Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First – Drapac p/b Cannondale) won the Tour of Slovenia stage three uphill sprint in Celje ahead of Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-SCOTT) and Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo). Roglic was a late-race attacker, reeled in with the finish line in sight, while Impey opened the sprint, but it was Uran’s perfectly timed kick that netted the stage win and the green race leader’s jersey. The win comes off Uran’s lengthy block of training at altitude at home in Colombia.
“My feeling today was really, really good,” said Uran. “For me, the most important is the Tour de France. This race is preparation for the most important goal. We knew the final would be good for me because it’s up and the last two kilometers is really hard, so the idea for this stage was to win.”
A surprising breakaway dominated the early action. Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) and Roger Kluge (Mitchelton-SCOTT) gained a maximum advantage of five minutes over the peloton in the opening hour of racing.
“We wanted to put a rider in the early break to support Rigo after the long climb,” said sport director Ken Vanmarcke. “The guys tried hard to do that but just missed it. From then everybody stayed close to Rigo to put him in the perfect position on the big climb.”
“All the guys were really good,” said Uran. “They were working to help me climb in the first position. It wasn’t only my teammates, it was all the team – also the soigneurs, also the mechanics – that support me in this win.”
The peloton had pegged the breakaway’s advantage back to around one minute as the race hit the base of the category two climb that began 23 kilometres from the finish. LottoNL-Jumbo forced the pace, overtaking first Kittel and then Kluge, on the lower slopes of the 7.5-kilometre climb. Approaching the KOM, Uran had made a 10-rider selection with a small gap over a 16-rider chase.
Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) put in a little dig over the top of the climb and carried a small gap as he plunged down the descent. Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) overtook his compatriot on the downhill.
“The groups came together, and the selection after the second to last climb was about 20, 25 guys,” said Uran. “I felt good, and I said ‘ok, wait for the sprint, only the sprint.’ I know Roglic is here and that he’d like the final, too, but for me it’s about the preparation, and I need to wait for the sprint to see what I could do there. I had good legs, and I wanted a nice result for myself and for the team.”
A small section of flat road separated the descent from the two-kilometre uphill finish. Mohoric hit the flat section 17 seconds ahead of a disorganised chase group and began climbing with a 25-second advantage.
“On the computer, I looked at the long climb for the necessary details,” said Vanmarcke. “The final four kilometres, me and Rigo did yesterday evening in the car. He knew exactly what to expect and how to finish it off.”
Uran didn’t respond to Roglic’s attack, which led to Mohoric’s catch, but followed Impey’s acceleration. Ten metres before the line, Uran had enough of a gap to begin his celebration.
“The sprint was not easy,” said Uran. “It was hard. Every sprint is really, really hard. Maybe my face doesn’t show it, but the legs feel it.”
“The victory here is really nice for me and for the team,” Uran added. “Before the Tour, it’s important to show the condition to build the confidence.”
The Tour of Slovenia continues on Saturday. Uran starts the penultimate stage with a four-second hold on the green jersey over Impey and 10 seconds on Roglic.
