Stage 4 of the Tour of Slovenia is 157k from Nova Gorcia to Predmeja. Yesterday many of the GC contenders looked to be in trouble before a stalemate in the lead group bailed them out. Today’stage is tougher so they will need to hope for better legs or a gentler pace.
The stage includes 3 Cat 3 climbs, a Cat 2 and two Cat 4s (one at the finish) so while Gesbert has a big KOM lead there are plenty of points on the course for a rider to catch him. There are also 3 sprint points but they should be swept up by the breakaway rather than impacting the GC.
The organizers think this stage is more about climbing so the stage favorites are the guys who have a little punch but can also handle the longer climbs, notably Wirtgen and Dunbar
10k gone. 5 riders in the front group with 1 more at 12 seconds another 2 at 25 seconds and the peloton at 1’02. Front 5 are Azman, Dyball, Goh, Jensen, and Zakarin. Samuel Mugisha is he first chaser having just left his brother Moise and Chernetskiy behind in the third group. A lot of teams will be pleased to see Trans in the break as they had a big hand in the high pace yesterday.
Jensen wins the first sprint. He started the day just 22 seconds down on GC so the peloton can’t give him too much leash. Samuel Mugisha has joined the front 5 but the other two are close to being swamped by the peloton.
130k remain as the break reaches the first climb of the day - the Cat 3 to Vrhovlje, 3.1k at 8%. The peloton is 58 seconds behind and has caught the other two.
By the top only Azman and Goh are still at the front. Dyball and Jensen 24 seconds back and the last two well behind. Azman has 2 KOM points already so he is up to 8 now and could be a threat to Gesbert if he stays away.
103k to go, the front 5 are back together and on the second Cat 3 which is actually the first Cat 3 ridden for a second time. Zakarin is the one missing, he got as close as 29 seconds but now he is back to 1’37. Peloton at 2’41 with a lot of teams working to keep the gap under control.
Azman is again the strongest. He is up to 14 points and 2nd place in the KOM. Jensen takes second to bring his total to 5 points. Mugisha badly gapped again.
Azman also wins the sprint at the bottom of the descent. Very soon they will start the next climb which is a 2.4k Cat 4 at 6.4%. Mugisha still 36 seconds behind with the peloton at 3’26.
Goh takes first on the Cat 4 ahead of Jensen and Azman. Goh up to 11 points, Jensen 8. Mugisha looks like he is out of it, now 1’21 behind with the peloton at 2’34. 88k to go.
80k for the peloton, Zalgiris (Consonni) and Grieg (Hulgaard) among the teams pushing the pace. Mugisha is caught and the other 4 have just 1’40.
Jensen edges Azman at the third and final sprint point. Peloton at 1’41. Jensen up to 22 points and 5th in that competition.
63k to go for the peloton. Gap has been hovering just under 2 minutes for a while. Aker, King Power, Puma, cycleYorkshire, Indosat and Zara all contributing. Ahead the break is about to start the longest climb of the race. It is 4.9k at 7.4% and rated Cat 2.
1.6k from the top Dyball launches the first attack. Behind the peloton has closed the gap to 1’46 under pressure from Zalgiris again, they seem to be the only team interested in upping the pace.
Jensen proves strongest at the KOM and takes the 10 points (10+8=18). Then Goh (8+11=19) and Azman (6+15=21). That point split works well for Gesbert, worst case for him is if Azman wins the final climb they will be tied for first, otherwise the Assa Abloy rider will keep the jersey alone (unless one of the break scores at the finish).
Zalgiris don’t have the horses to really drive the pace and the lead is back to 2’10 despite their efforts.
Van Tricht comes out of the pack to take the final points but he isn’t relevant in the competition. By the time the peloton reaches the top Zalgiris have given up and the gap to the peloton is up to 3’09.
38k to go the break is on to the final categorized climb other than the finish. It is a Cat 3, 5.3k at 4.1%. There is also still one very nasty short climb to come but no KOM points there. The lead is down to 1’53 at King Power have been chasing on the flats with a little support from other teams.
Just under 1k to go to the top. Azman leading from the front. Peloton now at 1’13 and going harder on this climb.
