Jure Robic

Who was Jure Robic?

Jure Robič was a Slovenian cyclist and a soldier in the Slovenian Army. He died on 24 September 2010 in a head-on collision with a car while descending on a narrow mountain forest road in Plavški Rovt near Jesenice.

Robič won the Race Across America 5 times: in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010. He was in second place at the final time station in 2009 when he dropped out to protest time penalties he had received. Robič swore never to enter RAAM again, but changed his mind and came back and won again in 2010.

On 19 September 2004, Robič broke the world 24-hour road record by cycling 834.77 km. In 2005 he won Le Tour Direct, a 4,023 km race on a course derived from classic Tour de France routes. Jure won the DOS-Ras Race Across Slovenia four times, the Tour Direct twice and the Tortour in 2010.

Robič was renowned for pushing himself to extreme mental breakdown during endurance races. He was laboratory tested, and his abilities to produce power and to transport oxygen were found to be parallel to those of other top ultra-endurance athletes worldwide.