Primož Roglič is to skip both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in order to continue his recovery from injuries suffered at Itzulia Basque Country, it was announced on Friday.
The Bora-Hansgrohe rider, a former winner of Liège, was caught up in the horror crash on stage four which saw Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) break bones.
While the Slovenian escaped without fractures, it was his second crash in two days in Spain, and is said to have “extensive wounds”.
“Primož was with us the whole week to treat his extensive wounds and his knee,” Dan Lorang, the head of performance for Bora-Hansgrohe, said. “We want to give his body time to fully recover from these injuries, because our big goal is the Tour de France. That’s why we’ve decided to focus on his training for the next week.”
In an image posted on his Instagram page, the extent of Roglič’s injuries are clear, with plasters covering much of his body.
He won Liège in 2020, the year that Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) celebrated early, and would be thought of as a favourite for the race in usual circumstances. In his absence, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will be among the favourites.
Roglič was possibly the best off from the big crash at Itzulia, with Evenepoel and Vingegaard both spending time off the bike due to injuries sustained in the incident.
On Tuesday, Vingegaard’s team said that he had gone through a “successful” collarbone operation, however: “He will now spend the next few weeks recovering. It is not yet clear how long this will take.”
The Dane suffered a collapsed lung in the crash, along with breaking “several ribs”, and therefore it is unknown in what state he will be to defend his Tour de France crown in July.
The worst-affected were Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and Steff Cras (TotalEnergies). Vine broke his spine in three places, but said after a “pretty scary” couple of days that he could now to take a couple of steps with a walker. “[I] just can’t believe that I will still be able to walk and play with my kids one day,” he wrote on Instagram.
Cras also suffered spinal fractures, but is already on the road to recovery. “The good news is that my participation in the Tour de France is not in jeopardy,” he said.
