'It’d be better to be teammates' – Jonas Vingegaard prepares to race against Primož Roglič

Jonas Vingegaard has stated that “it would be better” to still be teammates with Primož Roglič, as he looks ahead to going up against his old companion at next year’s Tour de France. Jumbo-Visma boss Richard Plugge, meanwhile, explained that he had “too much respect” to stand in the way of the Slovenian’s transfer request.

Both Vingegaard and Plugge were speaking at the presentation of the route for the 2024 Tour de France, where Vingegaard will target a third straight yellow jersey. Roglič was a key component in his first title in 2021, providing the perfect foil as they outnumbered and attacked Tadej Pogačar over the Col du Télégraphe on the pivotal stage 11.

However, Roglič won the Giro d'Italia this year and now needs only the Tour to complete the Grand Tour set, creating a leadership conundrum that was compounded at the recent Vuelta a España, where both riders ended up falling into line behind their hitherto domestique, Sepp Kuss.

• Read more: Jumbo-Visma director says Roglič had a 'more difficult time' committing to Kuss' Vuelta ambitions

Despite having a contract with Jumbo-Visma through 2025, Roglič has engineered a move to Bora-Hansgrohe, which Vingegaard spoke publicly about for the first time on Thursday.

"It’s one more opponent, so it’s easier to have him in your own team," said the Dane.

"Of course it would be better to be teammates. I learned a lot from Primož and I understand also why he is leaving. It will be nice to try and compete against him."

'We don't want to erase our history with Roglič'

Rumours that Roglič might be looking to leave Jumbo-Visma surfaced ahead of the Vuelta a España and gathered pace as the race reached its climax, with the Slovenian’s decision to attack and drop race leader Kuss on the Angliru one of the most controversial Grand Tour moments in recent memory.

As reports of a possible merger with Soudal Quick-Step came to light, Roglič was already negotiating with other teams, having been given the green light from Jumbo-Visma to row back on the final two years of his contract.

• Read more: Bora-Hansgrohe confirm arrival of 'inspirational' Primož Roglič

Plugge had previously dismissed any chance of Roglič leaving, repeatedly describing the rider he signed in 2016 as “our king”. However, the Dutch team boss said there were no hard feelings over the split.

“If people want to part ways, I have too much respect for Primož to make a big deal out of it, and he for us,” Plugge told GCN this week.

“Of course we are on good terms and still friends. He’s still the big man who started in 2016 to help us to win. He will always be part of our history. We cannot erase it and do not want to erase it. We’re so proud of what we did together.

“He wanted to go another way and that’s ok. If you’re a parent and your kids are leaving the house, that’s normal in life – people go different ways at different moments. I’m happy for him that he’s found a good place for himself.

"Next year he’s a competitor we will have to face, and it will be difficult to beat him. We know how strong he is.”

Roglič leaves a sizeable hole in Jumbo-Visma’s roster, with his Grand Tour record and his astonishing win rate elsewhere throughout the year. There’s no realistic replacement, but Plugge pointed to the number of young talents coming through, including this year’s U23 Giro d’Italia winner Johannes Staune-Mittet, as well as the potential for Sepp Kuss to truly assume that leadership position.

“There’s always a new talent coming in,” Plugge said. “We have young riders from our development team. We won the Baby Giro as well this year. We have big talents who can make the next step, and that’s where we want to be – growing and fostering our talents to the highest level.

“Sepp is an amazing rider. What we always believe is if we go for a two or three leader strategy then our chances of winning the race are bigger for the team and also bigger for all the riders. We learned that Sepp is able to win a Grand Tour and that makes us even stronger and more unpredictable.”