeneuve-sur-Lot got here on an innocuous run-in to a dash end, when a dividing piece of highway furnishings made Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) come down, sending him into the opposite facet of the peloton and inflicting a domino impact of riders braking and swerving to keep away from the crash.
The Slovenian wasn’t as fortunate as most who averted the incident, coming down laborious at excessive pace. Although his accidents have been unseen, it turned clear Roglič was critically harm as his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates opted to softly trip to the end, as a substitute of chasing laborious to carry again the two:27 deficit.
As the digicam lastly received a view of his proper facet, Roglič had scuffs to his helmet and rips on the proper shoulder of his jersey, nonetheless, the again harm is worse than the preliminary evaluation appeared.
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Roglič got here into stage 12 in fourth on GC, simply 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 probability for a showdown between the ‘huge 4’, which additionally consists of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), within the remaining 9 phases.
As a three-time winner of the Vuelta a España, Roglič was anticipated to start out the Spanish Grand Tour once more in accordance with experiences from Vuelta director Javier Guillén. However, Roglič’s crew boss Ralph Denk denounced these rumours, admitting nothing was confirmed because the Slovenian recovers.
“The director is aware of greater than me. Primož is at the moment solely coaching a bit on the indoor coach, I do not suppose it is clear but whether or not he’ll take part within the Vuelta,” mentioned Denk on the Inside Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe podcast. “I’m positive the director want to have him at first, however I can not verify that but.”
If Roglič was to return and win a fourth Vuelta along with his new crew, it will put him equal on essentially the most wins on the Spanish Grand Tour with Roberto Heras.