21 things you didn’t know about Primož Roglič

Jumbo-Visma's Primož Roglič is currently one of the biggest names in the men's WorldTour peloton, and has 17 stage victories across all three Grand Tours to his name.

The Slovenian has won the Vuelta a España on three occasions, and has won a plethora of stage races across his hugely successful career, including at Tirreno-Adriatico, Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya.

Back in the rearranged Tokyo Olympics, Roglič also won gold in the men's individual time trial.

In 2023, he's targeting overall victory at the Giro d'Italia.

1. He attended an economics school in Kranj, Slovenia before attending the faculty of Organisational Sciences.  Although Roglič never finished his diploma.

2. Did you know that before beginning his cycling career, Roglič was a professional ski jumper?  Of course you did! But did you know he was Junior World Team event champion in 2007? 

3. OK, so you maybe also knew that last one but what about this? The Slovenian also has two continental cup wins, the second highest level of international ski jumping, and his best ever distance was 185 metres at a competition in Planica, Slovenia.

4. Roglič suffered a nasty crash while ski jumping in 2007, and would retire from the sport four years later for good.

5. He has previously been skiing at Monte Lussari, the site of the mountain time trial in the third week of the 2023 Giro.

6. Roglič was fairly late to professional cycling, only turning pro with Adria Mobil in 2013 aged 23.

7. His first professional win as a cyclist came in 2014 at the Tour d'Azerbaïdjan.

8. One of his first coaches was former Slovenian professional rider Andrej Hauptman.

9. In 2017, Roglič became the first ever Slovenian to win a stage of the Tour de France.

10. He then set another record two years later, becoming the first Slovenian to win one of cycling's Grand Tour's when he took his first Vuelta a España victory.

11. He was also the first Slovenian to wear the yellow jersey of the race leader at the Tour, finishing second to compatriot Tadej Pogačar.

12.  In recent years, the Slovenian has been seen on podiums across the sport demonstrating his now famous Telemark celebration. It pays homage to his ski jumping days, and is when ski jumpers land with one foot in front of the other with knees slightly bent, mimicking the style of Telemark skiing from Norway.

13. In 2016, the Jumbo-Visma rider won stage nine of the Giro d'Italia, an individual time trial on his spare bike. His main time trial bike at the time failed to meet UCI requirements.

14. On that same Giro stage nine, he was forced to rely on instinct after not managing to quickly attach his bike computer to his spare bike for the stage.

15. The Slovenian has his own charitable foundation, the Primož Roglič foundation, which has been involved in a variety of cycling related projects.

16. The foundation provided urgent assistance to young Ukrainian cyclists forced to flee their home country due to the Russian invasion.

17. Roglič has become infamous for stealing wins from under the noses of other riders, right at the final moment on the finish line. As a result, the move has become known as "Roglification".

18. Roglič and his wife welcomed a second child to the family in January. The couple already has one son, Lev Roglič.

19. Jumbo-Visma are currently sponsored by Cervélo, and the current three-time Vuelta champion rides a size 51 Cervélo R5.

20. The Slovenian is a basketball fan, and follows the Chicago Bulls.

21. After suffering a major crash at the 2022 Vuelta, Roglič publicly blamed Fred Wright for the incident.