Olympic ITT champion

On July 28, 2021, at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Primož became the Olympic champion in time trial. Beneath the mighty Mount Fuji, where the timetral also began , he covered the 44.2-kilometer-long varied track in 55 minutes and 4 seconds, with an average speed of 48,160 km / h. Tom Dumoulin, the Netherlands, finished second, and Rohan Dennis, Australia, won the bronze medal. An outstanding success of Slovenian cycling.

Primož: “An Olympic medal is the wish of every athlete, and like a kind of cherry on top of a cake, if you manage to win it. Years ago, I imagined that I will represent Slovenia at the Winter Olympics. But, life usually goes far beyond what we had imagined. Even though my season wasn’t perfect I firmly believed on the path I had chosen. I also believed that the decision to compete in the Olympics was the right one, even though the long journeys at that time were extremely strenuous, and because of the corona virus, because of the time difference and other limitations. I was already in a good mood for Saturday’s road race, but my body didn’t agree. Despite the fact that some time has passed since the crash in France, I still was not feeling great. Already in the first hour of racing, I had cramps in my left hip, and it was getting worse throughout the race . As the breakaway formed, the tempo dropped for the most part, so I was able to stop and stretch a few times. When the race started, the problems didn’t go away, so I wasn’t among the best. Then, after a while, as our heads cooled, we decided to stick to the plan and to start timetrial. I never stopped believing. Finally, on the most important day, I was feeling great. I am extremely proud of the achievement, happy. There is only one gold medal at the Olympics in four years. There is no time to rest, as the focus is, as always, directed towards future. We have new challenges ahead of us, which I am looking forward to, although they will, as always, be extremely demanding. Thanks to all the fans for their support and messages. “