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Phil Bauhaus takes the stage and the green jersey
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27th Tour of Slovenia started with the stage from Ptuj to Rogaška Slatina and sprint finish of the peloton. Victory and the overall lead went to German Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious).
A lot of things have changed in the last year, but some things remained the same – fans kept their high spirits and again came to support cyclists in huge numbers. They saw a very interesting and, in a way, classical stage with long breakaway and final sprint of the big group. Unfortunately, we also saw couple of crashes, the worse injury happened to Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates); Italian crossed the finish line and hopefully he can start tomorrow.
Sprint in Rogaška Slatina developed according to the Bahrain Victorious plans, they took their leader in the excellent position for the final attack and victory. But it wasn’t easy for Phil Bauhaus, Spaniard Jon Aberasuri Izaga (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) was very close.
Phil Bauhaus after the race: “Our goal was to bring a group to a sprint finish. It got super fast in the last two kilometers, but the team did an amazing job. As a sprinter you can’t do more than win. We know it was a good chance for a sprint, and I was really strong in the last weeks. It’s always something special to have teammates from the country where you race, it’s an important race for the team.”
Tadej PogaÄar (UAE Team Emirates) also stopped in front of the cameras in the finish line; he was keeping it safe today, but in a surprise move helped in the sprint. Tadej: “We had a plan to work for Trentin, but he crashed early on and he put Oliveira in the position of the stage leader. He did good and took third place. I feel fine and look forward to the next stages.”
Best Slovenian on the stage was Jaka PrimožiÄ (Team Slovenia).
Second stage will take riders from Žalec to Celje. |
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