CYCLING – Team Bahrain Victorious rider and Slovenian national champion Jakob Omrzel lived up to expectations on home roads, delivering a strong performance to finish third on stage four yesterday in the Tour of Slovenia.
The 184.7-kilometre queen stage of the race featured three categorised climbs and was made even more demanding by high temperatures throughout the day.
The race exploded on the slopes of the iconic Vrsic climb, where the day’s breakaway was reeled in.
A leading duo formed as Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe attacked, followed then by his teammate Giulio Pellizzari to open a decisive gap.
The pair maintained their advantage all the way to the finish, crossing the line together, with Lipowitz taking the stage victory and moving into the overall race lead.
Behind them, Omrzel once again demonstrated his climbing talent on the demanding gradients.
The 20-year-old fought all the way to the summit to secure an excellent third place, finishing a minute and 26 seconds behind the leading duo.
The result moved Omrzel up to third place in the general classification and also saw him take over the white jersey as the race’s best young rider.
“I feel a bit exhausted, which I think is normal after a day like this,” said Omrzel.
“I had really good sensations throughout the stage. I was hoping to get back to Lipowitz and Pellizzari, but in the end they were stronger today.”
“I still need to train a bit more, but overall I’m very happy with my performance and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s final stage.”