VISMA

In the first two stages of the I Feel Slovenia Virtual Tour of Slovenia, sponsored by Zavarovalnica Generali and Hervis, a total of 479 cyclists from 43 countries have already registered.

Cycling club Adria Mobil in cooperation with the agency Sport Media Focus and Slovenian Tourist Board is the organizer of the first Virtual Tour of Slovenia, intended for recreational cyclists, who will be accompanied by some of the best Slovenian professionals including the current best cyclist in the world.

Amsterdam – Primož Roglič, the Slovenian rider topping the UCI world individual ranking, will make a renewed bid at winning the world’s No. 1 race, Tour de France, after being pipped to the top spot by his compatriot Tadej Pogačar last year. He will not defend the Vuelta win though.

Ljubljana – Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič has won the 2020 Vélo d’Or award by the French cycling magazine Vélo Magazine, given annually to the rider considered to have performed the best over the year.

The 31-year-old, who currently competes for the Dutch Team Jumbo-Visma, is the first Slovenian ever to win the Golden Bicycle award since its induction in 1992.

"I will appear in the Tour de France. I'm looking forward to the start there," Roglič announced at Friday's press conference of his Jumbo-Visma team, adding: "Our goal is to win the Tour. I want to be part of it."

The 166-kilometre stage between Bilbao and Los Machucos finished with a short (6.8km) but hellishly steep climb, where the Slovenian pair soon broke away to make Slovenia's biggest success ever.

In the all-Slovenian finish, Pogačar, the 20-year-old UAE Emirates rider, won his second stage victory to advance to the 2nd spot overall, putting on the best young rider's white jersey.

Roglič, who was the top favourite for today's victory, was ahead of his rivals the whole time during the stage, which started in Jurancon and ended in Pau.

In his debut appearance in a Grand Tour Race, the 20-year old UAE Team Emirates rider became only a third Slovenian with a stage win at the tour of Spain after Borut Božič and Matej Mohorič.

The cyclist's current contract with the Dutch bicycle racing team would expire in 2020, De Telegraaf said on Tuesday.

Roglič, who is one of the hottest cyclists in the market at the moment, will thus continue to race for the Jumbo-Visma team, participating in multi-stage races, including the three major ones - the first one, the Tour of Spain, will take place at the end of summer.

Ahead of the last stage, a 17-km time trial in Verona, the 29-year-old was fourth overall, but he showed his sprinting skills to overtake Spain's Mikel Landa to make it to the podium.

Competing for Jumbo Visma team from the Netherlands, Roglič finished the time trial in 22 minutes and 33 seconds to miss his third win in time trials at this year's Giro D'Italia by 26 seconds.