It had been hinted at, but ultimately the news was surprising.

Not everyone understood that Primoz Roglic dropped out after the 14th stage of the Tour de France.

Well, the 32-year-old Slovenian, who was one of the favorites in the Tour of France, was only 21st in the overall standings, more than 33 minutes behind, but in the fight against Tadej Pogacar his captain Jonas Vingegaard would have needed every helper , if only to fetch water.

So did Roglic let his young colleague down?

Was he tired of volunteering?

Or was he simply fed up with the consequences of an injury and the daily chasing behind, when he had imagined something completely different: namely a tour victory.

Roglic also justified his exit by not wanting to jeopardize his start in the Tour of Spain, which begins on August 19.

He is heading for his fourth win there.

Roglic is used to winning

Roglic is someone who is used to winning.

As long as it's not the Tour de France.

The cycling career of the Slovenian, who was once a decent ski jumper, has fluctuated between triumph and disaster.

He celebrates triumphs everywhere.

The Tour de France caused the disaster.

It started with a traumatic defeat in 2020. Roglic had been on course, he had dominated the tour until everything shattered the day before the planned triumphal trip to Paris.

The penultimate stage was a 36km time trial in the Vosges mountains, finishing at the Planche des Belles Filles, with a difficult climb at the end.

Roglic started 57 seconds ahead of Pogacar, his Dutch team Jumbo-Visma had already chilled the champagne.

What should happen to the excellent time trialist Roglic.

But then Pogacar sped along, riding Roglic out of the yellow jersey and winning the Tour.

Roglic was the tragic loser.

He hadn't been able to finish what seemed so certain.

He had ridden that hard before.

He had won the yellow jersey in the Pyrenees and defended it across France in the Massif Central and the Alps.

He drove in yellow for eleven days.

And now this crushing defeat.

A disaster.

But the next triumphs were not long in coming.

The crushing defeat in the Vosges was followed by his second victory in the Tour of Spain, and then he also won his first classic, the Liège-Bastogne-Liège race, which was rescheduled for October.

Brilliant results all.

And of course Roglic was one of the narrow circle of favorites again on the 2021 tour, but he had a bad fall on the third stage and had to give up after the eighth.

The next disaster.

This time the tour didn't thumb his nose at him on the penultimate day, but threw him off earlier.

Pogacar won again.

Vingegaard was second.

Again, Roglic shook himself briefly and then set off for more triumphs.

At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, he won the time trial – ridiculously – and he also won the Tour of Spain again.

So this summer is the next attempt to reconcile with the tour.

This time Roglic had to share the captaincy of Jumbo-Visma with Vingegaard, the race should show who is the stronger.

"Winning the Tour is something I haven't achieved yet," he said before the start.

“He's a big goal.” Clear to take off – and Roglic got it again.

He fell on the fifth stage, dislocated his shoulder, relocated it himself in a spectator's folding chair and continued on.

His susceptibility to falling does not always have to do with bad luck, but also with a risky driving style, which the German professional Maximilian Schachmann during this tour, which this Friday (1.10 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Tour de France, on ARD one and Eurosport) in the 19th stage starts, publicly criticized.

In any case, Roglic drove on, soon only as a precious helper for Vingegaard, who had proved to be stronger.

For his captain, Roglic rendered a spectacular back-up when he attacked alongside the Dane on the eleventh stage before the Galibier Pogacar climb, resulting in Vingegaard taking the yellow jersey and a 2:22 lead on the final climb of the Col du Granon minutes on Pogacar.

Anyone who saw Roglic at the finish of this stage was shocked.

He seemed completely at the end of his strength, he almost collapsed.

There was no question he had given everything he had left for Vingegaard.

He tormented himself through a few stages and then got out.

Vingegaard continued to drive yellow towards Paris, Roglic drove home.

Just get away from the tour.

From this recent disaster.

Probably towards the next triumph.

There is no little reason to believe that Roglic will win the Tour of Spain for the fourth time.

That's all credit, but the Vuelta isn't the Tour de France.

Is the Tour of France ultimately too big for Roglic?

Or if he gets the curve again?

Next year he will try again.

“Cycling is dedication, sacrifice and hard work,” he says.

"And the willingness to keep fighting."