The best young cyclists on Tour of Slovenia

The best young cyclist at most of the races wears the white jersey, so is the case with Tour of Slovenia. It’s awarded after every stage for the current leader in the classification, and of course at the end of the race for to the category winner. The list of past jersey holders reads like “who’s who” in the world of road cycling.

Tadej Pogačar, Egan Arley Bernal, Diego Ulissi, Simon Yates, Jan Polanc, Simon Špilak, Tadej Valjavec are names that belong to the very top of world cycling.

World’s number one Tadej Pogačar won best young rider competition three times before taking green jersey in 2021 & 2022. Branko Filip, Mitja Mahorič, Radoslav Rogina, Janez Brajkovič and Diego Ulissi also won both jerseys, but only Ulissi took them on the same edition – that was back in 2011.

Jan Polanc, Robert Kišerlovski, Blaž Furdi and Tadej Valjavec finished the races twice in white and never won the race overall. The list of one-time white jersey winner on Tour of Slovenia contains seventeen names. Maybe you can find more interesting developments from the below list?

Who will be wearing white this year in Novo mesto? There will certainly be many candidates. Experts say that the competition in this category is stronger and more numerous every year. The cycling trend is increasingly leaning towards youth. Thus, the white jerseys are gaining in reputation and importance. We hope and wish that Slovenian cyclists would join this fight. According to the results this season, our expectations have a realistic basis.

It's nice to be in white for the final celebration on the last stage of the race. We’ll learn who will earn that honor shortly!

TOUR OF SLOVENIA – BEST YOUNG RIDERS 1993-2022
1993 Gorazd Štangelj (SLO, SLOVENIA I)
1994 Branko Filip (SLO, KRKA NOVO MESTO)
1995 Sergej Autko (BLR, CELJE)
1996 Tadej Valjavec (SLO, SAVA KRANJ)
1998 Mitja Mahorič (SLO, PERUTNINA PTUJ RADENSKA)
1999 Tadej Valjavec (SLO, SAVA KRANJ)
2000 Matej Gnezda (SLO, PERUTNINA PTUJ RADENSKA)
2001 Radoslav Rogina (CRO, PERUTNINA PTUJ)
2002 Patrick Sinkewitz (GER, MAPEI-QUICK STEP)
2003 Andreas Matzbacher (AUT, AUSTRIA)
2004 Matic Strgar (SLO, RADENSKA ROG)
2005 Janez Brajkovič (SLO, KRKA ADRIA MOBIL)
2006 Robert Kišerlovski (CRO, ADRIA MOBIL)
2007 Simon Špilak (SLO, ADRIA MOBIL)
2008 Robert Kišerlovski (CRO, ADRIA MOBIL)
2009 Blaž Furdi (SLO, SAVA KRANJ)
2010 Blaž Furdi (SLO, SAVA KRANJ)
2011 Diego Ulissi (ITA, LAMPRE ISD)
2012 Jan Polanc (SLO, RADENSKA)
2013 Jan Polanc (SLO, RADENSKA)
2014 Simon Yates (GBR, ORICA GREEN EDGE)
2015 Domen Novak (SLO, ADRIA MOBIL)
2016 Egan Arley Bernal (COL, ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI- SIDERMEC)
2017 Tadej Pogačar (SLO, ROG LJUBLJANA)
2018 Tadej Pogačar (SLO, LJUBLJANA GUSTO SANTIC)
2019 Tadej Pogačar (SLO, UAE TEAM EMIRATES)
2021 Kristjan Hočevar (SLO, ADRIA MOBIL)
2022 Vojtěch Řepa (CZE, EQUIPO KERN PHARMA)

Janko Hrovat
Foto: Sportida
Rider on the photo:Kristjan Hočevar