Primož Roglič has made it clear that he is not throwing in the towel in the GC battle for the Vuelta a España, with the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe racer saying that he is "probably in his best condition" of the year.
Roglič's battle for a fifth, record-breaking Vuelta a España title has been significantly conditioned by the major training crash he had before the race began. The injuries he suffered caused the 36-year-old to cancel his participation in his two warm-up races, the Clásica San Sebastian and Vuelta a Burgos, and sparked a major question mark over him starting Spanish Grand Tour until just a few days before it began in Monaco on August 22.
Despite steadily losing time to Enric Mas (Movistar) and more sporadically to Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) on the Vuelta's mountain stages so far, Roglič is currently running third overall at 2:10 down, with the third week's time trial in Jerez de la Frontera and two major summit finishes still to come.
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Roglič is on the back foot in the GC standings, but as his comeback from his training crash injuries continues, the Slovenian star made it clear in an extensive rest day interview with MARCA that he never expected to be recovering as quickly as he has done, and that he is not ruling out anything in the Vuelta's six remaining days of racing.
Asked what percentage of his top form he currently felt he was at, Roglič replied: "It's difficult to say. Things keep on changing, every year is different and you change too, so it's complicated to say.
"To start with, I'm pleased to have started [the Vuelta] so well. I never expected to be going this well. I don't mean that I'm at 80%, 50% or 10%, or if I'm getting better or worse. We'll see."
The all-important TT
There is a great deal of anticipation regarding the 32-kilometre time trial in Jerez de la Frontera on Thursday and what Roglič can achieve there. He is, after all, the former Olympic champion in the discipline, and he has been spending warm-down time on his TT bike after every stage.
Roglič said, however, that he doubted that he could deliver a knockout GC blow in the time trial, pointing out that his rivals are in great shape.
"I doubt it. My competitors are going very fast, and I'm losing time. Any second I can get before the time trial would be good. There's both a lot left to race and very little."
Regarding whom he fears specifically, he said simply: "nobody, really. I have to do my own race. At the end of the day, I don't fight for a win that often and they're fighting for their first [overall] victories. The situation is different. We'll see what happens. I'm satisfied with what's happened so far.
"They still see me as a threat, as a rival. But we'll see. We're going into the last week and anything could happen," he added.
"I'm in a perfect scenario. The place I'm in is the right one for me and I accept that. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to give the best I can and we'll see what that means compared to the rest."
While surprised by how well Enric Mas is going, Roglič said he would like to have similarly good form, but he is also very aware of what his own build-up for the race has been.
"With the rehabilitation and preparation, I'm not in my best moment, but I am on a good level. Probably the best I've been this season," he said.
"I have to go on doing what I do and not give up."
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