It\u2019s wrong to speak of Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d in the past tense.<\/p>\n
The Slovenian remains one of cycling\u2019s defining champions, a rider whose palmar\u00e8s<\/em> spans grand tours, Olympic gold, monuments, and nearly every major one-week stage race.<\/p>\n Yet as the 2026 season begins, Rogli\u010d is the forgotten man of the Big 4 era.<\/p>\n Rogla<\/em> is still in the world\u2019s elite, but the peloton is moving on.<\/p>\n The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe star turns 37 in October, and his contract expires at the end of the year.<\/p>\n The Slovenian returns to racing this week after a long altitude block on Teide, enigmatic as ever.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you train and you\u2019re alone, for sure you are not achieving your best,\u201d Rogli\u010d said during the team\u2019s camp. \u201cIf you compare yourself with the rest, then you can see where you are and what still needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n Rogli\u010d is never one to over-complicate things.<\/p>\n But 2026 marks a crossroads for the rider who helped define cycling\u2019s modern era.<\/p>\n Few riders have shaped modern cycling quite like Rogli\u010d.<\/p>\n And he starts 2026 strangely under the radar and off the pulse of the peloton.<\/p>\n Rogli\u010d helped bridge and forge cycling\u2019s modern eras. He emerged from the dominance of Team Sky and later Ineos Grenadiers and transformed Visma-Lease a Bike into the sport\u2019s first modern \u201csuper team.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside Tadej Poga\u010dar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Evenepoel, Rogli\u010d ushered in cycling\u2019s \u201cBig Four\u201d era.<\/p>\n These days, it\u2019s Poga\u010dar 24-7, and buzz around Paul Seixas and a brash new generation nipping at his heels.<\/p>\n And now with the pavement shifting beneath his wheels, Rogli\u010d may become the first of that elite quartet to step away.<\/p>\n He opens his campaign this week at Tirreno-Adriatico without much fanfare, launching what could become the final major season of his career.<\/p>\n Rogli\u010d, however, isn\u2019t sounding like he\u2019s on a farewell tour. Monday\u2019s TT opened Tirreno-Adriatico promisingly enough within the top 10.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us start from zero and have to prove ourselves again. That\u2019s the beauty of this sport,\u201d Rogli\u010d told Wielerflits<\/em>. \u201cYou have to show your worth again and again, whether you are a young rider or someone who has been around for years.\u201d<\/p>\n Up next is Itzulia Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie in what could be one of his final clashes with compatriot and b\u00eate noire<\/em> Tadej Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n The beauty and madness with Rogli\u010d is that no one knows what you\u2019re going to get.<\/p>\n Rogli\u010d begins a season that could define the final chapter of one of cycling\u2019s most unlikely careers.<\/p>\n Yes, the line that Rogli\u010d used to be a ski jumper has become one of cycling\u2019s most worn insider jokes, but his unconventional rise remains truly remarkable.<\/p>\n Few athletes have successfully crossed over from a discipline as specialized and bizarre as ski jumping into the brutal endurance world of grand tour racing.<\/p>\n Even fewer have climbed all the way to the pinnacle of cycling\u2019s rough and tumble hierarchy.<\/p>\n Rogli\u010d did win Olympic gold, but not on skis. He claimed it in the individual time trial in the 2020 Summer Games, another twist in a career built on improbable highs and gut-wrenching lows.<\/p>\n \u201cI never expected it,\u201d Rogli\u010d said on the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe website. \u201cLife is full of surprises.\u201d<\/p>\n Fast-forward to 2026, and suddenly Rogli\u010d is no longer at the center of the conversation.<\/p>\n The arrival of Remco Evenepoel and the emergence of Florian Lipowitz have shifted the Red Bull\u2019s\u00a0gravitational center.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no more talk of yellow jerseys. In fact, he\u2019s not even penciled to race the 2026 Tour de France.<\/p>\n In trademark Rogli\u010d nonchalance, he seems to be taking it in stride.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, I always want to win,\u201d he said before Tirreno. \u201cBut to be honest, I\u2019m not so focused on results right now. The field is strong, and I\u2019m mainly looking forward to racing against all these guys again.\u201d<\/p>\n For Rogli\u010d, this season could provide one last run at history to cement his legacy, and that means a record fifth victory at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n A fifth Vuelta would give Rogli\u010d the outright record ahead of Roberto Heras and provide a fitting exclamation point for one of the peloton\u2019s most wild and rollercoaster careers.<\/p>\n Rogli\u010d is sometimes hard to pin down because he\u2019s so evasive in interviews.<\/p>\n Even the mighty Red Bull PR machine couldn\u2019t extract much out of him in a story posted this week on the team\u2019s website.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019m just here at the camp, I\u2019m just here. Same with the races,\u201d he said of his off-season that included a rally car race and a guest spot at the Winter Olympic Games. \u201cBut in between, I like to discover.\u201d<\/p>\n His Sphinx-like exterior is perhaps a mask to hide the intense and ambitious competitor that lies beneath.<\/p>\n He never won the Tour de France, despite coming heartbreakingly close in 2020.<\/p>\n That July afternoon at La Planche des Belles Filles saw Poga\u010dar overturn Rogli\u010d\u2019s race lead is one of the most dramatic and gutting reversals in Tour history.<\/p>\n At the time, Rogli\u010d could never have imagined it would prove to be his closest brush with the yellow jersey. In fact, eighth in 2025 was the only time he finished the Tour since that crushing loss.<\/p>\n Now, six years later,\u00a0Rogli\u010d will surely pack a few more surprises before he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n How will it end for rider who was the cornerstone of cycling\u2019s Big Four era?<\/p>\n He could be like Alejandro Valverde, who aged like a vintage rioja,<\/em> won road worlds at 38, and raced competitively\u00a0until he was 42. Or he might walk away on a high in 2026 if he clinches a record fifth Vuelta.<\/p>\n With his trademark ski jumping winning salute on the podium, of course.<\/p>\n His legacy will always be much more than results, even if he\u2019s not done yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/primoz-roglic-the-forgotten-man-of-cyclings-big-4-era\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/roglahorizontal.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated March 10, 2026 10:56AM It\u2019s wrong to speak of Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d in the past tense. The Slovenian remains one of cycling\u2019s defining champions, a rider whose palmar\u00e8s spans grand tours, Olympic gold, monuments, and nearly every major one-week stage race. Yet as the 2026 season begins, Rogli\u010d is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1818228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1818228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1818228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1818228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1818228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Bridge between eras<\/h2>\n
![\"Roglic\"](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/primoz-roglic-720x480.jpeg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
One last hill to climb<\/h2>\n
![\"Primoz](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CAuldPhoto-2025-GirodItalia-Stage2-2326-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Peloton\u2019s sphinx<\/h2>\n
![\"Primoz](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/primoz-roglic-2-720x480.jpeg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")