Jesus Hernandez: “Slovenia, congratulations to the team!”

And in the end, a sixth place finish came for Fortunato: after yesterday, at the end of the mountain stage, Fortu had climbed on the third step of the podium, we were eager to confirm that result today as well. It didn’t turn out that way, but sixth place overall is still a very good finish considering the importance of the race and the strength of the opponents.

Today’s stage left room for remembrance and emotion, with Mohoric’s victory being dedicated to his teammate Gino Mader: too strong was the memory of a boy who is no longer with us, too hard to accept his unjust death. Mohoric preceded Italian Filippo Zana across the finish line, thus taking the overall standings. Behind them a small group including Pena and Ulissi among others, while Fortunato was unable to stay with them on the last climb of the day-that’s why he slipped from third to sixth overall. “I wasn’t brilliant,” Lorenzo said, “and on the last climb I couldn’t stay with the best, so I finished sixth. Too bad. Now I’m going to focus on the Italian championships and then I’ll break away a bit.”

Here is the analysis of DS Jesus Hernandez: “I have to congratulate the team, because every day here in Slovenia they were able to run very well and always focused on the goal. Objective that was to run in support of Fortunato, and I have to say that even today the task was done very well. Lorenzo lacked some legs to defend third place, but with that attack from Mohoric he would have finished fourth anyway. We rode well, really, exactly as we’ve been riding since the Tour of The Alps-I think the team is showing a level above what they actually have.”