Victim of a terrible fall after hitting a bale of straw, the Slovenian arrived almost three minutes behind the winner of the day.
Special envoy to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut
Primoz Roglic has seriously compromised his chances of winning the 2022 Tour. About thirty kilometers from the finish, the Slovenian suffered a heavy fall after hitting a clod of straw moved a few moments earlier by a motorcycle of the realization TV at the level of a directional island.
The leader of the Jumbo-Visma formation, who had a dark day in the north of France, took some time to get up before resuming his place on his bike and reaching the finish, with forceps, conceding nearly three minutes to the winner of the day (2’59). Above all, he is 2’36 behind the yellow jersey Wout Van Aert, and, even more worryingly, 2’19 over Tadej Pogacar, one of the rare favorites not to have lost his feathers in the fifth stage.
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At the end of the day, Grischa Niermann, the sporting director of the Jumbo Visma team revealed that Roglic had suffered a dislocated shoulder when he fell about thirty kilometers from the finish. The 32-year-old runner would also have put his shoulder back in place on his own. Three teammates supported him to reach Arenberg Porte du Hainaut.
It remains to be seen how the Olympic time trial champion will start Thursday’s stage between Binche, Belgium, and Longwy, not necessarily the toughest of the week but the longest of the 2022 edition. (219.9 km). In any case, it is an extremely hard blow for the Slovenian who was forced to retire last year in the Grande Boucle after being injured in the third stage. He had ended up throwing in the towel just before Stage 9 after finding that he was not making any progress in his recovery.
