Primož Roglič is hoping to establish "an open and fair relationship" with Remco Evenepoel when the two become teammates and co-leaders at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in the new year, after the Belgian broke his contract with Soudal-QuickStep early in a blockbuster move.
Bora-Hansgrohe bought Roglič out of his contract at Jumbo-Visma to bring him on board and lead their Tour de France efforts in 2023, but Evenepoel looks likely to take up that role in 2026 after team boss Ralph Denk finally landed his signature.
While this threatens to undermine Roglič's previous position as the team's focus, the Slovenian is hopeful that the two can work in harmony, but has expressed how thorough discussions will need to take place before that is possible.
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"There have been no discussions in the team about what will happen next season," Roglič told Slovenian newspaper Delo.
"We haven't talked to Remco yet, and I definitely want to sit down with him and talk. I think it's very important that we have an open and fair relationship from the beginning of our cooperation."
That will come later in the year, however, and for the moment, Roglič's focus will be on helping Evenepoel's key rival for the World Championships road race on Sunday, Tadej Pogačar.
Roglič arrived in Kigali, Rwanda, on Friday, joining his teammates late after preparing at altitude in Sierra Nevada, Spain. He'll don the green jersey for a seventh time in the elite men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday. While at peak form as a former Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner, he could be a contender to win, but he will be there solely to support Pogačar's ambitions.
"The road race will be a challenge for me, to be honest," he said. "Judging by the competition, I don't have much chance of the top places.
"Tadej will be there, and Remco is also more than obviously in exceptional form. In addition to them, there are about ten strong cyclists who could have a very good day on Sunday."
While his current national teammate Pogačar and soon-to-be trade teammate Evenepoel are now the big favourites for the road race, that balance changed significantly after the Belgian's dominance en route to a third time trial world title last Sunday.
Pogačar could only manage fourth and was overtaken by Evenepoel, despite starting 2:30 before him on the course on Sunday. The defending road race World Champion will be out for revenge, and Roglič will be key to his support, but he also noted how the time trial result was surprising to see.
"Remco's time trial victories are really no surprise, but I didn't expect him to outclass all the other cyclists like that," admitted the Slovenian. "He is an incredible time trialist.
"This race didn't go as Tadej wanted, but you never know what will happen if you don't try. We all have good and bad days. In Tadej's case, we are talking about a bad day, although he finished in a high 4th place, and only a second separated him from the podium."
Slovenian national coach Uroš Murn put to bed any question of Roglič also racing as a leader on Sunday, simply stating: "We are here just for Tadej, but we know also that Primoz will also do a good job in the final," during the pre-race press conference with Pogačar on Thursday.
Roglič is ready for fireworks, with the position of Mount Kigali – the longest climb of the race – being just inside the 100km to go point of the 268km route, which features 5500m of elevation gain and should be raced hard over laps of the Côte de Kigali Golf and cobbled Côte de Kimihurura.
"We must also be aware that the games will begin when five hours of racing have passed, that's when the decisive cards and moves will start to be drawn, but you have to get there first," said Roglič, when asked if a medal was possible while also riding for Pogačar to win.
"That's the first task, and then you have to think about starting to really race and achieve something, and not just waiting for the end of the race to finally come. Just surviving on this route will be very difficult in itself, and everything will be made more difficult by the circumstances of the race.
"I expect it to be epic."
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