Interview with Mojca Novak

25th edition of the Tour of Slovenia is an important milestone in the history of this sports event. Jubilee is a perfect opportunity to speak with Mojca Novak, club’s and OC’s presided.

Adria Mobil Cycling: What does this milestone means for the club and you personally?

Mojca Novak: This is a special milestone in the rich history of cycling in the whole Dolenjska region. Last year we celebrated 120th anniversary of the establishment of the first cycling club in Novo mesto, which has transformed to todays Adria Mobil Cycling. Idea for Tour of Slovenia also grown in these parts, at the beginning it was organized in the honor of the new country. First race took place in 1993 and the tradition continues to date – with the exception of 1997.

I’m full of emotions at the time of silver jubilee – I’m proud on the racing and organizational achievements of the club and at the same time proud on Adria Mobil that is club’s partner for more than a decade. This kind of business partnerships are an exception, not a rule – we literally live with the club, have it close by and know exactly how the founding is spend.

Statistic of the race is very impressive and tells more than words, can you tell us more about it?

We have at least two exceptional historians in the club, Janko Hrovat and Srečko Glivar. Janko calculated that riders already did close to 19 thousand kilometers in the first 24 edition. We visited 62 Slovenian cities – hosts of the starts and finishes of the individual stages. Novo mesto stands out – it welcomed riders for the whopping 36-times! In total we had 1.525 cyclists from 56 countries on the race.

We also have amazing partners by our side, Telekom Slovenije has been with us for 25 years, from day one! Adria Mobil, Fiat, Slovenian Tourist Board and others joined later and helped made a race that we know today. Race is now among the strongest races of the UCI Europe Tour, with 9 World Tour teams on the start!

We saw a lot of changes on the 24th edition… but we want to know what is new for 2018?

We made a lot of changes a year ago, most noticeably we gave the race a new look and extremely powerful slogan Fight for Green. It represents the fight for the green jersey of the overall leader, but also fight for the green planet, for our common sustainable development. This brought a lot of freshness into the race and also praise from the experts. We also had live broadcast on Eurosport and showed the race and Slovenia to the millions of viewers around the globe.

New for 2018 is activation of the local municipalities and schools. We’ll select the BEST host of the race, the kids will meanwhile compete in the art contest. We’re trying our best to bring as much people as possible on the roads, to show how big of a hearth we have and how much we support them.

Are there any other surpluses that you’ve seen at the jubilee?

We hear that it has become a prestige to be on the start of our race, hence the big interest among the World Tour teams. We could actually accept more teams and riders – UCI rules would allow that – but we want to keep the race on the safe side. Race director Bogdan Finks likes to say that riders dictate the race and the speed, not the organizers, and that is why we have to be prepared for everything.

Photo: Sportida