Please excuse the catchy title and all future clichés, but I’m serious. According to an interview published by Cyclingnews, 2019 Vuelta a España winner, Primož Roglič, said, “Winning is okay, but it’s not a big deal. To finish on the podium at the Giro, after all the problems that we had as a team, was a bigger achievement.”
So a Grand Tour winner – achieving one of the greatest feats in road cycling, and being the first Slovenian ever to do it – says that getting third in a different Grand Tour was a greater achievement than winning one? What?!
In the name of clichés, it’s true. The journey is more important than the destination.
Overcoming obstacles when faced with seemingly insurmountable adversity is much more satisfying than perfectly executing a flawless plan to achieve exactly what you set out too. How boring would life be if everything always went according to plan?
Staying on track, what does this mean? What can we learn from a professional cyclist who seems to have his brain on upside-down?
Winning doesn’t always matter. Winning doesn’t guarantee happiness. Result, in general, don’t really mean anything. It’s what you’ve done up to this moment, what you did in the moment, and what you are going to do in the future because of what you learned and experienced in this moment. In other words, sometimes last place is happier than first.
Last place went out there and had the time of their life. They high-fived the crowd, stopped and took a break, fell a few times in the mud. Last place went hard for a little bit, but then they decided to slow down so that they could take it all in. Last place crossed the line laughing and with a smile across their face. You tell them they got last and they smile bigger. That’s funny. They are proud to have finished, happy to have crossed the finish line, and maybe even made a few friends along the way.
First place has been training for months. Deep in the pain cave, sweating bullets and thinking soul-piercing thoughts. Suffer now, win later. They show up the race looking a stone-cold killer: skin-tight suit, high-performance gels in the back pocket, aero socks, a plan, and a bike that costs more than their car. They bump and barge their way to the front with 1k to go, then launch an attack and cross the finish line first. Standing on top of the podium is cool – they smile there – but the next day, it’s all gone. The feeling, the smile, the joy and happiness. What was that all for? Was it worth it? Did I even learn anything?
And then there’s the in-between – 9th place. Happy with a Top 10, but also happy just to have finished. They had a rough week at work, 15 hours of overtime and not enough sleep. Thought about skipping the race, but their teammates convinced them to line up anyway. They felt like sh*t from the start – legs heavy, mind wandering, just waiting for it to be over. But midway through, their legs started to open up. They shot a gap and got into a breakaway. Aye, maybe this isn’t that bad. Breakaway caught, their legs are cooked. Instead of being doomed in the sprint, they decide to go early. All-in at 1k to go. They launch, lungs burning, legs on fire, tears in their eyes it hurts so much! 50 meters to go they start seeing wheels in their peripheral vision. 1, 2, 3 go past, then they lose count. They cross the line in a daze, and flop into the grass, completely spent. By the time the results get posted, they don’t even care. They left it all on the line, raced their heart out, and learned something important about themselves: When you think you’re done, completely spent, exhausted, bonked, whatever you want to call it…Whenever you want to quit, DON’T. Keep going. You can do it. You’ll always be happier than if you quit.
Primož Roglič fought through fatigue, stomach issues, hunger bonks, crashes and injuries, tactical blunders and internal battles to finish third at the Giro, a result that he is more proud of than winning the freakin’ Vuelta. Maybe we can all learn a little something from this former ski jumper.
(Unwritten rule of cycling journalism #183: one cannot publish an article about Primož Roglič without mentioning the fact that he is a former ski jumper