Tour de Slovenie 2012: June 14-17

[TheOkram]

19th edition of the "Dirka po Sloveniji" starts tommorow.

Could a local hero win the race this year, after three consequent titles went abroad - to Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank, 2009), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas, 2010) and Diego Ulissi (Lampre, 2011)?

Perhaps Jani Brajkovič (Astana), who last raced the Dirka in 2005, when he won the white jersey and finished 5th in general classification? Or Kristijan Koren (Liquigas), who is eager to improve his 6th placing from the last year? Or Jure Golčer (Tirol), who won the race in 2008?

Foreign competition will be tough, though, and will include: Domenico Pozzovivo, Gianluca Brambilla (Colnago-CSF Inox), Matteo Rabottini, Filippo Pozzato (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Francesco Reda, Danilo Di Luca (Acqua & Sapone), Matthew Goss, Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEDGE),...

This is the toughest competition on Dirka ever.

Official page.
Teams.

 

[TheOkram]

Stage 1 (June 14): Celje - Novo mesto (152 km)

Stage 2 (June 15): Kočevje - Metlika (177 km)

Stage 3: Ivančna Gorica - Škofja Loka (219 km)

Stage 4: Ljubljana ITT (17 km)

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Stage 1

1. Simone Ponzi (Astana)
2. Marko Kump (Adria Mobil)
3. Rarro Daniele (Liquigas)

 

[TheOkram]

The first stage expectedly did not bring any major differences between competitors, but there was no lack of drama. Several falls occured, with the worst outcome for Kristjan Fajt (Adria Mobil), who got a tripple fracture of his collarbone and will be operated tommorrow. Kristijan Durasek, who fell with him and also abandoned the race, was Adria's chief competitor in general classification, so it was really a bad day for the team. Argentinian Lucas Sebastien Haedo (Saxo Bank) charged off the road and into the forest at 70 kmph, but is thankfully reported not to be seriously injured.

Klemen Štimulak (Radenska) and Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen) made a successful break early in the race, which they managed to retain until the final 20 kms. This put Štimulak in the polka dot jersey at the end of the day.

A strong group of 20+ riders escaped the peloton on the final climb of the day and made it to the tricky sprint, where the local guys of Adria Mobil were expected to have an advantage. Nevertheless, Simone Ponzi (Astana) was the first over the line, followed by Marko Kump (Adria Mobil) and Daniele Ratto (Liquigas-Cannondale).

"How could I be satisfied", said Kump after the race, "when we lost our best man Kristjan Durasek. It' nice to be among the first three on such a race, however. I already saw myself in the first place, but then Kristijan Koren did a splendid job for Ratto. I could nevertheless squeeze past Ratto, but could not overtake Ponzi."

 

[TheOkram]

So here is our winner for today, wearing a blue jersey of the general classification leader. See, this year Dirka's organizers went for something original and abandoned the traditional yellow.

Official full results after the 1st stage.

Currently, the first 56 riders are within 24" of the leader, so all is open still. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, Filippo Pozzato is already at 1'14" back.

 

[Discreet Brajkovic]

" TheOkram "

Nice thread...thanks

Some news about Silin...?

 

[Wilba60]

News from the OGE website;

"We’re at the Tour of Slovenia to give our riders further preparation for the Olympics and one last tune-up ahead of the Tour. The four day, four stage race consists of two relatively flat stages, one hilly stage and a time trial. The race opened with what we thought was a rather flat first stage but included a climb towards the finish that was significantly more difficult than the race book suggested.

It was quite hard to get information out of race radio today. An early break of three riders went after two kilometers of racing. We took control of the race because we obviously wanted a bunch sprint. Mitch Docker, Sam Bewely, Michael Hepburn and Travis Meyer did a great job controlling things.

Over the last climb, a group of around 15 riders broke off from the front of the field. Both Gossy and Daryl Impey were in the move. The group stayed away over the top of the climb before a group behind joined forces with them. We haven’t seen official results yet, but I’d venture to guess it was around 30 riders that came together at this point.

The break remained up the road, and the front group chased the break all the way to the finish. We missed out on catching them by five seconds. Without having seen final results, I’m not sure where Gossy and Daryl finished."

 

[Euskaltel!]

Great thread

 

[Discreet Brajkovic]

The stage was punctuated by a series of crashes, which saw the abandon of a number of riders, including :
Lucas Sebastian Heado (Saxo Bank), who was taken to hospital,
and Oba Kristjana (Adria Mobil), who suffered a fractured collarbone .

 

[Discreet Brajkovic]

Stage 1

1. Simone Ponzi (Astana)
2. Marko Kump (Adria Mobil)
3. Rarro Daniele (Liquigas)

Ponsi...“I am delighted with my first win this season,” said Ponzi afterwards. “I want to thank all the team for their really hard work. Jani and Kevin were brilliant; they were with me in the last 20 km and made it possible for me to win this stage. Slovenia is very lucky for me, as last year in Kranj I won my first race as a professional.”

 

[TheOkram]

2nd stage starts at 12:30. This is bound to be interesting and we might see the time differences increase.

Today's stage will finish in Metlika, which is no less than the home town of Jani Brajkovič!! You can watch Brajko's video introduction to the stage here.

The second part of the stage will climb twice the 3rd category climb Jugorje, which might again surprise some teams. Race will finish by circling the town of Metlika twice. This 7 km round is quite hilly, and the road is rather narrow, so it won't be easy for the favorites.

