Roglic rolls back the years with Slovenian time trial title: 'Ten years go by quickly'

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Primož Roglič celebrate, especially in a time trial. At the Slovenian Time Trial Championships, he claimed his first victory in a race against the clock since the Tour of the Basque Country in 2024. It was also his first national title since he won the road race in 2020. The 36-year-old veteran of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe briefly brought back memories of his glory days on home soil.

In the battle for the national title, Roglic was by far the fastest in Karteljevo. He relegated the Bahrain Victorious duo of Roman Ermakov and Jakob Omrzel to second and third place, as they finished about a minute and a half behind on the 28.8-kilometer course. The last time we saw the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe team leader claim victory was at the Tour of Catalonia, where he took the overall win in 2025.

So, a welcome victory for Roglic. “It’s never the easiest time trial,” he told RTV Slovenia after the national championship. “It was hot. I always say that a win is a win. Every win is special, and I’m very happy with every win. Even today’s, because I haven’t won in a long time. Now we’re moving on to Sunday’s road race.”

Then the Slovenian will be aiming for his second road title. Friday marked his second national time trial title: he claimed his first victory in his debut race, in 2016. “Ten years go by quickly. It was amazing. A win is a win, and I’m very happy that I rode a good time trial today.”

Roglic will not compete in the Tour de France, where Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz are the team leaders for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. The Slovenian is expected to take on that role in the Vuelta a España, where he’ll be aiming for his fifth title. It would be a record, but does the seasoned veteran still have what it takes to go for the win?

In typical Roglic fashion, he remains level-headed when asked about the Vuelta. “I’m not thinking about that yet. Let’s just be happy about the victories first, which, in my case, are very rare, so I’m glad I managed to pull it off, and then I’ll compete in the road race on Sunday. We’ll think about the Vuelta later. We’ve already seen that it’s difficult to qualify for the Grand Tours; there’s a lot involved—even the selection process for the Vuelta and the start is a whole other story.”

The question is whether we’ll still see Roglic in the peloton in 2027. After his 92nd professional victory, nothing has changed, he says. “If I knew anything or had a say in the matter, I’d be happy to share it. There’s a lot of speculation and guesswork, and all I can say is that anything is possible. We’ll see what happens after the season.”