In Slovenia, on the chase for victories

You had to go there to race, you had to experience its territories and taste its climbs, you had to let yourself be surrounded by it. To understand that Slovenia is beautiful, with its forests that seem endless and its green, with its roads that seem drawn and its nature. A beautiful country, and as is always the case when a place is so beautiful it also becomes beautiful to ride in: that’s why the Tour of Slovenia is a race you can’t help but love. Hunting ground of the home idol Pogacar in the last two editions, this year it is hunting for his heir since Tadej will not be at the start: but the starting list is still very important, with four World Tour teams at the starting line and many champions. 

We will be there too, proudly and with a very interesting team. The protagonists of the Giro d’Italia like Fortunato and Davide Bais are returning to the races, along with the youth of Piganzoli, Tercero and Alex Martìn, accompanied by Garosio and Fancellu. In short, a team that has all the credentials to make its mark on the Slovenian five-day event.

But, what kind of race will it be? The menu includes terrain that will please everyone. It starts with a stage on paper good for attacks from afar, from Celje to Rogaška Slatina, while in all likelihood it will come down to a sprint the next day (Žalec-Ormož of 163.7 km). Very eventful and open to surprises will be the third stage from Grosuplje to Postojna while the final classification will be decided by the toughest stage, the fourth, which will go from Ljubljana-Kobarid and in the finale will offer the double climb of the Kolovrat ascent. More terrain for the sprinters, however, in the fifth fraction (Vrhnika-Novo Mesto of 142.6 km) that will close the race.

Lorenzo Fortunato: “I hope to have recovered my energy well after the Giro d’Italia and have the condition to try to win. Certainly my day will be the fourth stage with the uphill finish, and the goal is to also get a good placing in the general classification. I also raced in Slovenia last year but unfortunately I crashed, I hope to make up for it this year.”

Jesus Hernandez: “There is the return of Fortunato and Bais, back to racing after the Giro d’Italia: we will race for Lorenzo, knowing that he is in good shape and aware that at the start we will find some World Tour teams that are there to win. We will ride with the same attitude we had at the Tour of The Alps. We have riders like Piganzoli and Tercero who are in great shape and are strong on the climbs, riders like Bais who if he gets into the right breakaway can try to win as he did at the Giro, and Garosio, Fancellu and Martìn who know how to always put themselves at the service of the team.”