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June 21, 2020
National Championships 2018 – Slovenia – Cerklje – Ambrož pod Krvavcem : 145,8 km
The Slovenian National Road Race Championships have been held since 1996
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) soloed to the victory at the Slovenian Road National Championships on Sunday.
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June 21, 2020
National Championships 2018 – Slovenia – Cerklje – Ambrož pod Krvavcem : 145,8 km
The Slovenian National Road Race Championships have been held since 1996
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) soloed to the victory at the Slovenian Road National Championships on Sunday. He emerged as the new national champion following a two-man battle against Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) after the pair forged clear of their rivals on the final eight-kilometre climb to Ambrož pod Krvavec.
Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-McLaren) finished third.
The UCI announced a revised road racing calendar in May that positioned many of the National Championships on the August 22-23 weekend. However, some nations continue to face various levels of lockdown along with public health and travel restrictions that could prevent such events from taking place.
Organisers of the Slovenian National Championships announced in early June that their men’s and women’s road races would go ahead as originally planned on June 21. It is the only National Championship in Europe that has taken place on its original date following the interruption of the cycling season due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Slovenia began lifting its lockdown restrictions in the middle of May and was the first country in Europe to declare an end to the COVID-19 coronavirus in its country.
Roglic and Pogacar were among those riders expected to participate in the elite men’s road race. The race was 146km, starting in Dvorje and tackling six laps before finishing with an eight-kilometre climb to Ambrož pod Krvavec, which is just over 1,000m above sea level.
A breakaway of three riders cleared the field on the circuits that included Jan Tratnik (Bahrain McLaren), Nik Cemazar (KK Kranj) and Matic Groselj (Ljubljana Gusto). The trio gained two minutes.
The break was reduced to two – Tratnik and Cemazar – as they raced toward the final climb but their lead dropped from 1:30 to 40 seconds with 10km to go, and then just 25 seconds at the start of the climb.
The chase group included all the major favourites” Pogacar, Roglic, Mohoric and Luka Pibernik (Bahrain McLaren) and Jani Brajkovic (Adria-Mobil).
As the race shook out on the final climb, however, the last man standing in the breakaway, Tratnik, was caught by new leaders Pogacar and Roglic.
The pair emerged as the strongest riders on the ascent to the finish line, with Pogacar reportedly sitting on Roglic’s wheel through the last two kilometres. In the end, Roglic distanced his rival and soloed to the finish line, claiming the national title.
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