Primoz Roglic linked with Tour de Suisse, cryptic over Tour de France

Professional cycling moves quickly and, just days after winning the Giro d'Italia, thoughts have turned to what's next for the winner, Primož Roglič. 

According to reports in Switzerland, the Jumbo-Visma rider will be back in action as soon as next Sunday, lining up at the Tour de Suisse, one of the precious few top-level stage races he has yet to win. 

Meanwhile, Roglič himself has stoked the embers of a possible Tour de France participation with a cryptic response on Dutch television this week, although the team have again played down that prospect. 

Radiotelevisione Svizzera, broadcaster for the Italian-speaking corner of Switzerland, states that Roglič "seems to have made his choice" to ride the eight-day Tour de Suisse, which is "just waiting for the official announcement". 

The Tour de Suisse gets underway on Sunday June 11 and finishes a week later on June 18, with a filling of mountains bookended by a pair of time trials. 

The lion's share of Tour de France contenders, including Roglič's teammate Jonas Vingegaard, are set for the earlier Critérium du Dauphiné, but the RSI report also suggests Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Roglič's main rival for the Giro until he abandoned with COVID-19, will be on the start list.

The Tour de Suisse is one of the only major stage races missing from Roglič's palmarès, which includes the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, Critérium du Dauphiné, Paris-Nice, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of the Basque Country, Volta a Catalunya, and Tour de Romandie. 

The Tour de France is the other standout absentee, and speculation has arisen over a spectacular return in July.  After the Giro, Roglič flew from Italy to Amsterdam, where he has been doing the rounds in the home country of his Jumbo-Visma team.

Asked about the Tour by NOS, he said: "No. Maybe. I don't know," before adding: "No, no, no, no." When pressed on "no or maybe", he added, "Who knows?"

There was a similarly non-committal response when he joined team manager Richard Plugge and director Merijn Zeeman on the OP1 show on Tuesday evening. 

"Probably one day," he said when asked if the door to the Tour was open. "First I want to come home. Ask my wife about this idea."

Roglič would in theory be there to support Vingegaard, although his presence could give chief rival Tadej Pogačar an added headache, especially after the two-leader strategy last year drew the UAE Team Emirates rider into his own demise. 

"We have other plans," Zeeman said, playing down the growing excitement over Roglič to the Tour. "He has been on the road with the team for four months non-stop, with a few days at home now and then. That is the basis for a top performance, but you also need the same period for the Tour. 

"It is very tempting to think that it can now also be the same in the Tour, but the laws of top sport are very hard. This is the result of a very long process, but you also need such a process for a good Tour or Vuelta."

The last rider to pull off the Giro-Tour double was Marco Pantani in 1998 although Chris Froome won the Giro and finished third at the Tour in 2018, the same year Tom Dumoulin finished runner-up in both.