Roglic unable to go for Tour de France time trial win with bike problems
A forced bike change prevented Primoz Roglic from battling for the stage win in the Tour de France’s stage 20 time trial in Marseille. The Slovenian of team LottoNL-Jumbo was unable to shift down and lost much time due to it and the bike change.
Maciej Bodnar won the stage and Roglic, winner of the Galibier stage, finished 14th place. Chris Froome kept the yellow jersey lead.
“From the first corner, there was something wrong with my gear,” Roglic explained. “After that, I could only ride 50 kilometres an hour, where I would normally ride 65. I rode on until the climb and then we changed bikes.
“It is very difficult to ride with only one gear. I am very disappointed. Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you are not. Bad luck happens to you, but it is part of the deal. I was here to compete for the victory.”
Roglic still considers it a “nice” 2017 Tour de France with some “bad luck” days.
“But I always kept fighting. In the end, I got what I wanted by winning a stage.”
“He started well, but after the U-turn at 4.4 kilometres, he could not shift anymore,” Sports Director Jan Boven said. “He had his chain on the big gear and rode on in that gear. On the steepest part of the climb, we decided to change bikes. It is very frustrating that this happens.”
