Slovenia celebrates: Luka Mezgec takes stage victory and green jersey #video

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End of stage: Second stage should be decided by the sprint of the big group, but slippery roads caused severalcrashes. Mezgec did a solo attacked and came to stage victory in the last kilometer. We’ll see the deciding stage from Celje to Rogla on Saturday.

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14:48, 8km to the finish: All teams that are aiming for stage victory are on their positions. Orica-Scott is leading the bunch, and they will do everything to take Luka Mezgec to victory!

14:40, 15km to the finish: End of the breakaway. Four riders that were in the escape for the whole stage is now caught. Everything is ready for the sprint finish in Ljubljana.

14:35: In Ljubljana on the Slovenska street – on the finish of the second stage – the rain will hopefully stopped soon, but the surface is very wet an and slippery. We’re expecting a very exciting sprint finish.

14:30, 20km to the finish: Main group has increased the pace in the heavy rain and the chase is on. Gap is now at one minute.

14:20, 26km to the finish: Four riders in the lead are still riding strong and have about 2 minutes gap. But that is not enough to make it to Ljubljana and we’ll see sprint finish on the end.

Dež na cilju, šprint v Ljubljani bo zahteven @TourOfSlovenia pic.twitter.com/mMjeEA2syM

— JakaLopatic (@Jaka_Lopatic) June 16, 2017

14:10: Cyclists are already racing in the rain. Leading four riders are 2 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of the maingroup.

14:00, 40km to the finish: Only fourriders are now up in the front, Vorobyev was also dropped off. Ivan Santaromita (Ita/Nippo-Vini Fantini), Gorazd Per (Slo/Adria Mobil), Enrico Salvador (Ita/Tirol Cycling Team) & Tomaš Buchaček (CZ/Elekov-AuthorCycling Team) are again further ahead, they have gap of 2 minutes.

14:00, 45km to the finish: Looks like the leaders lost hope, the gap to the main group is now only one minute.

13:55: Peloton was splitin half on the downhill, but is now back together.

13:55: Storm clouds are quickly moving towards Ljubljana. It’s quite possible that the sprint finish will develop in the rain, which would increase the chances for crashes and injuries.

13:50: Luka Mezgec’s team Orica-Scotthas increased the pace on the downhill from Bogenšperk and the gap went down to 3 minutes in no time.

13:40: Italian Adrea Vendrame also lost a lot in the battle for mountain classifications. He crashed on the descentfrom Bogenšperk and still didn’t caught up with the leaders.

13:30: We got report that anothe rcyclists left the race – no other than Croatian cyclist Maltar that was droppedon the climb to Slivna. Six leading riders are now closer and closer to Bogenšper and have advantage of four minutes.

13:20: Hard blow for the team Bahrain-Merida. Belorussian Konstantsin Siutsou – one of the strong candidates for the Saturday’s stage – has crashed and is not continuing with the race.

Prigrizki že čakajo kolesarje @TourOfSlovenia. Bife je danes v Litiji. pic.twitter.com/YuCH42xSaq

— Simon Kavcic (@SimonKavcic) June 16, 2017

13:10: Leading riders had crossed Slivna. Croatian rider that couldn’t keep up came minute and 30 seconds behindthem. Team Bahrain-Merida is now in “charge” of the main group, but they are still over 4 minutes behind the leaders.

13:00: Croat Bruno Maltar (MeridianaKamen) can’t keep up with the pace of the leaders on climb to Slivna. Now thereare just six riders in the lead.

12:55, 75km: Cyclists are close to the highest point on the today’s stage – Slivna is 633 meters high pass with nice view. Escapees still have a comfortable lead of 4 minutes and 33 seconds.

Foto: Vid Ponikvar

12:45, 70 km: Lead of the breakaway riders has fallen a little bit (4 min 20 sec). It looks like they are saving some energy ahead of first climb of the day – to Slivna.

12:40: According to the timeline the average speed of cyclists is 45 km/h.

* Best cyclists on Tour of Slovenia aregetting kissed by two new names -> CLICK

12:30, 60 km: Nothing very important happened in the last minutes. Gap of the leaders is not at 4 minutes and 45 seconds.

