28th Tour of Slovenia will be intense till the last meters

Tour of Slovenia will take place from 15^th to 19^th June 2022, it will have 5 stages and in total 792 kilometers long route with total altitude gain of 9152 meters. The competition on the race will be strong, with total of 21 teams, 4 of them from the World Tour ranks:  UAE Team Emirates, Astana – Qazaqstan, Bahrain Victorious & Team BikeExchange-Jayco.

Details of the Slovenian tour – part of the UCI ProSeries – were revealed today in Ljubljana, in the office building of Krka d.d.

Tour of Slovenia will have five stages, with some destinations that will host the race for the first time in history:
S1: Nova Gorica – Postojna, 164,7 km,
S2: Ptuj – Rogaška Slatina, 174,1 km,
S3: Žalec – Celje, 144,6 km,
S4: Laško – Velika planina, 152,5 km,
S5: Vrhnika – Novo mesto, 156,1 km.

The route of the race will be challenging till the very last meter as the last stage has a new finish with a climb to Trška gora just before the last kilometers of the race and finish line in Novo mesto. The race has one first category climb, this is 8,2 kilometers long finish climb to Velika planina on stage 4. As always, the race is very diverse and technically hard, so only a most complete rider will be able to answer to all of the challenges and the competition, and take home the green jersey.
The race will get harder with each of the stages. First two days are perfect for fast riders, then the race for the overall standings really begins. Stage 3 already has two categorized climbs, with main battle for the green jersey happening on the last climb of the stage 4. Fight for Green will be likely decided on that stage, but last day can still offer surprises.
Organizers will once again host a BEST venue challenge. Criteria for the competition are innovation with activation and promotion of the destination, involvement of the local community, sustainable aspect and activities on websites and on social medias.
In a way the race will not end when crossing the finish line in Novo mesto, the young riders will also get their chance with the second edition of Kids Tour of Slovenia. In 2021 close to 300 young riders from 8 European countries entered the race and we expect similar numbers in 2022. The race will take place from 1^st to 3^rd July.

Quotes from the speakers on the press conference:

Matej Mohorič, team Bahrain Victorious: “Tour of Slovenia route is more diverse as we’re used to in the past years. Only one stage is fully to the likes of sprinters, the rest of them are much more diverse.
I’m looking forward to this race, also because of the local fans, for sure there will be a lot of them. It’s always the best to race in front of the home crowds and I’m sure the Slovenian riders will attend the race in large numbers. I hope that our team will fight for the top spots on the race.
It’s good that the race changes a little bit, for example the new stage with the finish climb to Velika planina is very interesting. I also like the profile of the last stage with the climb to Trška gora, it’s going to be interesting as well. I like this kind of finish, it reminds me on the last part of Milan – Sanremo.”

Ilona Stermecki, M.Sc., Acting Director of the Slovenian Tourist Board: “Slovenia is globally recognized also due to the big sports events, Tour of Slovenia is also among them. Slovenian Tourist Board is partner of the race for the fifth consecutive year as the event offers great opportunity to show beauty of Slovenia and its destinations that are visited by the race route. Slovenian Tourist Board will have a campaign with 238 television ads on Eurosport channels, 3,2 million ads displayed on Eurosport.com, content about Slovenia on the web sites and posts on the social medias of this media giant. The race will have 10 hours of live broadcast on Eurosport 1 and Television Slovenia, so we again expect a strong media attention from all parts of the world, which is a great opportunity to promote Slovenia as a perfect destination for active holiday in the environmentally sustainable country, hence the deeper meaning of the Fight for Green slogan. We at Slovenian Tourist Board see cycling as one of the key products of the active experiences and that is why it takes a big role in the main, two-year promotion of active outdoor experiences and sport tourism. We’re proud to have Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič, two of the best cyclists in the world, among our ambassadors of Slovenian tourism and they help us promote Slovenia as a land of active break and top athletes.”

Mojca Novak, President of organizing committee of the Tour of Slovenia and President of Adria Mobil Cycling Team: “28^th edition of the Tour of Slovenia is upon us and it’s my great pleasure that we’ll once again support some of the best cyclists on our roads. The growth of cycling in Slovenia is exponential in the last years and it seems like the whole scene gain more traction on the wings of our champions.
We’re excited and proud when looking at the current UCI standings and seeing Slovenia on the top of the leaderboard. And all of us who have somehow contributed our stone to the mosaic of this extraordinary cycling success can be proud of this achievement.
At this moment I want to thank all of the clubs and club staff that believed, endured and gave their time and knowledge to came to this moment when Slovenia is the best cycling country in the world.
As a president of the Cycling club Adria Mobil, organizer of the Tour of Slovenia and a club with 50-years long tradition, I know how challenging this line of work is, especially when talking about a club with so many top results in the racing arena and also in the areas of development and organization.
The club and the race have grown and developed with years and I’m proud to be part of the successful cycling story that was made possible thanks to hard work, extensive knowledge and experiences, but mostly thanks to unbending sports spirit. Thanks to cooperation with all of the partners and destinations the race will be again done in a way to make us all proud.
I want to sincerely thank all of our sponsors that believe in us, all supporters, cyclists and the whole staff that makes sure that the race runs smoothly. Having a strong hearth is as important as having strong legs, and you prove that with each of the editions.”

Matjaž Leskovar, Senior Police Inspector at Traffic Police Division: “The Slovenian Police is a regular companion of the Tour of Slovenia. We have great relationship with the organizers, which is vital for the successful event. We’re there to provide safety, and the safety is one thing that is always harder to secure, especially on the cycling races. We have to protect more than 800 kilometers of roads and provide security for both cyclists and other attendees of the race.
We also provide special training to our officers, to make sure that the race will run smoothy. This is done in partnership with Slovenian cycling federation, and in this particular case we’ll have 28 officers on the motorbikes.
I appeal to everyone to be tolerant on the roads and to follow instructions from the police and marshals. If the race isn’t safe, we’ll not get good cyclists and teams, but they will always return to a safe race.”

Bogdan Fink, race director: “Five new stages of Tour of Slovenia are ahead of us. We’ll start on Wednesday in Nova gorica, with first kilometers taking place in Italy on the route of Giro, and finish on Sunday on a traditional location in Novo mesto, but with a small twist. The stages are diverse and will visit big part of Slovenia.
I’m glad to see some of the best riders on the race. There will be many top riders, but I want to expose Matej Mohorič, winner of the Monument Milan – Sanremo, and Tadej Pogačar, leading cyclists on the UCI rankings.
I want to say thanks to all of the destinations, sponsors, donators and fans. Big thanks also go to everybody on the OC for their hard work and for helping to create this yearly spectacle. See you on 15^th June!”

 Photo credits: Sportida