Thriller in Celje and Double Slovenian Victory

Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton – Scott) first, Grega Bole (Bahrain-Merida) second! Second stage of 26^th Tour of Slovenia finished with fantastic result for the local fans, but just before that we witnessed the real thriller on the streets of Celje. Luka Mezgec is now also in the green jersey of the race leader.

Second stage of Tour of Slovenia delivered the excitement we’re all expecting. 11 kilometers long finish in Celje was completely flat, but before that riders had to climb to Svetina and Celje Hut – climbers of course attacked, but then the real drama started.

First part of the stage was also very interesting with a strong breakaway from three riders: David Per (Adria Mobil), Rok Korošec (Ljubljana Gusto Santic) & Lorenzo Fortunato (Neri Sottoli – Selle Italia – KTM). Matej Drinovec (Team Slovenia) was in a break of his own. All of them were caught before the final climb, when the battle for stage victory begun.

It was Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) who attacked first and split the peloton in half, soon after that the smaller group was formed in the front, with top climbers riding side by side. On the end five riders came together to the top: Aleksandr Vlasov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Diego Ulissi (UEA Team Emirates), Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy), Giovanni Visconti (Neri Sottoli – Selle Italia – KTM) & Esteban Chaves (Michelton-Scott). Esteban had two crashed on the fast descent, but he was quickly back on the bike and the group came to Celje with the lead of 30 seconds ahead of the chasers.

At first it looked like the five riders in the lead will battle for stage victory, the group behind them was not as active as they should be. The real chase started in the very last kilometers, meanwhile the riders in the front backed down a little bit. It was then when we saw the strong attack from Luke Mezgeca (Michelton-Scott) who passed the leaders at the 400 meters mark and made it all the way to the finish line. Grega Bole (Bahrain Merida) was second for perfect Slovenian first-second, Andrea Vandrame (Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec) was third. Same names are now also on the top of the overall standings, which means that we’ll see Luka in green tomorrow.

Luka Mezgec after the victory in Celje: “I only had one goal for the today’s stage, to start the climb in the front group and then give my best. Five riders were in the front, after the climb we had a wild descent down to the city. We had Chaves up in the front in the end, so I didn’t push it in the chasing group. But when I saw that the gap is not going down I went up to the front and gave a push and then the others took it over. We’re closer and closer, but all the way to the end I didn’t know if we would make it or not. I gave it all at the 400 meters mark and hoped that the leaders will take the left line and I could past them on the right, faster side of the road. I’m really happy that I took another victory in front of the home fans. It was very similar two years ago, I took red and green jersey that time as well. I will wear green with great joy.”

Nothing is decided yet, the main favorites for the overall victory are just seconds behind the current leaders. Third and fourth stage will be harder with bigger climbs and we expect the battle of the strongest climbers on Friday and Saturday.