Well-placed Belgian media have suggested that Grand Tour veteran champion Primoz Roglič may be quitting Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe to head to Lotto-Intermarché for 2027.
The 36-year-old has endured a torrid second half of the season so far, with a training crash impeding his build-up for the Vuelta a España, his big target for 2027, and his exit from the German team, which he joined in 2024 in a shock move from Visma-Lease a Bike, is already viewed as a virtual certainty.
Het Laatste Nieuws now report that Roglič is likely to be joining Lotto-Intermarché for 2027, and that discussions have already begun over his transfer to the Belgian WorldTour squad.
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After unnamed sources close to Roglič and Lotto confirmed the ongoing negotiations, HLN suggest that rather than retiring, as was also possible, the four-times Vuelta a España winner could delay hanging up his wheels by at least a season and head to Belgium.
Other teams who reportedly were interested in Roglič's services for 2027 included Q36.5, Movistar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, but all of these offers have apparently fallen by the wayside. Bahrain Victorious were also reported to be part of the picture, but Cyclingnews understands it was never a realistic option.
'Bombshell news' though this would be, as HLN say, there are good arguments for a transfer to Lotto-Intermarché to happen. Roglič is apparently looking at targeting the Tour de Suisse, the one major week-long stage race missing from his palmares, and is also keen to return to the Tour de France, and rather than the crammed out lineups he has to compete with at his current team and elsewhere to do so, the dearth of top GC names in Lotto-Intermarché mean that Roglič would be knocking on an open door when it comes to taking part in both races.
Given Lotto-Intermarché's imminent lack of a major senior GC star in their ranks, too, the Belgian squad could maintain Roglič as their main focus, whilst giving up-and-coming local talent Jarno Widar, viewed as a possible overall contender in the future, room to grow without suffering excessive pressure. At the same time, as both Lennert van Eetvelt and sprinter Arnaud De Lie are leaving, even if he failed to win in some major stage races, Roglič's consistent ability to rack up top five and top ten places would provide a much-needed source of UCI points.
The Vuelta a España - a decision next week?
Meanwhile there is apparently a continuing questionmark whether Roglič will be taking part in the Vuelta a España. This follows a Tweet last week by well-informed Italian journalist Ciro Scognamiglio of Gazzetta dello Sport that, following his training crash - which has already seen Roglič skip two build-up races, the Clásica San Sebastián and Vuelta a Burgos, the probability currently stood at around 50-50.
Should Roglič take part, he would likely be the biggest obstacle between Tadej Pogačar and overall victory in the Vuelta a España. However, given the UAE Team Emirates-XRG racer's track record over the last seven years, the odds remain massively in favour of Pogačar capturing the final Grand Tour on offer in 2026, whether Roglič is there or not.
Spanish newspaper 'AS' suggested on Wednesday that a decision about Roglič's participation could be taken as late as early next week. That would be just days before the race begins on Saturday, August 22 in Monaco - both Pogačar's and Roglič's adopted residence during the season.
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