Ackermann podiums as Majka holds lead in Slovenia

Day two of the Tour of Slovenia continued with aggressive racing with a frantic pace bringing the riders from Ptuj to Rogaška Slatina (174.2km) where UAE Team Emirates set-up Pascal Ackermann to 3rd place in the reduced bunch finish.

Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange) won the stage as Rafal Majka continues to lead the race overall. Home favourite Tadej Pogačar sits closely behind in third place heading into a climbers
stage tomorrow from Žalec to Celje (144.6km).

Majka : “Today we tried to win the stage with Ackermann. He got a good third place and we kept the leaders jersey so it was close to a a perfect day. For sure tomorrow we’ll try and go for the win with Tadej, the stage passes not far from his house and we’ll go all in for him.”

Meanwhile at the Tour de Suisse, Diego Ulissi dug in to take 5th place on Stage 5 from Ambri to Novazzano (190.1km), which was won by Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Alessandro Covi suffered a crash in the closing kilometres but escaped with abrasions and will be fit to continue tomorrow.

Tour of Slovenia Stage 2 results

1.Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange) 4:12:15
2.Lionel Timiniaux (Alpecin-Fenix) s.t
3.Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) s.t

Tour of Slovenia General classification after stage 2

1. Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) 8:14:51
2. Domen Novak (Bahrain-Victorious) +6 ”
3. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +8  “

Tour de Suisse Stage 5 results

1.Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) 4:30:28
2.Neilson Powless (EF Education First) s.t
3.Jakob Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech) s.t
5.Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) +5’’

Tour de Suisse General Classification after stage 5

1.Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) 22:16:58
2.Jakob Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech) +6’’
3.Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers) +7’’
12.Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) +1’03’’