But this also led to a silly conversation about who is more likely to do this for their crushes:

They told me I deserve jail time for the sepprimoz one cause why does everyone have fluffy takes and sepprimoz is the doomed one.

And I'm not gonna lie but my fave leader-domestique relationship will always be Sepp and Primož. Something so heartbreaking and tender echoes in their memory. How terrifying it is to be haunted by someone who's still alive. I can't even forget about Sepp not racing much the year after Primož left, which was also the year Jonas crashed. He was sick, yeah. But sometimes I lie awake at night wondering if Sepp was glad he didn't have to race much because it meant racing against Primož.

And then he did race, in the Vuelta 2024. Guess who won? I was so happy for Primoz but I was also so devastated by Visma's Vuelta tragedy. That whole year was so god damn tragic I almost quit cycling lol.

Something changed last year, and now he's looking back.

He returned to the snowy mountains he once loved dearly, if only to be there once more.

He decides to ride Itzulia again, two years after that fateful day, when he slid across the ground to the tune of his former team's pain.

And now he will go back to the Vuelta, the battlefield of his making. His throne. His love. His carnage. 3 years after he broke his loyal domestique's heart, 2 years after he took back the crown. 1 year after he looked away and his protégé won in his stead.

Asked what he wanted his 2026 to be at an interview, the word "happy" fleeted from his lips. As long as he's riding the jagged spines of the mountains, he will be.

Primož, what are you doing exactly? Chewed and spat by the narrative, now you're standing bruised and battered and seeking.

What will retracing your steps do? What will talking to ghosts bring? Will it give you something you desire back?

Read this and all I can think of is that Sepp once made Primoz king.