Bora-Hansgrohe Team Manager Ralph Denk says that one of the main reasons for signing Primošroglić after 2024 is his belief that the Slovenian star continues to be a major contender to win the Tour de France.1

The biggest rider transfer story so far for the 2024 season, Denk confirmed at a lengthy press conference on Friday that Rogic will leave Jumbo Visma at the end of the year to join Bora Hansgrohe, and also said it would have been the most unlikely team switch of the 2024 season just 1 month ago. He also provided details of the backstory of what happened.

Denk explained that the 2023 Giro d'Italia winner was "not happy" with Jumbo Visma's strategy in the final week of the recently completed Vuelta a Espana. He also wants to target Rogic as well, when combined with Jumbo Visma's focus on Tour de France's Jonas Vingegaard - strongly suggesting that the chance for Bora to make an offer to Rogic has suddenly become a viable option. That was even though the 33-year-old had signed with Jumbo until 2025.

However, the main focus of the press conference was, logically, the proto that had Roglić signed to Bora-Hansgrohe as his option to win the tour with the new contract itself and the German team "After Peter Sagan left, that's the next milestone for us," Denk said, adding that he was "very happy" for the German team. He mentioned the last superstar to race for the title.

With regard to the Tour de France, Denk said that winning the top race in cycling is a personal dream and the contract with Rogic "works with 1 of the biggest contenders

"We are also realistic, he is not the only candidate. [To win] We will need luck, super strong team and excellent performance from Log Rich.

"But it's already a great feeling for me to be a real contender and hopefully this will give an extra push not only to the riders but to the whole team It's exciting.

In an introductory speech in which he confirmed the news, Denk called Roglich "one of the best riders in the world" 1. He has more or less won all the races of the 2023 season and we are very much looking forward to this. We are also proud that Primocci has decided to sign with us.

Until the Vuelta a España on May 9 this year, Logric had enjoyed uninterrupted victories in all his races in 2023, including Giro d'Italia, Volta a Catalunya and Tirreno Adriatico.

However, that series was dramatically reduced in the Vuelta, with Rogic joining as co-leader with Jonas Vingegaard, and Jumbo Visma finishing the second week with three riders filling the interim podium - race leaders Sepp Kus, Vingegaard and Rogic.

A few days later, the Jumbo's initial policy that the strongest of their riders should win was that the top climbing domestique Kuss would be their main GC rider.

Following this U-turn strategy, Kuss won and Roglić, who was aiming for a record fourth victory, finished 3rd overall. Besides, as Denk himself said, even as the situation between the 3 leaders of Jumbo changed, rumors of a possible merger of Jumbo and Soudal-QuickStep are also starting to fly.

"I had heard about that rumor in the last week of the Vuelta," he said. "And I listened very carefully to Primocci's interview and I knew he wasn't really happy anymore.

"It's understandable that Jumbo-Visma is looking forward to focusing on leadership with Jonas Vingegaard, so he's a bit younger and a 2-time tour champion. But on the other hand, Primocci was not really happy with how things were running at the Vuelta.

"I asked him if he was open to talk, and after the Vuelta, things went very fast. Denk's comments about Logric's lack of conformity with the way the Vuelta was played were echoed by Jumbo Visma's "samen winnen" [winning together-Ed.Slogan on the Grand Tour of Spain. That said, the final contract with Roglich was signed only on Wednesday, and Denk also did not disclose the period.

He only said it was "more than a year" and that the new sponsor would not join Bora-Hansgrohe, and that his partner Red Bull also did not contribute to the deal. Rather, the team had "spare money" saved from the budget of the previous season, he said, it would be used to pay the 33-year-old Slovenian.

The real timeline of Denk and Rogrich joining forces at Bora Hansgrohe began in 2015 at a beer garden in Salzburg, Austria, he added. So he met with Lolic just before the Slovenians signed Jumbo Visma ・ at that point Rottonl Jumbo – and tried to convince him to sign the German team instead.

Denk did not clarify why Roglich and he could not agree on the terms at the time. But what changed between the offer he made in the fall of 2015 and the offer now was the asking price.

"I can confirm that the meeting took place eight years ago in the beer garden and I also made an offer," he said.

"Yesterday [Thursday] in my office I found this offer again, but this offer is bigger. I can tell you that if you added zeros again to the [2015] number, that would not be enough."

For now, Roglić does not appear to have brought the staff or riders with him to Bora-Hansgrohe, and there does not appear to be any further signings to back him up at Bora-Hansgrohe, at least initially, Denk said. The negotiations, in which Rogic's coach, Marc Lambert, joins him, are not a deal currently in place, but a work in progress.

By the time Roglić and Denk signed the deal, rumors had swirled for days about the deal with bora-Hansgrohe, and "Primoš Roglić shop" was present as one of the attendees of the Zoom call hosted by Denk and Bora at a press conference on Friday morning.

In any case, however, Denk said he did not believe that Rogic had not come to Bora-Hansgrohe until he actually signed the contract.

"These days, shaking hands alone is sometimes not enough," he recalled.

Importantly, what he claimed was that he and Roglic were on the very same page when it comes to their attitude towards the race and his future in the team.

"I think it's already proven that when he's at the race start line, he can win, and from conversations with him, he knows how much he likes to win," Denk said.

"He hates the word 'prep race', and so do I." It is true that rider race days are lower than they were 10 years ago, but this is a philosophy that will continue with our team."

Denk said he had spoken to current GC leaders from the team like Jai Hindley, Vuelta revelation Cian Uijtdebroeks and Alexandr Vlasov, the 2022 Giro d'Italia winners, to confirm they were riding on the new mega sign.

"I felt it was very important to be transparent with the current roster and to provide information to everyone," he said. "And the feedback was very positive.

"As I have already stated, this is a huge push for the whole team and it's important to keep them on track and believe. What Vlasov, [Lennard]Kämna, and Hindley did for us was very helpful and we expect better from them. Denk noted that the race calendar was a big one, and even if Rogic was now "top priority" after the other grand tour routes were made public, "it's not just Rogic that it takes time and balance to sit down and talk together." I am very optimistic that I can find this balance."But the main subject of the discussion at the press conference was, logically, what the signature would represent for both the team and the riders in the coming season," he said.

"The main reason for his [signature] was that we believe him, I believe him," Denk concluded. "I think I showed it at my conference 8 years ago when there was no one in the entire cycling cosmos, but I was, and we still believe in him.

"Sure, we create a good environment to work with him, but the motivation to support Primocci is there. It was really an important point for him and I give him full credit for that."