Still, there are plenty of marquee names in the race, beginning with Primož Roglič (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe), who won the race in 2023 by 0:06 over Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep). Roglič has also won five Grand Tours and 19 Grand Tour stages, but the one victory that he wants most of all, the Tour de France, continues to elude him. This means that everything he is doing this spring is being done with the July 5 Grand Départ in mind.
He was far from his best in his first race of the year, the Volta ao Algarve, finishing eighth in the GC, 0:53 behind the winner, Vingegaard, but he should be in better form now. That doesn’t mean that he is out to win it. His ideal preparation would see his form peak in July, and his schedule, as of this moment, includes only one more race before the Tour, the Giro d’Italia.
In that race, he will be facing the maturing, in-form UAE Team Emirates–XRG rider Juan Ayuso, who is also riding in Catalonia. The 22-year-old Spaniard is having a fantastic spring, winning two minor one-day races before dominating Tirreno-Adriatico, where he bested the resurgent Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) by 0:35 after a powerful climb on the penultimate stage. There are plenty of marquee names in the race, beginning with Primož Roglič, who won the race in 2023 by 0:06 over Remco Evenepoel. © Profimedia Ayuso appears to have replaced teammate João Almeida as UAE’s ‘other’ Grand Tour rider behind Tadej Pogačar […]
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