As the countdown begins to the start of the 2024 Vuelta a España, Primoš Roglic admitted that he is still feeling the effects of his crash at the Tour de France.

And it's not just physical pain. The Slovenian veteran has not raced since cracking a vertebra in his back after crashing hard on stage 12 of the 2024 Tour.

Despite this, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe has confirmed that Roglic will lead the team in the Vuelta, with a squad that includes Giro d'Italia runner-up Dani Martinez, Alexandre Vlasov, and rising German star Florian Lipowitz.

After bouncing back from a major Tour de France crash at the Vuelta a España, the team is set to win its second and third overall in Spain in 2020 and 2021, and challenge for GC in 2022 and 2023.

As soon as he was confirmed for the Vuelta, it was a small surprise that Roglic was the favorite to wear the red uniform in Madrid in three weeks, ahead of last year's champion Sepp Kuss (Vismaris a Bike) and UAE Team Emirates Adam Yates.

On Friday morning, Roglic was in his usual good-humored mood, but warned that the effects of his crash in France, especially the pain, had not yet disappeared. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] However, at least initially, Roglic preferred to be cautious about his overall choices and strongly opted for a “wait-and-see” policy.

“Honestly, I hope we make it to the start and somehow get in good enough condition to enter here,” he explained.

“We have to see how things go and how we actually arrive. Based on that, later on I'm going to see how the rest of the field is doing and then I'll make a decision.”

He graciously thanked one journalist who pointed out that he had a glorious history of high-level comebacks in the Vuelta after a difficult summer, saying only, “I hope it continues.” But the shadow of his crash at the Tour still lingers, and judging by the Slovenian's account of the psychological impact, it is hard to avoid the impression that he took as much of a psychological hit as he did physical damage.

“It was definitely really hard,” said Roglic, who was considered one of the four leading contenders before the Tour de France.

“Not only myself, but my wife and my whole family have sacrificed time to do what needs to be done.

“But on the other hand, there are always challenges in life, things to overcome, things to fight for. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...]