Sweltering, relentless heat baking the road at a blistering 31 degrees Celsius set a grueling stage for the final day of the Tour of Slovenia, covering 169 kilometers from Litija to Novo mesto with 2553 vertical meters of climbing. The tactical instructions from our team staff were clear: unleash everything to animate the early moves while protecting our high standing in the general classification. The race exploded from the gun, and a seven-man group forged clear immediately, anchored by both Veljko Stojnić and Zsombor Palumby. However, the road tilted upward just 4 kilometers into the day, where a brutal acceleration from MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort shattered the breakaway, reducing the front group to just three riders and dropping Palumby back to the pack. Stojnić rode heroically at the front despite a late chain issue, while behind him, the narrow, twisting roads and extreme fatigue began taking a massive toll. Erik Fetter, feeling the weight of a long week, was forced to step off the bike around kilometer 30, and Nikiforos Arvanitou concluded his race at the final feeding zone. To complicate matters, Michal Schuran suffered a frustrating puncture and a broken spoke that required a rapid wheel change. Up ahead, the race reached its boiling point on the ridiculous 20 percent walls of Trška Gora, where riders were left zigzagging up the asphalt. Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe launched a devastating attack near the summit to claim a spectacular 9 kilometer solo victory, wrapping up the overall green jersey. Our sports directors reported absolute pride from the team car as Tomáš Přidal clawed his way through the chaos to finish an exceptional 22nd on the stage, putting the finishing touches on a week where our continental squad made its presence felt in every single breakaway of this prestigious race.
Veljko’s fuel for the national jersey
Today’s watts were much higher, but I actually felt better. Yesterday was harder, I think, mostly because of that never-ending and unnecessarily steep climb.
The breakaway went immediately. There were about seven of us, including me and Zsombi. Masnada from MBH set a really fast pace up the first climb, which came after just 4km, and only three of us were left at the front. I was feeling quite good today; I was convinced I’d make the break and even told everyone to watch me do it 😂
I managed to recover because I didn’t go too deep yesterday. Yes, it was long and hard, but I saved myself on that last climb. I’ve been pacing my efforts throughout the whole race because I’m not in peak shape right now, and I can’t afford to go too deep or I’ll be cooked for the coming days. I came here to help the guys as much as possible and build up some form for nationals.
I’m really happy with how it all went for both me and the team. Hopefully, we’ll have some nice jerseys in the team a week from now! 😄
Zsombi breaks down the peloton hierarchy
I found myself in the breakaway again today with Veljko, and while there was mathematically a chance for the KOM jersey, it became clear pretty quickly that my legs weren’t going to be capable of pulling off a third day out front (Zsombi was also out front for two hours yesterday. Editor’s note). On the first hill, Masnada from MBH stepped on the gas so hard until I dropped off, because I was the only one with KOM points besides him.
So I dropped back into the peloton, but it was a damn hard day there too. Narrow roads, an elongated line, mountains, full gas, heat, and fatigue. Erik and Niki had cooked legs just like me, or even worse, so they pulled out.
I think we rode brutally well. It’s a huge deal just that we were in the breakaway all five days, people talked about us a lot, jerseys, podium, everything was there, all this in a .Pro race.
Obviously, a Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe is a completely different level. But in this specific race, it was also extra (and often decisively) difficult that even when we are “just” rolling along, the hierarchy of the teams is still set. Even if we are the first continental team in the line (because they constantly push us out from further up), you still have to accelerate and close gaps a thousand times on these narrow roads when the peloton stretches out. And nothing special is even happening, you just slow down to almost zero that many times, and then comes the acceleration back up over 60, while out front they might be riding a steady 40 pace. You can’t really do much with that. Of course, when there is action happening, we position ourselves like crazy as much as we can, this doesn’t apply to those moments.
But I think that even with these circumstances and among such teams, we rode an outstandingly good race. It was an extra serious experience to see a couple of teams preparing for the Tour at work.
We definitely need to rest this out properly now, but I think the form is there for everyone, so it’s going to be good for the National Championships. We got plenty of heat too, so I’m looking forward to the weekend. After that, I don’t know exactly how the lineups will shape up, but there will be a need to rest up and build things up again so the second half of the season goes well.
Photo: Marcell Lippai
