![]() Meanwhile, Roglič’s annual date with disaster – this time crashing into a haybale that had strayed into the road, dislocating his shoulder and eventually prompting a belated abandon over a week later – also simply appeared par for the course. While the first few stages resembled opening night of Wout van Aert’s one-man show, the treacherous cobbled trek to Arenberg – and in particular the frenzied, almost cartoonish image of more than half of the team confused and scattered to the four winds, running across the road in a desperate bike-swap meltdown following a Vingegaard mechanical – was classic Jumbo-Visma. While the late-blooming Slovenian’s relatively stress-free domination of the Vuelta a España and most week-long stage races since then has certainly hinted at the potential for ruthless domination, until this summer Jumbo-Visma’s modus operandi on the biggest stage has seemed to be focused on snatching cruel defeat from the jaws of victory.Įven in the early days of this year’s race, chaos still followed the Jumbo-Visma like an old friend. By the finish in Verona, Roglič, who had entered the Giro as one of the favourites after a dominant spring, occupied the third step on the podium, foiled by misfortune and tactical naivety. To make matters worse, on the descent, Roglič – riding his teammate’s ill-fitting bike – crashes, as the delayed team car frantically rushes to his aid. Right as Engels is answering the call of nature, a message comes through the radio: the squad’s leader Primož Roglič, who started the day only seven seconds down on pink jersey Richard Carapaz, has broken his bike. On the Civiglio, with around 20km remaining, the team’s sports director, Addy Engels, stops for a pee. The first takes place on a Lombardian roadside, in May 2019, during stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia.
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