PRIMOŽ ROGLIČ – Olympic gold as a salve for all wounds
His story is a special one. As a youngster, Primož Roglič was a medal-winning ski jumper, before deciding to switch to road bikes in 2012. In both the new sport and the old, there was something that was nevertheless the same. “I’ve learned that no matter how hard you hit the ground, you always have to pick yourself up and carry on,” he says. “Just keep going, with no let up.” In 2007 he suffered a horrific fall on the legendary ski jumping hill in Planica. He is not immune to falls in cycling either. Just a few weeks before the Tokyo Olympics, a crash in the third stage of the Tour de France took so much out of him that he was left unable to fight for the top positions. Not even the Olympic road race in the shadow of Mount Fuji went his way. But that did not stop him. There was still the time trial and the chance to prove what he was made of. He didn’t want to leave anything to chance. He kept up the pressure all the way to the finish line and beyond. In the end, he didn’t just beat the whole field, he left them more than a minute behind! The sort of achievement that only the greatest champions are capable of.
A 1.33 Euro stamp has been issued on 15 Oct 2021.
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