Cycle racing

In the first two stages of the I Feel Slovenia Virtual Tour of Slovenia, sponsored by Zavarovalnica Generali and Hervis, a total of 479 cyclists from 43 countries have already registered.

Abu Dhabi – Following his victory of Tour de France last year, Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) started the new season off with a win. He completed the 7-stage UAE Tour, the first world series race this season, 35 seconds ahead of Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) and 1:02 minutes ahead of Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step).

Cycling club Adria Mobil in cooperation with the agency Sport Media Focus and Slovenian Tourist Board is the organizer of the first Virtual Tour of Slovenia, intended for recreational cyclists, who will be accompanied by some of the best Slovenian professionals including the current best cyclist in the world.

Ljubljana- Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar and the team that won silver at the 2004 European Men’s Handball Championships were honoured for their international achievements as the Bloudek Prizes, Slovenia’s top sports awards, were handed out in a virtual ceremony on Friday.

Amsterdam – Primož Roglič, the Slovenian rider topping the UCI world individual ranking, will make a renewed bid at winning the world’s No. 1 race, Tour de France, after being pipped to the top spot by his compatriot Tadej Pogačar last year. He will not defend the Vuelta win though.

Ljubljana – Slovenian star cyclist Tadej Pogačar, the winner of last year’s Tour de France, will defend the title in 2021 and will also participate in the Vuelta a Espana, which he missed in 2020, UAE Team Emirates has announced.

Pogačar’s team announced this as it presented the names of team captains for the three-week Grand Tour races for this year.

Ljubljana – Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič has won the 2020 Vélo d’Or award by the French cycling magazine Vélo Magazine, given annually to the rider considered to have performed the best over the year.

The 31-year-old, who currently competes for the Dutch Team Jumbo-Visma, is the first Slovenian ever to win the Golden Bicycle award since its induction in 1992.

Slovenian Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) was second to cross the finish line in Novo Mesto and Shane Archbold (Bora-Hansgrohe) of New Zealand was third.

Ulissi claimed the green jersey on Friday and had no problems defending it yesterday, when he finished second, nor today. This is his second victory of Tour of Slovenia, having bagged the first title in 2011.

Germany's national champion was followed by two Italian cyclists - Giacomo Nizzolo, a member of Team Dimension Data, who finished second and Simone Consonni, who currently rides for UAE Team Emirates, in the third place.

Ahead of the last stage, a 17-km time trial in Verona, the 29-year-old was fourth overall, but he showed his sprinting skills to overtake Spain's Mikel Landa to make it to the podium.

Competing for Jumbo Visma team from the Netherlands, Roglič finished the time trial in 22 minutes and 33 seconds to miss his third win in time trials at this year's Giro D'Italia by 26 seconds.