2017 Tour of Slovenia, June 15-18 (2.1.)

[dick the quick]

OK, this is not the biggest nor the most inspiring race in the world – but it has nicely designed route, startlist including several WT/PCT teams and it has been put into the calendar right before the TdF, so it could be also seen as a prep race. So I will take the risk and will start a new separate dedicated thread.

Stage 1: Koper – Kocevje, 159 km

A rather short stage in the rolling terrain, with one bigger climb at the beginning and some little bumps later on, but the last kilometers are completely flat. A sprinter should take this one.

Stage 2: Ljubljana – Ljubljana, 170 km

Same story – some small and easy climbs in the second half of the race before flat ending. Bunch sprint should be expected again.

Stage 3: Celje – Rogla, 168 km

The queen stage and most probably the GC decider. After a warm-up including two categorized climbs (which do not seem very hard, but still) the riders will have to face the only MTF of the race – Rogla. This is a quite serious climb, with almost 14 km of length and more than 7% average slope.

Stage 4: Rogaska Slatina – Novo Mesto, 158 km

Flat stage, finish after three laps in Novo Mesto.

Startlist:

WT/PCT:
Dimension Data (Cavendish, Cummings)
UAE (Polanc, Ferrari)
Orica (Mezgec)
Bora (Majka, Koenig, Bennett)
Bahrain (Colbrelli, Visconti, Sioutsou)
Wilier (Mareczko, Pozzato)
Androni
Gazprom (Foliforov)
Nippo (Cunego)

CT:
Adria Mobil
Sangemini - MG. Kvis
Tirol
Elkov – Author
Meridiana Kamen (Rabottini)
Synergy Baku
Hrinkow
ROG – Ljubljana
+ Slovenia national team

Probably not the best line-up in terms of overall strength, but several good sprinters are there (Cav is back together with all his sprint train, Ferrari, Mezgec, Bennett, Mareczko). Among those who have GC ambitions for the TdF, only Majka decided to participate.

 

[Lequack]

This is the full startlist:
http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tour_de_Slovenie__2017_Startlist

The top ranking competitors being:

Should be interesting, probably Majka for the overall will be hard to beat. Also Cavendish for the sprints, depends on how he recovers.

Also this year Eurosport will cover the race, starts tomorrow:
Tour of Slovenia, Slovenia
Thursday, 15 Jun 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM CET
Stage 1

Stage 3 climb profile:

 

[sir fly]

One more uphill finish high in the Alps would've improved the route.
Good field.

 

[yaco]

Last year Taaramae beat Jack Haig - Last year had an ITT in which Taaramae stamped his dominance - Lasy year had a deeper GC field - Majka is undoubtedly the favorite.

 

[klintE]

If Majka won't acquire this should withdraw from TdF GC ambitions

 

[Laplaz]

So it will be Polanc vs. Majka for GC.

 

[yaco]

Re:

So it will be Polanc vs. Majka for GC.

They are the favorites - Haig can podium.

 

[del1962]

I guess we will soon know if Cavendish is going to the Tour or not

 

[Libertine Seguros]

In a reverse of the OP, I like the Tour de Slovénie and wish it had better coverage, and think it's underrated in prep, but I'm not enamoured of this year's course design. In the past there's been a shortish TT, but here it looks like three sprints and an MTF, I appreciate it's a prep race of sorts and is mostly contested among the Italian and Central/Eastern European teams a lot of the time, but Slovenia is such a beautiful country with so much potential that all that flat terrain close to the finish is more than a bit disappointing. Make the Ljubljana stage a TT of around 20k and you could be golden. Although there's definitely the possibility to make a circuit around Novo Mesto deceptively tricky, so if there are a few short ramps here and there, that stage could be better than anticipated, I don't know the exact planimetry.

 

[nogav1ca]

Re:

In a reverse of the OP, I like the Tour de Slovénie and wish it had better coverage,

Well, you are in luck, since it should be shown on Eurosport this year.

 

[perico]

Re:

So it will be Polanc vs. Majka for GC.

Cunego FTW

 

[johnymax]

I agree with Libertine here. This year's route is pretty disappointing. IMO it should be a short ITT, then a hilly stage, a MTF and one sprint stage in any order. With the hilly and mountainous terrain Slovenia has, it's a terrible idea to have three sprint stages.

For the GC I also think it's Majka vs. Polanc.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Come on Cav and Cunego!

 

[Jagartrott]

I was in the back of a small bus that dropped me off at Rogla, and that climb felt endless without 100 m of straight road. Nearly emptied my stomach when we finally got there.

 

[Lequack]

Stage 3 climb profile:

 

[liamito]

Re:

I guess we will soon know if Cavendish is going to the Tour or not

“I don’t see any reason why he won’t be there [at the Tour]. All-in-all it should be OK. With Epstein-Barr, you can’t rush back and that’s probably the hardest part for him,” Renshaw said.

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2017/06/13/underdone-renshaw-heads-tour-de-france-nothing-lose

 

[Anderis]

Pity there is no Roglic to win the Rogla stage!

 

[Lequack]

Live coverage starts in half an hour @ 13:30 on Eurosport 2:

Tour of Slovenia - Stage 1
Thursday, 15 Jun 1:35 PM - 3:00 PM CET
Koper / Kočevje - 159.4km

 

[Vroome.exe]

Cav looks like he's about to destroy this race.

 

[sir fly]

Bennett just won the first stage.
Hard fall in the finishing straight.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

Cav taking it easy in the sprint. Probably the way to go

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

A fun sprint. Bennett is on paper the fastest man here in a flat big bunch sprint, with the obvious exception of Cavendish who nobody expects to have any form. He also, at least as of the Giro, suddenly has an excellent lead out - here it was Postlberger - Selig - Bennett rather than a full train, but that's still a huge amount of horsepower in a smaller race. So he should win and did.

Hopefully nobody was badly hurt in that crash. It looked horrible.

 

[Lequack]

If anyone missed it:
Last 35 Km of Tour of Slovenia Stage 1 (40:08 English) — eurosport

Also from today's stage:

 

[yaco]

Luca Mezgec wins stage 2 by staying on his bike when few could in treacherous conditions.

 

[Lequack]

For anyone that missed today's stage. A lot of crashes in the last 10km.
Last 10 Km of Tour of Slovenia Stage 2 (12:24 English) — eurosport

A banana holding a banana and a carrot holding a carrot:

Luka Mezgec, today's winner before a home crowd: