Colbrelli wins final sprint in Kočevje, Matthews keeps yellow jersey

Sonny Colbrelli from Italy (Bardiani) is the winner of the second stage of the Tour of Slovenia. Michael Matthews, Australia, (Orica-Green Edge) finished in the second place on the 160-kilometre race from Ribnica to Kočevje. With that, he was able to defend the yellow jersey. Grega Bole from Slovenia (Vinni Fantini Nippo) finished third.

On Saturday, a 192-kilometre queen stage will take place on the Tour of Slovenia from Rogaška Slatina to a tough climb to Trije Kralji.

16:35: The stage will finish in 10 kilometres!

16:31: The riders are nearing Kočevje, where today's stage will finish. Thirty-six riders are in the lead, followed by another 20. It is already clear that a finish sprint will decide the winner today. The riders will race two laps through Kočevje.

16:23, 145 km: A pack of 26 riders continues the race together in a drizzle. It seems that one of these riders will be the winner of the second stage.

16:15, 138 km: A pack of 36 riders in the lead, 1 minute 20 seconds ahead of the pack of 10 riders.

16:10: The riders have passed the Strma Reber mountain finish and are descending on the wet and slippery road. There are no results for the mountain finish yet.

15:55: No more breakaway riders in the lead. A group of 25 riders continue towards the peak of the climb together. Less than one kilometre to Strma Reber.

15.50: The Russian rider still in the lead. We will see how long he can keep his lead. The pace in the peloton is dictated by the Colombia riders.

15:45: Only Sergei Frisanov in the lead, the rest of the breakaway riders lost their strength. The peloton in the background broke down into several small groups. Five kilometres to the top of the climb.

15:40: A change in the leading breakaway riders. Only Emanuele Sella, Giorgio Cecchinel, and Sergei Frisanov in the lead, Stefano Tonin is lagging behind.

15.38: Seven kilometres to the mountain finish, the breakaway riders only 50 seconds ahead of the peloton. The pace in the peloton is now dictated by the Netapp team.

15:35: The riders have started the exhausting 1st category 8-kilometre climb to Strma Reber. The breakaway riders are only one minute ahead of the peloton. It seems that the peloton will catch up with them by the end of the climb.

15:25, 110 km: The breakaway riders are 1 minute 55 seconds in front of the peloton at the 110-kilometre mark. They are nearing Osilnica, where the climb to Strma Reber begins. The experts believe that the climb could change things greatly in the race.

15:05: The riders passed the 100-kilometre mark. The breakaway riders, who are racing along the Kolpa River, are less than 3 minutes in front of the peloton.

15:00: The four breakaway riders are wildly descending and reaching speeds of 90 km/h, they have increased their lead. The storm is chasing after the riders; there is heavy rain in Kočevje, where the stage will finish today.

14:50: There is lightning and thunder in Kočevje, where the stage will finish today, but the riders will arrive there a little after 4 pm.

14:45, 82 km: The breakaway riders have picked up the pace and increased their lead to 3 minutes 30 seconds. After two hours of the stage, the average speed of the riders is 40 km/h.

14:37: The riders will soon reach the hardest part of the stage. Only 58 kilometres to the climb on Strma Reber (996 m altitude). The clouds are threatening with rain.

14:36, 74 km: The riders have passed the 74-kilometre mark, the four breakaway riders are still in the lead, 2 minutes 30 seconds in front of the peloton.

14:35: As the peloton passed through Kočevje, the Orica Green Edge team riders were in the front, followed by the Cannondale and Adria Mobil riders.

14:25: The spectators are supporting the riders in Kočevje. The breakaway riders are 3 minutes in front of the peloton; the riders are successfully racing away from the hail.

14:15: Black clouds are gathering above Ribnica and nearby villages. The riders can only wait to be hit by the storm and a strong downpour. A wet and slippery road will make it very difficult to continue the stage.

14:05, 50 km: The riders passed the 50-kilometre mark of the stage with more than a hundred kilometres ahead and a climb to Strma Reber. The four breakaway riders have three minutes of lead.

