Primož Roglič got an important push from an old ski jumping teammate after the chain drop
The Slovenian had an untimely mechanical during the mega-important time trial
Cycling fans everywhere gasped when Primož Roglič dropped his chain during the 18.6 km TT on Saturday. The Jumbo-Visma rider had been putting time into the pink jersey, Geraint Thomas, when disaster struck. Roglič jumped off his Cervélo and fixed his chain, before getting a push to get back going. Turns out, it was his ex-ski jumping teammate, Mitja Mežnar. The fellow Slovenian, who was wearing a Jumbo-Visma hat, ran down the mountain and helped the staff member help get Rogla going.
“It was completely subconscious,” Mitja Mežnar, who competed on the international ski-jumping circuit, and used to be Roglič’s roommate, said to Val 202. “So when I saw that he was on the ground and had a mechanical, I was very shocked.”
Watch: Did Geraint Thomas’s helmet change cost him the Giro d’Italia?
“I just reacted completely instinctively and tried to get him back in motion as soon as possible to continue his fight. The whole thing unfolded very quickly,” Mežnar said.
After the race, Roglič spoke about how wild it was that his longtime pal happened to be there at an incredibly tense moment. “He is a super good friend. He was my roommate in the past when I was a ski jumper. He was one of the four guys on the Slovenian team when we were junior world champions in 2007, in the same place in Tarvisio. It’s incredible.”
Just to show that the world is most likely a simulation, Tarvisio was the start of the Stage 20 time trial.
Check out the super tense moment below.
