Roglič draws criticism after Romandie performances: 'Why does it look like he's on holiday?'

With Florian Lipowitz second in the general classification, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe are having a fine Tour de Romandie. Young talent Luke Tuckwell has also impressed, but intended shadow leader Primož Roglič has faded over the past few days — and that has not gone down well with Chris Horner.

Roglič stood sixth in the general classification after the prologue and one mountain stage, just 32 seconds behind yellow jersey wearer Tadej Pogačar. He then lost that position over the hilly stages that followed. In stage three, the Slovenian veteran did some pace-setting work for Finn Fisher-Black — but Horner was unimpressed, as his analysis on YouTube makes clear.

"Why does it look like he's on holiday, getting dropped immediately after doing a few short turns at the front?"

After those turns, Roglič was forced to let go — with around 30 riders still in the peloton. Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe still had four riders in the group, but shadow leader Roglič was no longer among them.

"This man was once a first-class rider, and he is one of the best-paid cyclists in the peloton," Horner fumes. "You're 2.2 kilometres from the top of the climb, and you need to take on some bottles now? It makes absolutely no sense to me."

Roglič responded to his recent form in his characteristically dry manner. "I'm just trying to help the team, I'm doing my best. Today will be tough, we'll see what we can do," he told CyclingPro.net before the start of stage four. Asked whether he might get into the breakaway, he kept his cards close. "I can try, but sometimes it's easier to lose time than to gain it."

In the end, the four-time Vuelta a España winner was indeed seen at the front in stage four: he bridged across to the leaders and spent the day in the breakaway. He was one of the stronger riders in the move, but had nothing left when Pogačar and Lipowitz came flying through. He could offer his team leader nothing on the final climb: Roglič finished sixteenth, two minutes down on the winner — laughing, and waving to the crowd.