Injured Roglic to skip Ardennes Classics to prioritise Tour de France

Giro d'Italia champion Primoz Roglic will miss next week's Ardennes Classics due to injuries suffered at this month's Tour of the Basque Country, his Bora-Hansgrohe team announced on Friday.

Slovenian Roglic, 34, sustained a knee injury on March 4 and will be sidelined for Wednesday's Fleche Wallonne and April 21's Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

The three-time former Vuelta a Espana winner has one eye on this year's Tour de France, which starts on June 29.

"Primoz was with us the whole week to treat his extensive wounds and his knee," said Bora's head of performance Dan Lorang.

"We want to give his body time to fully recover from these injuries, because our big goal is the Tour de France.

"That's why we've decided to focus on his training for the next week," he added.

The first of the three Ardennes Classics, the Amstel Gold Race, takes place this Sunday.