Italian Bongiorno wins at Trije Kralji, Machado wears yellow jersey

16:53, 1 km to the finish line: The leading trio (Machado, Bongiorno, Zakarin) will decide the winner. The other riders are too far behind.

16:53, 2 km to the finish line: Nothing new, the leading trio still 30 seconds ahead of the peloton along with Kristjan Koren.

16:47, 3 km to the finish line: The leading trio is 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.

16.45: The leading trio (Machado, Bongiorno, Zakarin) is a few ten metres ahead of the rest of the pack.

16.45: Only Francesco Manuel Bongiorno, Tiago Machado and Linur Zakarin in the lead, followed by a group of Kristijan Koren, Damiano Caruso, Simon Yates, Emanuele Sella, Angelo Pagini, Matteo Rabottini, and Eliot Lietaer. Six kilometres to the top.

16:35: The riders have the last 10 kilometres ahead of them. There are 20 to 25 riders in the leading pack; the winner of the 21st Tour of Slovenia will be among them.

16:31, 182 km: The peloton catches up with the leading four breakaway riders.

16:30: The four breakaway riders are not giving up, but Tiago Machado, Portugal, jumped from the peloton. He is one minute behind the leading pack.

16:22: Riders are climbing Veliko Tinje again, they will continue to Trije Kralji.

16:20, 177 km: The breakaway riders are not slowing down and are 1 minute 20 seconds ahead of the peloton. They will not give up until the final climb to Trije Kralji.

16:15: The fantastic four are still fighting hard. They are still more than 1 minute ahead of the peloton with the yellow jersey and all the main favourites to win.

16:10: Only 25 kilometres to the finish line. Four breakaway riders kept a few seconds of lead in a wild descent, but it is only a matter of time when the peloton will catch up with today's heroes.

16:00: Klemen Štimulak (Adria Mobil) was the fastest rider at Veliko Tinje, 2nd category mountain finish. A crowd of excited cycling enthusiasts awaited the riders there.

15:55: The riders are only one kilometre from the mountain finish. The breakaway riders’ lead is melting fast and is now smaller than 1 minute. The Cannondale team is dictating a fast pace.

15:52: The four breakaway riders are still well ahead of the peloton – 2 minutes 35 seconds.

15:50: Only four riders left in the leading pack. Edward Theuns, Belgium, and Alessandro Malaguti, Italy, slowed down. Klemen Štimulak, a member of Adria Mobil from Novo mesto, still pushing hard.

15:50: The riders are already climbing to Veliko Tinje, 2nd category mountain finish (670 meters of altitude) at the 160.7-kilometre mark of today's stage.

15:45: Stefano Pirazzi could not catch the breakaway riders on his own, so he waited for the peloton to catch up with him.

15:40: Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani-CSF) is a 27-year-old lone rider between the peloton and the leading pack. This year, he “finally” won a stage on Giro d'Italia. He was the fastest in the 17th stage, which finished in a little town Vittorio Veneto. Pirazzi performed very well on Giro d'Italia last year, when he won the blue jersey for the best rider in overall mountain finish classification.

Fun fact: It is more than obvious that today's climb to Trije Kralji will decide who will win the 21st Tour of Slovenia. This is the fourth climb in the history of the Tour of Slovenia that will decidedly influence the overall classification.

So far, these climbs included Vršič, Krvavec, and Golte. The riders had to race to Vršič or pass Vršič 14 times so far, Krvavec hosted the finish line three times and Golte once.

15:30, 145 km: The leading group of six riders is still more than 2 minutes 30 seconds ahead of the peloton with the yellow jersey and 1 minute 55 seconds ahead of Pirazzi, Italy.

15:15, 135 km: Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani) left the peloton in the chase of the breakaway riders. Bruno Maltar, the rider carrying number 6, finished the race early and is already in the broom wagon.

15:05: The peloton has cut the breakaway riders' lead in half, to only 3 minutes 14 seconds.

15:01, 122.4 km: The second rider that won 200 EUR in this stage is Edward Tehuns, Belgium, who was the fastest at the premium finish in Gorenje. The breakaway riders are already moving towards second category mountain finish at Padeški Vrh with the altitude of 900 metres.

14:35, 115 km: The seven breakaway riders have increased their lead to 6 minutes 20 seconds.

14:25, 105 km: The Lampre and Cannondale teams are still in the front of the peloton that was making good progress with chasing the breakaway riders until the buffet, when the lead increased to 5 minutes 40 seconds.

14.15, 100 km: The riders are at the buffet at the edge of the road, receiving refreshments. The breakaway riders have increased their lead to 5 minutes 30 seconds. The organizers have notified the spectators that Anton Vorobyev, Katusha team member, quit the race.

14:05: The Cannondale and Lampre team members are dictating a fast pace, the peloton is only 4 minutes 30 seconds behind the seven breakaway riders.

13:55, 80 km: After two hours of racing, the average speed of the riders is 40 km/h. The peloton decreased the breakaway riders' lead to a little less than 5 minutes (4 minutes 40 seconds).

13:30: The seven breakaway riders together with Klemen Štimulak, Adria, have increased their lead to 5 minutes 30 seconds.

13:15: The winner of the special sprint in Podčetrtek was Andrea Fedi, Italy, who won 200 EUR.

