Following his crash and subsequent abandon at the Tour de France last month, Primož Roglič has returned to training, two weeks out from the Vuelta a España.
The Slovenian has won the Spanish Grand Tour three years in a row but his chances of a fourth title, and indeed his chances of even starting the race, remain up in the air.
The Vuelta gets underway in Utrecht, Netherlands, on August 19, with the Jumbo-Visma team indicating Roglič's presence is not yet decided.
The team confirmed to Cyclingnews that they will assess Roglič's recovery before making a decision about his Vuelta participation, saying, "A decision is not made yet. [We're] waiting on the way and speed of Primož's recovery."
News on Roglič's status has been quiet since he left the Tour de France before stage 15 just under three weeks ago. He had crashed hard on the cobbled stage 5, dislocating his shoulder before racing on to the finish.
He continued in the race for nine more days, supporting Jumbo-Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard on the way to the Dane's overall victory, including a vital contribution on stage 11 to the Col de Granon.
However, he headed home four days later, with Jumbo-Visma announcing that Roglič would be focussing on recovering from the injuries sustained in the crash ahead of the Vuelta.
Days earlier, he told reporters that he was suffering from harsh back pain following his crash, saying "every pedal stroke seated is having a knife in the back".
On Thursday, he broke his silence to post to Instagram, flexing his bicep in a photo taken during training near his Monaco home.
"A classic good morning photo when you are finally back on the road," Roglič wrote.
Roglič's participation in the Vuelta is likely to hinge on how he copes with his upcoming training rides in the next few days.
If fit, he would lead a Jumbo-Visma team likely to include Sepp Kuss, Rohan Dennis, and Robert Gesink. He would face competition for the overall title from the likes of Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco), Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), Miguel Angel López (Astana Qazaqstan), Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), and Giro d'Italia champion Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe).
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Daniel Ostanek is production editor at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired as staff writer. Prior to joining the team, he had written for most major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips.
Daniel has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France and the spring Classics, and has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mark Cavendish, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.
As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Daniel also runs The Leadout newsletter and oversees How to Watch guides throughout the season. His favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Volta a Portugal, and he rides a Colnago C40.