Primoz Roglic finished second in the final stage of the Volta Cyclist a Catalunya today in Spain. The Slovenian Team LottoNL-Jumbo rider escaped out of the original breakaway with team-mate Koen Bouwman and rode free with Alexey Tsatevich (Team Katusha). Tsatevich, though, won the sprint.

Team LottoNL-Jumbo was represented with two men in the 12-rider breakaway. Koen Bouwman and Primoz Roglic were able to be grab a spot in the leading group. “They were superb today,” Sports Director Frans Maassen said. “We got ourselves together during the last days and showed resilience after Wilco Kelderman’s abandon and Robert Gesink’s off-day. Primoz did a great job. Only the final sprint wasn’t good. He was surprised. That’s his lack of experience. Today, we were even closer to the stage victory than yesterday, and you want to grab it.”

Experience

According to Maassen, Roglic must be proud of his performance, but disappointment predominated. “I was talking with Tsatevich in the finale of the race, but he wanted to wait for his team-mate Rodriguez,” Roglic explained. “I had to do it all on my own. I should have tried to drop him, but when you look at the whole stage, I did a good job. This week was one of the toughest in my career. The level was very high. This was a beautiful experience.”