Roglic's sidekick experienced tough Tour preparation: "All my teammates felt the effects of prolonged stress"

"I was aware of the role the team had assigned me since the first training camp in December of last year," the now 27-year-old Sobrero opened his retrospective. "In the Grand Tours, I would have had to give a hand to the captains, while in other races, I would have had the space to try to have my say and take part in the race." During the spring, the Italian was given complete freedom in the AlUla Tour, which he sweetened with fourth place in the GC. Also in Milan-Sanremo, Sobrero was surprisingly following the big stars in the finale, but despite a courageous attack, eventually fell just outside the top ten.

"I had found a good condition, and I felt I was doing quite well," Sobrero recalled. The Italian showed his courage and went to the Flemish spring, which failed utterly. "I got sick prior to the Ardennes," the fast rider from Alba explains his DNFs in the Amstel Gold Race, the Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

After the spring, the team's focus shifted entirely to the Tour. According to Sobrero, that was also partly due to the arrival of Red Bull. "As a result, the team invested a lot in the Tour, maybe too much." Whereas the Italian was supposed to ride his first Tour last year, that opportunity was denied him without much explanation. Partly because of that, this year's preparation for La Grande Boucle was something new for Sobrero. "I was never used to that workload. We left on May 10 without practically ever returning home until the last stage. I also missed the Italian championship," he reflects on the long preparation.

The Italian thoroughly explains what that long and exhausting preparation after the spring looked like: "We went to France to do some stage reconnaissance. From there, we moved to Andorra for the high-altitude training camp, cycled the Dauphiné, and finally returned to the training camp in Tigne. Once the preparation was finished, the official presentation of Red Bull was held in Austria, and a few days later, the departure to Florence took place."

Such preparation does not go easy on you, according to Sobrero. "These are efforts that you make and don't weigh you down, especially with the adrenaline of the moment. Once you stop, tiredness and fatigue come over you. All my teammates who finished the Tour said they felt the effects of the long period of stress." Despite a short break after the Tour, that intense period affected Sobrero. "It's something that I took with me to the last race of the season." In the fall, the Italian recorded a series of DNFs before finishing his season in eighteenth position in the Gran Piemonte.