13:50: The riders return to Ribnica with an intermediate finish at the 46-kilometre mark. The lead of the breakaway riders is smaller than three minutes. The road is slippery and wet, but the riders were not caught in the downpour.

First resignation: Jens Mouris, Netherlands, a member of the Orica Green Edge team, finished the Tour of Slovenia prematurely.

13:45: During the first hour of the second stage, the riders raced with the average speed of 41 km/h.

13.35, 30 km: The lead of the breakaway riders is now three minutes. The Orica team from Australia is still at the head of the peloton.

13:27, 27 km: The breakaway riders are working together and increasing their lead – now 2 minutes 40 seconds.

13.25: Three Italians and a Russian ((Stefano Tonin, Emanuele Sella, Giorgio Cecchinel, Sergej Frisanov) increased their lead. They are now riding 2 minutes in front of the peloton. In the peloton, the Orica Green Edge team from Australia with the yellow jersey dictates the tempo.

13:17: The leading four riders have passed the 22-kilometre mark of the second stage with the lead of 1 minute 25 seconds.

13:10: The four breakaway riders have a good lead – more than a minute faster than the peloton at the 17-kilometre mark.

13:05: We have the first breakaway riders: TONIN Stefano, SELLA Emanuele, CECCHINEL Giorgio, FIRSANOV Sergej. They are climbing towards the third category mountain finish, Hrib pri Loškem Potoku.

12:55, 7 km: At the seven-kilometre mark, the riders were »greeted« by the firs raindrops.

12:55: Several new breakaway attempts, all were unsuccessful. The peloton is still whole, but very long.

12:44: The race has begun, the riders have passed the 0-kilometre mark. Some of the riders tried to break away right away, but were not successful.

12:35: The second stage of the 21st Tour of Slovenia has started. The riders will be racing in a peloton for 2.3 kilometres, but then the race really begins. At the 12-kilometre mark, the riders will have to climb to Sodražica with a third category mountain finish.

What are the Slovenian riders saying before the 2nd stage? Kristjan Koren (Cannondalle): „We will see how things turn out today. We will be there and we will have things under control. If some of the riders will break away to Strma Reber, I will chase them. If there will be a pack at the end of the stage, we will try to create a good position for Viviani.”

Boštjan Mervar, the leader of the Adria Mobil team: “I think that today’s stage will decimate the number of riders. I believe that 30 to 40 riders will finish the stage. That is because the climb to Strma Reber is very exhausting. Only the best riders will finish the climb, I am sure of that.”

Grega Bole: “To tell you the truth, I do not know the stage. I will try to keep up. If I will be in the pack at the end of the stage, I will be pushing hard; otherwise, I will do my best on Saturday. I made a very good climb on the last race.”

The second stage of Tour of Slovenia is 161 km long, it starts in Ribnica and finishes in Kočevje. The climbs to Vagovka and Strma Reber will be the most challenging for the riders. Seven kilometres after the start of the stage, the 4.6 kilometre long climb to Vagovka begins. This climb will be followed by a short descent and a short climb shortly afterwards. After that, the riders will descend to Sodražica and race past Ribnica and Kočevje to the next mountain finish. The climb to Strma Reber is almost nine kilometres long and will surely be very challenging for the sprinters. This will probably not be the case for Matthews, yesterday’s winner and the wearer of the yellow jersey, who is capable to race to similar mountain finishes together with the best riders. All the other sprinters will try not to fall too much behind on the mountain finish and catch up with the other riders in the next 38 kilometres, the distance from the mountain finish to the finish of the stage.

In theory, the pack that passes the finish line should not be larger than 30 riders. As soon as the riders reach Kočevje after the climb, they will race two laps in Kočevje, before the winner of the 2nd stage will be known.

Cycling events will start today in Ribnica at 11 am, when the teams will be presented. After that, the riders will sign the start list and at 12:30, the second stage will start. The riders are expected to reach the finish in Kočevje for the first time a little past 2 pm, when the second intermediate sprint is scheduled. In the last part of the stage, the riders will reach Kočevje at 4 pm and the stage will finish 20 minutes later.