Tour of Slovenia with strong international lineup

Guest of the last press conference ahead of the race were Luka Mezgec, Jan Polanc, Tadej Pogačar, Maja Pak, MSc. (Slovenian Tourist Board) and Race Director Bogdan Fink. Take a look what they said and get some background  info about the race.

Ljubljana, 18th June 2019 – Tour of Slovenia will kick-off on 19th of June in Ljubjana – with the support of the mighty StrojMachine band and for sure great number of cycling fans. 19 teams with total of 129 cyclists will start the race, including five World Tour teams: BORA – hansgrohe, Mitchelton – Scott, Bahrain – Merida, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka & UAE Team Emirates. Race is now ranked as UCI HC (Hors Class) race, which sparks even greater international interest. There are five stages ahead of us in total distance of 808 kilometers. Race will finish on the traditional venue on the Main Square in Novo mesto on 23rd.

Competition on the race will be though, again with Slovenian riders among the main favorites for the stage and overall victories. Tadej Pogačar, Jan Polanc (both UAE Team Emirates), Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton – Scott) and German guest Pascal Ackermann (BORA – hansgrohe) revealed their plans for the upcoming days on today’s press conference, but before that Race Director Bogdan Fink said couple of words about the race: “Race is harder than it looks on the paper and will only get harder with each of the stages. We don't have a summit finish on this edition, but still very hard climb to Predmeja on 4th stage and other challenging sections. It will be also interesting to see who will take the last stage with the finish in Novo mesto, last kilometers will be different than in the past and it might not be the sprint finish we're used to. I wish all the riders best of luck and have a good race!”

Eurosport 1 will have a live broadcast of all five stages, which means race action & beauty of Slovenia will go to more than 120 countries around the world. This is of course great promotion for the country and all 31 destination partners of the race.

Race is organized by Cycling club Adria Mobil from Novo mesto, with help and support of main sponsors & partners Adria Mobil, Telekom Slovenije, Slovenian Tourist Board, Fiat Slovenia, Slovenian police & of course cities and destinations around the country.

Quotes from the press conference:

Luka Mezgec, Mitchelton – Scott: “I was racing a lot in the last three weeks. I started with Hammer Series and continued with Tour of Norway, after that I went to Critérium du Dauphiné. I left that race a day earlier to get longer rest ahead of Tour of Slovenia. I’m always highly motivated for this race and I look forward to it. I do an extra step ahead of it and try to get here in the best possible form. We’re ready for sprint finish in first and last stage, I hope I’ll keep up with the other on the last climb in second stage and sprint there as well. 3^rd and 4^th stage will be for our climbers on the team. I will lead the team on this race, I know the roads in Slovenia and know how we race here. But of course we have Chaves and Hamilton for the overall results.”

Jan Polanc, UAE Team Emirates: “My personal challenge is to take stage victory, but we’ll see if that will happen this year or some other time in the future. Tour of Slovenia means a lot to me, but it’s always hard to race after Giro. My legs feel better on some days, and not so good on others… we’ll try to put better days together and go for a good result. Race is different as usual as we don’t have a summit finish. This will make racing really tight, especially for the overall victory. You will have to be careful on every meter of the race, we’ll have to fight for the bonus seconds. Cyclists are those who made racing hard and I think this will be a hard race. We have a very strong team and we aim for top results.” 

Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates: “Maybe it’s time that I change white jersey for the green one… Tour of Slovenia is my home race and big challenge for me. Race is very good and never easy. I want to show my best here. 3^rd and 4^th stage is where the gaps will be created, each of us will do its best and then we’ll see what happens. All riders on our team are in very good form and I hope we’ll take some victories.”

Pascal Ackermann, BORA – hansgrohe: »I look forward to the start of the race tomorrow and hope for the sprint finish. We’ll go for the victory for sure, this is why we’re here. After Giro I had some rest, but it’s important that we take form from Giro to Slovenia and also further to upcoming races, first to the national championships. I’m well prepared and I have a strong team behind me. I also look forward to see Slovenian fans again, they were already on Giro and they created fantastic atmosphere.”

Maja Pak, MSc., Director of the Slovenian Tourist Board: "High-profile sports events, such as the Tour of Slovenia, are an excellent opportunity for the promotion of Slovenia as a green, active and healthy destination. The slogan of the race – Fight for Green – carries the message about the importance of efforts for sustainable development of Slovenia and its tourism. In the world's first Green country, we are pleased to welcome excellent cyclists who will be again accompanied by Eurosport on their way around the country, which is a unique meeting place of four geographical worlds in a limited space and offers an abundance of diverse experiences. Promotion on Eurosport is a complex project, which we could carry out only because of our great partnership with Adria Mobil, destinations and other partners. Around 40 million people around the world are expected to admire Slovenia through the 10-hours of live broadcast of the race and intensive advertising on the Eurosport’s channels. With the engagement of their residents, I am certain that the destinations will provide an exceptional cheering atmosphere, which will show Slovenia as a good and warm-hearted host."

Photos:  Vid Ponikvar/Sportida