Rafal Majka didn’t disappoint – he took green jersey with the victory on Rogla

Polish climber Rafal Majka (Bora – Hansgrohe) is the new leader on the 24^th edition of Tour of Slovenia! As expected he attacked on the 13 kilometers long climb to Rogla and crossed the finish line four seconds ahead of Italian Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain – Merida) and 12 seconds ahead of Australian Jack Haig (Orica – Scott). Majka took the overall lead and now has a reasonably simple task of defending it on the last stage that will take cyclists from Rogaška Slatina to Novo mesto.

Third stage of Tour of Slovenia was the one that everybody was waiting for – we can’t call it queen stage, but with two KOM finishes and final climb to Rogla it was set to be a decisive stage. Pace was brutal all the way from the start, so it took a while for six riders to escapee. They were doing a good job, but their success was again in the hands of teams with overall favorites and they don’t like surprises. Last of the breakaway riders were caught just before the start of the climb to Rogla, when climbers stepped to the main stage.

Green jersey holder Luka Mezgec (Orica-Scott) surprised a lot of people when he came to the front of the group and kept the pace up the hill. After a while he almost stopped and let the leaders go. Later he said that his radio link with Haig wasn’t working and he didn’t know if the pace is OK. He was helping for as long as he could, but then decided to save energy for the last stage – winner of the last stage will be most likely again decided by sprint.

Leading group finally fell apart after Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked, with Jack Haig (Orica-Scott) and Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain-Merida) being the only one that could keep the pace. Visconti had problems and was falling of and coming back to the duo, on the end he was even faster than Haig and took second. Majka was the one that was strongest and was attacking all the time and the victory was well deserved!

Rafal Majka after stage victory on Rogla: “I’m so happy to take the victory today. That was possible thanks to my teammates who did an amazing work for me. In the end I attacked to late, it’s better if I attack sooner when it’s steeper. I don’t know this climb to Rogla very well, it was not as steep on the end. I came to Slovenia after the training camp in Spain, this was my first test and I did my best. I tried to attack many times, but Haig didn’t back down. This is victory for my family and my teammates!”

Rafal Majka is now in the green, Visconti and Haig are in second and third overall.

Surprise of the day is performance of young Slovenian cyclists Tadej Pogačar (Rog-Ljubljana) that was fifth and is now in the white jersey. Tadej: “It was very hard day. Pace was harsh all the way to the finish and I said to my self that I just have to keep up with the fastest for as long as possible. I'm really happy that I managed to do that. Of course we wanted to catch the fastest on the climb to Rogla, but I wasn't capable of change of the rhythm. I like the pace at which we’re riding in our group. Guys in the front were so much faster, we couldn’t catch them.

I think there is still room for improvement – as soon as I loose some weight and get more kilometers in; this will be possible after the school ends.”

For Radoslav Rogina (Adria Mobil Cycling) this is his 18^th Tour of Slovenia. He already won the race in the past and know is better than anyone else. He’s 19^th today, and this is what he said before the race heads back to his team’s home town: “Today’s stage was beautiful, but as expected also very hard. It was down to daily form and how much each of us had in legs. Everything had to work to get a good result today. We couldn’t do more than we did. As a team we agreed that we’ll send Žiga Grošelj to attack, and we did that just before the last climb. After that everybody was on his own. Race is very beautiful, and with the exception of today’s stage it also isn’t that hard. Of course we look forward of tomorrow, coming back to Novo mesto is always the most beautiful part of the race. Racing in front of local fans is always different and we always give more. We’ll do the same tomorrow!”

Rafal Majka will most likely take green jersey with him, he only has to defend it on tomorrow’s, last stage from Rogaška Slatina to Novo mesto.

Photos by Vid Ponikvar