The two lives of Primoz Roglic were linked together when a former ski jumping teammate pushed him toward the overall title at the Giro d’Italia. Know more:
got some help from a former teammate, too, when the British sprinter won Sunday’s final stage with a leadout from Geraint Thomas—less than a week after announcing that he will retire at the end of the season.
On Sunday, Roglic confirmed that the man in the red shirt was Mitja Meznar who, along with Roglic, was a member of the Slovenian squad that won a gold medal in team ski jumping at the 2007 junior Nordic world championships in Planica, Slovenia, and Tarvisio—the same town where Monte Lussari is located.
It’s the smallest finishing gap between the top riders in the Giro since Eddy Merckx won by 12 seconds ahead of Gianbattista Baronchelli in 1974. Cavendish claimed the 54th Grand Tour stage win of his career — and he had Thomas to thank for it. The pair were together at Team Sky more than a decade ago and have also been teammates for years with Britain at the world championships.