12.20, 55 km: Race is completely calm. Lead of the escape group is at five minutes. Leaders are close to first categorized climb of the day – Slivna is 3rd category climb, riders will getthere on 86th kilometer.

Foto: Vid Ponikvar

Who is in the lead? Andrea Vendrame (Ita/Androni-Sidermec-Bottecchia), Anton Vorobyev (Rus/Gazprom–RusVelo), Ivan Santaromita (Ita/Nippo-ViniFantini), Gorazd Per (Slo/Adria Mobil), Enrico Salvador (Ita/TirolCycling Team), Tomaš Buchaček (CZ/Elekov-Author Cycling Team) & BrunoMaltar (Hrv/Meridiana Kamen).

12:10, 46km: Seven leading riders alreadyhave a gap of five minutes.

12:00, 35km: Lead of seven riders in the breakaway has grown. It’s now at 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

Danes ob trasi 2. etape @TourOfSlovenia ne manjka navijačev. Takole kolesarje spodbujajo v Zgornjem Brniku. pic.twitter.com/Oin54Lf6XE

— Simon Kavcic (@SimonKavcic) June 16, 2017

11:45, 28km: Leading riders are pushing as hard as possible and the lead is growing. They are 3 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of the main group with green jersey.

11:40, 23km: Lead of seven riders in the breakaway – among them is also Slovenian Gorazd Per (Adria Mobil) – is growingand is now close to three minutes.

11:35, 18km: Pace of the main group is now relaxed, gap to the breakaway riders is growing fast. Now it’s already atthe minute and 30 seconds. Stage is taking place in friendlier atmosphere than yesterday, there are some clouds in the sky and the temperature is 27 degrees Celsius.

11:25, 14km: There was a crash in the main group, but everything seems fine. Escapees still hold a small lead.

Foto: Vid Ponikvar

11:20: We’ve first breakaway! Seven riders are in front, they are now less than a minute ahead of the main group.These riders are Andrea Vendrame (Ita/Androni-Sidermec-Bottecchia), AntonVorobyev (Rus/Gazprom–RusVelo), Ivan Santaromita (Ita/Nippo-ViniFantini), Gorazd Per (Slo/Adria Mobil), Enrico Salvador (Ita/TirolCycling Team), Tomaš Buchaček (CZ/Elekov-Author Cycling Team), BrunoMaltar (Cro/Meridiana Kamen).

11:15: We are still seeing a lot of attacks, but for now there is still no that right combination that would form a breakaway from the main group.

11:10: Many breakaways are already taking place, this is why the pace is very high.They are riding with the speed of 60 km/h, but at least for now they are together.

11:05: After first peaceful kilometers the race had officially opened. Race for stage victory has started!

11:00: Italian Oliviero Troia (UAE Team Emirates) had problems with his bike right from the start. But he’s caught up with the group and is back in peloton.

Pa so šli: od Ljubljane do Ljubljane. #PoSloveniji pic.twitter.com/ivUB6qVFqd

— Martin Pavcnik (@MartinPavcnik) June 16, 2017

11:00: 145 cyclists started on second stage. Unlucky riders from the first stage are Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA/Team Dimension Data) and Davide Orrico (Ita/Sangemini). They were involved in the crash in the end of first stage and got injured.

10:55: Cycling caravan of Tour of Slovenia is on the way and in second stage. Like usually, with the closed ride behind the official car.

Start - Ljubljana

Cyclists will go around a fairly big part of Slovenia. Two categorized climbs are ahead of them – on Slivna and Bogenšperk – and two intermediate finishes – in Grosuplje and Ig. Experts expect that best sprinters will again decide on the winners.

Which ones? If Mark Cavendish (he was tenth in the first stage) would be in top form, he would be the main candidate for the victory. But he’s not, so it’s going to be interesting to see who will set the best position in the last kilometers.

Sam Bennett and Sonny Colbrelli were the strongest in the first stage, just behind them was Luka Mezgec.

Sam Bennett will ride in green today.