Slovenian Luka Mezgec sprinted to victory on stage two of the Tour of Slovenia in Celje today.
The 30-year-old Mitchelton-Scott rider, who placed third in this year’s Clásica de Almería, completed the 146.3km route in a time of 3:35:55.
Grega Bole (Bahrain Merida) placed second, with Andrea Vendrame (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) third.
“Until the very last few hundred metres I didn’t know if we would catch the group that broke away on the climb, but then when I saw 400m to go I just started going full gas,” said the stage winner.
He added that he was hoping the front group would go left and take the shorter line into the finish and they did, so he came double the speed around them on the right.
“I knew that if I did a good climb they can’t get more than half a minute on me. We were always at 20 to 25 seconds on the flat on the last lap and I was just trying to motivate our group to pull a little bit.
“But to be honest with 5km to go I thought we won’t succeed to catch them, but in the end we did.”
Mezgec also tops the overall standings, with Bole second and Vendrame third.
View more results below.
Luka Mezgec won stage two of the Tour of Slovenia in Celje today. Photo: Getty Images
Stage two
1. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott 3:35:55
2. Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
3. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
4. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
5. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
6. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
7. Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
8. Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
9. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
10. Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
General classification
1. Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott 7:40:43
2. Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida +0:00:04
3. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec +0:00:06
4. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates +0:00:07
5. Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy +0:00:10
6. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
7. Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
8. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
9. Iuri Filosi (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
10. Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
