The Slovenian climber marks the day as a free agent for the first time since 2016, and the one squad everyone in the paddock expected to catch him has walked away.
Belgian daily Het Laatste Nieuws reported on Wednesday that Visma-Lease a Bike have decided against bringing back their former leader for 2027, as relayed by Escape Collective. The Dutch team held talks with the four-time Vuelta a España winner but ultimately opted to look elsewhere to fill their final WorldTour roster slot.
Visma lean on their development pipeline
Rather than reach for a 37-year-old, the Dutch squad is turning to its own development programme and the open transfer market. Among the names in frame are 20-year-old British climber Elliot Rowe and newly crowned under-23 world champion Ashlin Barry.
Teams must register their 2027 rosters with the UCI by 15 November, giving Visma just over two weeks to settle the last spot and leaving Roglic a tight window to secure a contract.
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Eight years in yellow and black
Visma was Roglic’s professional home for almost a decade. He joined the squad in 2016 under its LottoNL-Jumbo guise, delivered the first three of his four Vuelta titles there (2019, 2020 and 2021) and took the Giro d’Italia in 2023 before leaving for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. He added a fourth Vuelta crown in 2024, matching Roberto Heras’s record, and in September finished second at the 2026 Vuelta behind Enric Mas, 2 minutes and 15 seconds down on the Spaniard.
The one page that stayed blank is the Tour de France. Second in 2020 remains his closest finish, and a return to the French race has been pitched by several outlets as part of what has drawn Roglic to look for a new environment.
The teams still in the market
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe will not extend his contract beyond 2026, Cyclingnews reports, ending his three-season stint with the German squad. With Visma now out, the list of teams linked with him narrows to Tudor Pro Cycling, Pinarello-Q36.5, XDS Astana and Lotto-Intermarché, along with the second-division Unibet Rose Rockets.
Tudor has been widely tipped as the frontrunner since early October, though no team has confirmed anything officially. Roglic himself has not spoken publicly about his destination; his most recent comments, relayed in July, were that nothing had been agreed on what came next.
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The next concrete deadline is the UCI’s 15 November cut-off.
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