Prim'Boss' Roglic steals the show at Giro press conference: "I feel 10 out of 10, but maybe someone else feels like a 15 out of 15"

Not that you should expect anything wild. Roglic will also be present at the so-called Top Riders Press Conference hosted by RCS in Tirana on Friday, but you can bet he won’t be giving too much away there either. And why would he? After all the Grand Tours he’s ridden, he knows the pre-race talk is just part of the show and that over the course of three weeks, anything can happen out on the road.

And so it happened. Perhaps the most impressive thing was his entrance: baggy shorts, sunglasses, cap backward, hair hanging down his neck, and a big 'boss' on his shirt. Original, which couldn't really be said of his answers. You could call them typical for Roglic. "We have a strong team and want to give it our best. What that means exactly, we'll see at the end," for example. Or: "I've trained a few times on the roads in Albania. What do I think of them? Nothing, because we just have to get through them."

"The Strade Bianche stage is going to be important because anything can happen" is another one. "My four main opponents? They're all opponents, so I can't say who's dangerous or not. You can't rule anyone out who's starting." He hesitated momentarily when asked how he felt on a scale of 1 to 10. Until he said: "I feel 10 out of 10, but maybe someone else feels like a 15 out of 15, and I'm not good enough. That's also possible."

Roglic caught up with Marc Reef, the Visma Lease a Bike sports director with whom he won the 2023 Giro, and handed out gift boxes to rivals like Richard Carapaz. “What happened two years ago is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Now I’m back, and we’re in for another three weeks full of emotion. I feel good and I’m ready for the battle,” said Roglic.

“What happened earlier this season, like in the Volta a Catalunya, doesn’t matter anymore. We’re all starting from scratch and have to be ready again,” said the Slovenian, who only spent fifty hours at home between his altitude camp and flying out to the Giro d’Italia. “I didn’t do any recons, so I’ll just take things day by day. If you look at the stage profiles, it’s pretty clear that the third week is the toughest,” he added once more.

“Is everyone calling me the favorite? When I look at the start list, I don’t see how I have any sort of edge over the others. It’s nice that people think so, but there are 21 stages in which I’ll have to prove it,” he explained. “That’s why I don’t know yet which days will end up being decisive. We’ll only know that once the final GC is set after the Giro.”

It may all look casual on the surface, but make no mistake Primoz Roglic has been dialed in for the Giro d’Italia, prepping alongside Jan Tratnik and others. And that’s no surprise. At Red Bull BORA-hansgrohe, there’s a deep connection with this race: it was their first-ever Grand Tour, back in 2012 as Team NetApp, and in 2022 they won it with Jai Hindley.

The Australian is back again this year, as is last year’s runner-up Daniel Felipe Martínez. “Our ambition for the Giro is clear,” said sports director Rolf Aldag. “We want to be a factor in the GC and deliver an exciting race for the fans. We know how tough it’s going to be, and we know all eyes are on Primoz.”

“That’s exactly why we’re surrounding him with a strong, balanced team. Primoz is in top form, and the guys around him are battle-hardened, which gives us a range of tactical options,” Aldag added. Alongside Hindley and Martínez, the lineup features road captain Jan Tratnik, power engines Gianni Moscon and Nico Denz, and climbers Giovanni Aleotti and Giulio Pellizari—who, on Wednesday night in Tirana, couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.