13:13, 60 km: It seems that the peloton had enough rest and pressed the pedals harder. The average speed is now around 40 km/h. The peloton is still not catching up with the breakaway riders.

13:05: The breakaway riders welcome a new member, Alessandro Malaguti (Vinni Fantini Nippo) from Italy. They are more than 5 minutes ahead of the peloton with the yellow jersey.

13:00, 45 km: Nothing new in the stage. The breakaway riders' lead is slowly melting, now it is around 5 minutes. The Lampre and Cannondale teams dictate the pace in the front of the peloton.

12:52: The breakaway riders are almost 5 minutes ahead of the peloton. This means that Pavel Brutt is at the moment wearing the yellow jersey.

Among the breakaway riders, the Russian was ranked the highest in the overall classification of the race. He held the 38th place with 4 minutes 6 seconds behind the fastest rider, Michael Matthews (Orica-Green Edge). Klemen Štimulak (Adria Mobil) was just behind Brutt, 4 minutes 12 seconds behind Matthews.

The rest of the breakaway riders, Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) from Belgia and Antonio Parrinello (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), Andrea Fedi (Neri Sottoli), and Alessandro Malaguti (Vini Fantini-Nippo) from Italy were even slower.

12:45: The breakaway riders are already climbing towards Košnica, the first mountain finish. They are approximately 5 minutes ahead of the peloton, at the front of which are the Lampre and Cannondale teams.

12:25: The riders are approaching the first climb of this stage. At the 31.8-kilometre mark, they will reach Košnica with the altitude of 553 metres.

12:20, 20 km: The six breakaway riders have increased their lead to 4 minutes 10 seconds.

12:15: The breakaway riders are pushing hard. They are 4 minutes ahead of the peloton with Lamre in the front.

12:08, 17 km: The group with the yellow jersey is obviously saving its strength. The breakaway riders are increasing their lead from kilometre to kilometre. They are now 3 minutes 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. The riders are approaching the first intermediate sprint in Šentjur.

12:05, 15 km: The peloton is riding without enthusiasm. The breakaway riders are using this opportunity well, their lead is now almost 3 minutes.

12:00: The riders have passed the 10-kilometre mark. The six breakaway riders are 35 seconds ahead of the peloton.

11:55: First successful breakaway. The breakaway riders are Klemen Štimulak, Pavel Brutt, Antonino Parrinello, Andrea Fedi, Edward Theuns and Alessandro Malaguti.

11:50: Like always, there have been several breakaway attempts from the very beginning, but none was successful. The race organizers have notified the audience that Alexander Rybakov from the Katusha team did not start the stage.

11:45: Warm-up ends. The fight for the overall classification of the 21st Tour of Slovenia officially begins.

11.30: The riders started the hard 192-kilometre queen stage. As usually, they started in closed formation, but after less than 7 kilometres, the race really starts. There were 137 riders at the start, 2 riders fewer than yesterday.

Radoslav Rogina, Adria Mobil rider and last year’s winner, shared his thoughts with us, “There is no point in talking more about today’s stage because a lot has already been told. I think that the riders will try to steal the yellow jersey from Michael Matthews before the final climb. If this will not happen, he might become the overall winner.”

What does Kristjan Koren say before the start of the stage? »My role will be to accompany the riders that are the favourites to win. I will have Caruso and Villella at my side. Several breakaways are expected and they will be hard to control. However, I feel good. I had no problems climbing on Friday.

Jure Golčer has high expectations as well. “I do not have a team and will therefore try to squeeze the most out of the situation. Everything will depend on me. The Trije Kralji climb will be influenced by how I will feel at the time. We will see…”

Grega Bole did an amazing performance yesterday for Slovenia. His thoughts before the queen stage, “I am a bit tired after what happened on Friday, but I will keep fighting. I will see how my legs will feel during the first climbs. If everything goes well, I can attack the top.”

A 192-kilometre stage with four categorized mountain finishes is challenging 137 riders. The riders will have to climb 3,200 m vertically. The stage is 200 kilometres long, the riders will start the race in Rogaška Slatina and ride on the streets for 8 kilometres in a closed formation. The first mountain finish is at the 32-kilometre mark (Košnica). It is followed by the climbs to Padeški Vrh and Veliko Tinje, and the stage will finish with the final climb to Trije Kralji. There are several plausible scenarios for the outcome of this stage and it is very likely that Michael Matthews will try to do everything to defend the yellow jersey. Several riders believe that the Australian can win the race.

If we take into account what we have seen in the first two stages, we can expect that the following riders will compete for the first place in the overall classification: Tiago Machado (NetApp-Endura) and Matteo Rabottini (Neri Sottoli) climbed the mountain finishes in the second stage most easily. Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) and Kristijan Koren (Cannondale) have a few seconds of advantage, while Radoslav Rogina (Adria Mobil) and Jure Golčer (Slovenian national team) have not yet given up. It is very likely that Christopher Horner (Lampre-Merida), Damiano Caruso (Cannondale) and Ilnur Zakarin (RusVelo) will be among the top riders. These are the most “hot” nine riders who will surely be among the first to finish if the stage develops normally (falls, bad day).

The stage starts at 11:30, the organizers expect the stage to finish between 4 and 5 pm.