Team manager Ralph Denk is expecting an interesting 2026 when it comes to leading his team Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. With the upcoming arrival of Remco Evenepoel and ongoing contracts for riders including Jai Hindley, Daniel Felipe Martinez, Aleksandr Vlasov, Florian Lipowitz, and Primož Roglič, he will have to carefully manage the leadership roles for the Grand Tours.
The 35-year-old Slovenian will celebrate his 36th birthday in October and is generally expected to race for one more year. His current contract runs until the end of 2026. Originally, Roglič signed a two-year deal when he made the high-profile transfer from Jumbo-Visma to BORA-hansgrohe at the end of 2023. Whether this was communicated consciously at the time or if Roglič silently extended his contract in the meantime is unknown. The German team has chosen not to disclose contract lengths. Roglič is committed until the end of 2026.
Roglič won the Giro d’Italia in 2023 – photo: Cor Vos
The Slovenian’s story is well known: after a severe fall while ski jumping, he discovered cycling. Through the small Adria Mobil team, he came to the attention of LottoNL-Jumbo at a relatively late age. With that team, Roglič rose to become one of the world’s best cyclists. He won the Vuelta a España four times, the Giro d’Italia once, and in 2020 missed out on the Tour de France overall victory by losing it in the final time trial. He also won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a total of eleven WorldTour stage races. To date, the Slovenian has 91 professional wins to his name.
Last Tour?
It seems the Tour de France remains the missing piece on his palmarès. In 2020, he finished second overall after losing nearly two minutes to his younger compatriot Tadej Pogačar on the mountain time trial to Planches des Belles Filles. Pogačar took the yellow jersey the day before the final stage to Paris. Currently, Roglič is seventh in the Tour, about three minutes behind third place. That position is held by his younger teammate Florian Lipowitz, who, incidentally, also holds an ongoing contract. The young rider is therefore also under contract with the Germans for 2026.
Now that the deal with Evenepoel is almost finalized, the question is what role Roglič will play overall. Ahead of this Tour, he hinted this might be his last Tour de France. Very relaxed, he somewhat philosophized: “Every day that passes is closer to the day before. So yes, every Tour I ride is bringing me closer to my last participation.” What this means for future appearances in the Tour de France remains to be seen.
