POGACAR WILL LEAD SLOVENIAN TEAM AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar will spearhead the Slovenian team at the road cycling world championships in Australia, with Olympic champion Primoz Roglic injured. Slovenia will send just six of a possible eight riders to Wollongong for the September 18-25 event in the absence of the injured Roglic and Luka Mezgec and unwell Matej Mohoric.

“We won’t be able to set the tempo because we’re missing two riders,” national team coach Uros Murn said Monday at a press conference in Ljubljana.

“(But) we have big expectations,” he added, placing much of the hope in the 23-year-old Pogacar, who earned his 44th professional win Sunday at the Montreal Grand Prix.

Jan Tratnik, Jan Polanc, Domen Novak, David Per and Jaka Primozic will make up the rest of the team.

Roglic pulled out of the Vuelta last week after a heavy crash at the end of stage 16, which scuppered his chances of a fourth straight title.

RBA/AFP Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency