O dirki

About the race

The Tour of Slovenia is more than an international sporting event, it is the largest event of its kind in Slovenia and one of the central drives of Slovenian cycling. The first edition of the Tour of Slovenia started in May 1993 and had eight stages, and was organized in honor of the new country of Slovenia. Boris Premužič went down in history as the first overall winner of the race, who today still keeps the yellow shirt he has won. "The motivation was maximum; we were all preparing for this race. That was the number-one goal of the season. This shirt means a lot to me personally, because every race is difficult to win, and even more so if this is the first race in our new country," said Premužič about his victory three decades ago.

The race has developed over three decades and experienced many highlights, but at the same time, there were also moments when the future of the event was seriously threatened. "Cycling itself has developed in all areas in 30 years, and keeping up with the times and staying at the same level from an organizational point of view is a big deal," explained Primož Čerin, one of the first Slovenian cyclists who proved himself abroad, but at the same time remained strongly associated with racing and cycling in Slovenia. From the organizational point of view, the race is successful mainly because of the team behind the scenes, where there is no lack of drive and motivation, but of course without the support of sponsors and destinations, without the quality and expertise that convinces competitors and teams to participate in the race, and last but not least, without tireless fans who create amazing atmosphere on every route, it wouldn't be possible - all these are the moments that make Tour of Slovenia unique and special from the first year onwards.

Today, the race represents a top sports & tourism project that brings the world's best cyclists to Slovenian roads and which, since 2017, has been watched by an audience of several million in a live broadcast on Eurosport and Slovenian Television. The beautiful scenery of green Slovenia, numerous natural and cultural attractions, and loyal fans are the factors that raise the live broadcast to a new level, and because of this more and more sports fans watch the Tour of Slovenia year after year.

This year, the Tour of Slovenia celebrates its 30th anniversary, and during this time the cyclists rode a total of 152 stages, and the next five will be experienced between June 14th and 18th, 2023. The start of the first stage will be on June 14th in Celje and the finish in Rogaška Slatina. The second stage will connect Žalec and Ormož, and third Grosuplje and Postojna. Saturday's stage will start in Ljubljana and end in Kobarid, and the last stage starting in Vrhnika will bring the cyclists to Novo mesto, where the race traditionally finishes from the very beginning.

Contacts

Organizacijski direktor dirke / Race director:
Bogdan Fink
bogdan.fink@tourofslovenia.si

Vodja pisarne / Head office:
Srečko Glivar
office@tourofslovenia.si

Odnosi z javnostmi / Media officer:
Grega Stopar
media@tourofslovenia.si

Trivia

At the start of all stages of the cycling race Across Slovenia, cyclists started 3297 times. Many have started multiple times, so there are 1846 different names in the history of the race. The race was completed by the riders 2576 times.
Adria Mobil cyclist Radoslav Rogina collected the most appearances in the Po Sloveniji race, who competed in the race between 1998 and 2019 as many as 20 times for five different teams and in 2013 he also won.
Among Slovenian cyclists, Jure Golčer is the record holder in the number of performances with 14 appearances and twice won in 2006 and 2008.
Most Slovenians took part in the race in 2009 (40), and the least in the first race in 1993 (18). Last year, the Slovenian participation numbered 31 cyclists, this year we hope for a similar number.
The longest race was organized in 1999, when cyclists covered a total of 1102.5 km, and the shortest in 2013, only 503.1 km. This year's 833.3 km is the longest since 2007.
The longest stage is still the 37th in a row in 1998. They cycled 230 km from Ribnica to Nova Gorica. This year's longest is the first Celje-Rogaška Slatina with 188.6 km.
The highest average speed was reached in the 2018 race - 664.4 kilometers were covered in 15 hours, 18 minutes and thirteen seconds, which amounts to 43,410 km / h.
In 2017, the race had some excesses, but the performance in 2018 still surpassed many: the most riders at the start - from 147 to 151, and also the most so far at the finish - from 133 to 143. Last year, 143 riders fought for victory and 124 finished it.
The largest number of represented countries was in 2017 - 27, two fewer in 2019 - 25. Last year, this statistical decoration was also exceeded - flags from 29 countries flew next to the names of the cyclists.
The number of foreign teams was the highest in 2018 - 19, last year 18.
So far, teams have made 486 appearances in the race, the most Slovenian with 122 appearances, followed by Italian with 103 appearances, Austrian with 29, and German and Croatian teams with 19 appearances each.
The most, 31 team appearances, were collected by ADRIA MOBIL and its predecessors, before LJUBLJANA GUSTO SANTIC 28 and KK KRANJ 20.
In 28 races, cyclists traveled a total of 21,966.9 kilometers, which means that this year, when we add 883.3 km to the total, the race will be 22,800.2 km long and would have circled Slovenia more than 16 times.
10 Slovenians won the race 14 times, 13 foreigners also 14 times. Who will lead this year?
Four riders won two victories each: Mitja Mahorič, Jure Golčer, Diego Ulissi, Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar.