Primož Roglič is set to decide on his future team in the coming days amidst the chaos that has come with Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep's potential merger being revealed, and the 33-year-old Slovenian is reportedly available should a team be willing to pay a buyout.
Ineos Grenadiers are the frontrunners according to WielerFlits who broke both the story on Roglič and the Soudal-Visma merger, and the Dutch site states that various sources have confirmed billionaire owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s willingness to pay for the Slovenian as a route to fight for overall victory at the Tour de France.
The Slovenian is under contract until 2025 but with the complexities of the merger, rumours have regained prominence after surfacing as early as 2022 with possible links to Lidl-Trek and Ineos Grenadiers, and WielerFlits state that team managers understand he is free to leave the Dutch team after a lump sum is paid.
Roglič will reportedly make his decision before this Sunday, October 1, with Bahrain Victorious, Jayco-AlUla and Movistar seriously in the hunt alongside the British team.
Cyclingnews has reached out to Roglič’s agent for comment on the reports.
Roglič laughed off rumours when speaking to FloBikes at the Vuelta saying to ‘not really’ believe them, but did address how they couldn’t be a bad thing.
“These are good things for me,” said Roglič. “As long as someone wants me, that means that obviously I’m good.”
Roglič has had to share leadership while at Jumbo-Visma, most recently at the Vuelta a España where he finished third behind teammates Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard, with the latter also taking over as the main leader at the Tour de France having won the last two editions.
At Ineos Grenadiers, Roglič would be their strongest GC rider and would have the full support of a team riding just for his ambitions, with the same being said if he were to join Movistar or Bahrain Victorious, but the British team have the best recent history of Grand Tour success and a huge budget.
Roglič is set to finish his 2023 season with a trio of Italian Classics at the Giro dell’Emilia, Tre Valli Varesine and Il Lombardia, where he will faceoff with compatriot Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and another rider who is linked to Ineos due to the merger, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
The merger story has developed throughout the week with HLN reporting that the UCI has been notified about the merger plan for 2024 and that Jumbo-Visma CEO Richard Plugge met UCI President David Lappartient last week.
