The opening stage of the 2022 Tour of Slovenia saw the riders leave Nova Gorica and battle it out over 164.7km in 30 degree heat, so of course our Brazilian rider Nico Sessler got into the breakaway.
Nico went with a medium sized group, some teams had more than one rider up there but Nico was strong and managed to take 3rd in all 3 intermediate sprints. Unfortunately the peloton was in a very attacking mood and he was brought back before the break could battle it out for mountain points.
Back in the peloton the guys did a great job looking after our leader Dylan Sunderland as well as sprinter Miguel Angel Fernandez. In the end Dylan finished wit Nico, Conor Schunk and birthday boy Ukko Peltonen in the first large group to cross the line.
Nico Sessler – “It was a nice day out at the front showing our colours. I had marked this stage to be in the break for quite some time as I had hopes we would be able to fight for the mountains jersey from the breakaway. Unfortunately that was not on the pelotons plan and they never gave us much time, finally bringing us back just before the first accent of the day. Anyway, good opener for our week in Slovenia!“
Director Sportif, Florent Horeau – “Today was an epic day as expected. The plan was to place a rider in the breakaway in order to take the points for the mountains jersey. Nico followed the plan perfectly, unfortunately due to the work of UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain Victorious the peloton caught the breakaway before the first climb.
“We also wanted to protect Dylan for the stage but also for the general classification, but unfortunately after being sick last week, he is not yet at 100%. As he lost time in the general classification he will be a little freer in the next days. We are now going to take each stage as a one-day race and is starts tomorrow with a probable sprint where Miguel will have an important role to play.“
Image by Brian Hodes/CorVos