Luka Mezgec kept Team Jayco AlUla at the forefront in the Tour of Slovenia, taking third on a tough sprint on stage two into Rogaska Slatina.
The Slovenian, who is still recovering from a heavy crash on day one, now moves up to third place overall just 10 seconds off the lead.
Mezgec started his sprint early in an effort to get the jump on the other fast men remaining in the thinned-out pack. In the end, he held on for third in a hotly contested race for the line.
While the second stage of the Tour of Slovenia had a finale designed for sprinters, a seven-kilometre, second category climb around the halfway point would prove a tricky challenge for many.
Race leader Dylan Groenewegen, who won the opening stage, honoured the leader’s green jersey with a valiant fight but he lost touch with the peloton over the ascent. The team rallied around the Dutch sprinter but the aggressive racing at the front made it difficult for Groenewegen to get back in contact with the peloton.
Mezgec was still up front, along with Team Jayco AlUla’s climbers Filippo Zana and Jesús David Peña, and turned his focus to making the sprint himself.
It was a hectic finale with several riders crashing in the final metres, but Mezgec positioned himself perfectly for the push to the line, taking third on home soil.
Luka Mezgec:
“It was a hard day. We lost Dylan over the main climb and then it was really not easy from the climb to the finish. There were a lot of hilly sections and small roads. I didn’t feel the best after yesterday’s crash but, anyway, I got my legs back in the sprint and it was good to contest a sprint after quite some time.”
Photo: Sprint Cycling