Gorazd Štangelj, the Slovenian DS of Astana said for siol.net's Sportal: "The second stage will be even harder than the first. We will do everything to retain the blue jersey. After that we'll have the Queen Stage in the mountains. It's not clear yet whether Jani Brajkovic will race it full gas. He had 3 weeks of altitude training followed by Criterium Du Dauphine, so he is not fully recovered."


P.S.:
Hi to Discreet Brajkovic. Še en Slovenec, predpostavljam?

 

[Discreet Brajkovic]

P.S.:
Hi to Discreet Brajkovic. Še en Slovenec, predpostavljam?

No but I am a big fans of Brajkovic since a long time

I'm French Canadian...

 

[TheOkram]

Hapless Kristjan Fajt in the fateful curve in Mokronog where Adria Mobil lost him and Kristijan Durasek.
(Obviously, in Slovene cycling it is important to be Kristjan )

 

[Limony]

Nice thread, Okram!

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Hapless Kristjan Fajt in the fateful curve in Mokronog where Adria Mobil lost him and Kristijan Durasek.
(Obviously, in Slovene cycling it is important to be Kristjan )

Durasek is Croatian, though. It's a pity he fell yesterday; I really wanted him to get a top 10, maybe even a top 5 finish here at the GC.

 

[TheOkram]

Impey won the sprint!
Ponzi remains in blue.

 

[TheOkram]

Here are the official full results of today's stage.

Stage results:

1. Daryl Impey (JAR) Orica-GreenEdge 4;26:55
2. Simone Ponzi (Ita) Astana
3. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-ISD
4. Daniele Ratto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
5. Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Cannondale
6. Kristijan Mugerli (Slo) Adria Mobil
7. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Colnago-CSF Inox
8. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Sava
9. Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Idea
10. Francesco Failli (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
…

General classification:

1. Simone Ponzi (Ita) Astana 8;13:07
2. Marko Kump (Slo) Adria Mobil +0:10
3. Daniele Ratto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:12
4. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-ISD
5. Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:16
6. Pieter Serry (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
7. Francesco Failli (Ita) Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli
8. Francesco Reda (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
9. Bruno Pires (Por) Saxo Bank
10. Jani Brajkovič (Slo) Astana
…

 

[TheOkram]

Again, a small breakaway group formed early in the stage, consisting of Jure Bitenc (Sava), Diego Caccia (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia) and Andrea Pasqualon (Colnago-CSF Inox). They were annihilated some 20 kms before the finish line.

In the final 25 km, team Liquigas dictated severe pace, which eventually left 45 cyclists compete in the final sprint. Stage was won by Darly Impey (GreenEdge): "The heat made the stage very hard. I am very happy that I won. I do not expect much from tomorrow's mountain stage as I am not a climbing specialist. I hope to finish the stage and then make a good run in Sunday's TT."

Simone Ponzi, who retained the blue jersey of the general classification leader, commented: "We defended the blue jersey despite having only 5 team members remaining in the race. From yesterday on, Astana will have two team captains, myself and Brajkovič. Jani is better in TT, so we will all work for him tomorrow. Our principal goal is definitely to win this race."


Entire photo gallery from today's Stage 2 can be seen on Sportal.

 

[TheOkram]

Finally, a comment from Jani Brajkovič (remember, the stage finished in his hometown): "I knew there would be lots of spectators today, but I had no idea so many would turn up. It is really nice to race in front of such a great audience. I don't know yet whether I will ride 100% hard tomorrow in the mountains. I felt quite OK today, so let's leave the options open."

 

[TheOkram]

Ah, the day has come. The Queen Stage will lead the peloton into the Julian Alps with three Cat 1 climbs and the total length of 219 km. Alas, there won't be a mountain-top finish, as there are still 45 kms to go after the final climb. Of course, this leaves the stage open to non-climbers as well.

Implicitly or explicitly, the local experts and the public expect Brajkovič to win the race. He should be able to keep with the stage leaders today, and then take the win comfortably on Sunday's ITT. But will he?

Liquigas is the strongest team on the Dirka. Maybe they will pull another local hero Kristijan Koren, currently 5th @16", and let him gain some time advantage that he would desperately need before the TT.

But let's not forget the foreign competitors. Last year's winner Diego Ulissi, or maybe Domenico Pozzovivo could very much take the stage today.

We'll see soon (and I am off to see the race on the Soriška planina climb ).

 

[Discreet Brajkovic]

Dear TheOkram

It's difficult to find news about this tour...thanks again for your great works !

 

[greenedge]

I think Brajkovic will definitely take this ( it is a pity that the climb on stage 3 is not an MTF ).

 

[MajorTom]

Orica-GreenEDGE Backstage Pass - Tour of Slovenia Stage 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI8hID5bsPA

Orica-GreenEDGE Backstage Pass - Tour of Slovenia Stage 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT8skpmEh6w

 

[NickBVK]

Orica-GreenEDGE Backstage Pass - Tour of Slovenia Stage 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT8skpmEh6w

Worth it even if just for 5:23 when Matt Goss runs into some trouble

 

[MajorTom]

Brajkovič's data

stage 1
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/CDFVOK44Z7ILNV4Q3A7TGAFG6U

stage 2
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/IW5MJZ4NS5R7V5LLJGSIW5NFP4