Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic finished the 44.2-kilometer Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men’s time trial in a time of 55:04, winning by 1 minute and 39 seconds to take the gold medal, having set the fastest times at all but the first time check at 9.7km.
Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin took silver, Australia’s Rohan Dennis – the World TT Champion in 2019 and 2020 finished the race at 3rd.
Who is Primoz Roglic?
He may not have a typical background for a top road cyclist, but the 31-year-old Slovenian became the first man to retain the red jersey since Roberto Heras in 2005 by completing back-to-back Vuelta a España triumphs on 8th November 2020.
Roglic, who used to be a ski jumper, and is now a professional road cyclist, riding for Team Jumbo–Visma. The former ski jumper had two FIS Continental Cup wins and also won silver as part of the Slovenian team at the 2006 Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Kranj, before upgrading that to gold the following year at Planica. He took part in his last competition aged 21.
Journey to professional cycling
Roglic began cycling professionally in 2013 and quickly progressed through the lower ranks.
Since joining the Netherlands-based Jumbo-Visma team in 2016, the Slovenian has quickly developed a reputation as a strong climber and time trial specialist.
The 2016 Giro d’Italia – Roglic’s first Grand Tour – proved to be pivotal in his rise to the top of his new sport. He finished second in the time trial opener and won stage nine, another time trial.
That was his first World Tour win, and people were starting to take notice of the “guy who used to be a ski jumper”.
Racing achievements
Roglic finished 10th in the Rio 2016 Olympic time trial.
Roglic took victory in Serre Chevalier on stage 17 of the 2017 Tour de France – including a pass over the legendary Col du Galibier. He became the first Slovenian to win a Tour stage.
Roglic clinched his second World Tour stage race overall win at the 2018 Tour de Romandie.
Roglic became the 2019 Vuelta a España champion, taking a first Grand Tour victory for both himself and Slovenia.
He has also finished on the final podium at the 2019 Giro d’Italia (third overall), and at the 2020 Tour de France (second overall). During the latter race, he became the first Slovenian to wear the yellow jersey