More good news for Gesbert - Azman (4+21=25) isn’t quite strong enough and Jensen (6+18=24) grabs first place from him. Goh takes 3rd and moves on to 21 points. The peloton eases off at the top and the lead goes back to 1’28
Over the top the peloton splits. Keizer, Ioannidis, Kung, and Kanerva (12th on GC) are among the riders in the 2nd group. But the worst news is for Polar as Izagirre (15th on GC) is in the 3rd group already over 2 minutes behind the Yellow Jersey group.
By the time the peloton reaches the 20k banner the Keizer group has been able to rejoin. The breakaway ais just 41 seconds ahead. Indosat look to be all in for Dunbar as Borges has been working.
13.5k to go and the break is over. Just ahead is a right turn and the peloton will tackle the climb to Dolga Poljana. It is 2.3k at 10.5%. From the top there are about 8k until the 1.8k finishing climb begins. The peloton has split again under the high pace of the chase from Kraftwerk and Zalgiris as well as Indosat. There are 50 riders in the front group. A 19-rider group is 50 seconds down with additional groups spread out behind. Paillot and young rider leader Foss (4th on GC) are in the 2nd group. Kanerva, Keizer and Kung are further back.
Gesbert and Errazkin lead on to the climb. Dunbar, Wirtgen and defending champion Ganna are all well placed.
About halfway up the climb, Gesbert and Errazkin get a gap. Dunbar goes after them.
Almost to the top Errazkin is on his own. Wirtgen has joined the other two and they have 14 seconds on the peloton. The Foss group has rejoined the peloton but there will definitely be splits over the top of this climb so that seems unlikely to last.
Errazkin on to the descent, the races in pieces behind him. 6.7k to the start of the final climb, it could still regroup a lot.
5k to the final climb, the view from group 4 on the road.
The front 7 groups look like this:
The two riders not listed in A3 are Würtz and Van Tricht.
3k to go, Errazkin holding on to a lead of 16 seconds. He was 55 seconds behind in the GC at the start of the day so the yellow jersey not in play at this point. The groups and gaps behind are about the same except the 6-rider group with Bobridge and Mano has been caught by the group behind while the Carlsberg riders that were in that group have dropped back to the next group, perhaps to help Kämna.
1.6k to go, Errazkin is on the final climb (1.8k at 7.3%) and can glimpse the finish ahead.
The situation behind him looks like this:
The five riders not listed in A2 are Würtz, Van Tricht., Fernandes, Oliveira, and Bystrom.
Under the 1k banner Wirtgen and Dunbar are almost up to the leader.
600 meters, they are still together. The fourth group on the road (Bobridge/Conci/Mano) can be seen below, they are 1’137 down. In between are Gesbert at 37 seconds and the group with Fraile, Dennis, and Ganna at 59 seconds.
300 meters. Wirtgen cracks.
Around the final corner Errazkin cracks as well and Dunbar can celebrate a fine win and some time gains. Errazkin is 2nd 13 seconds behind. A great ride by the Zalgiris man but he comes up just short. Wirtgen third at 25 seconds.
Gesbert hangs on for a nice 4th to go with his KOM jersey. He will also take the points lead, as he scored many points in the break on Stage 1. But his time gap is a large 1’42. The front three really distanced the rest on the final climb Behind Gesbert are Dennis and Fraile at 1’55.
Bobridge rips across the gap and grabs 7th, his positioning cost him on the prior climb.
Ganna is also passed by Cuming and Calmejane and settles for 10th. But everyone from Dennis through Oliveira and Fernandes in 11th and 12th are awarded the same time. Ganna probably won’t defend his title but he should have a shot at a podium.
Brown and Mano take 13th and 14th and lose 2’22. Mano faded badly in the closing 150 meters. Conci finishes 15th on 2’49.
In the GC Wirtgen holds on to a 14 second lead on Dunbar and remains the favorite to take the GC, but he will need to put in a good ride tomorrow. Errazkin is third on 39 seconds but is not a threat in the TT. Bobridge is 4th at 1’44 but Ganna (1’47), Olivera (1’50) , Fraile (1’52) and maybe Dennis (2’06) and Mano (2’25) will have a say in the podium battle.
Würtz is the best time trial rider in the race, he is 13th, at 2’49, he could certainly move up a lot tomorrow.
Mano is the young rider leader now and Zalgiris are rewarded for their aggression with the team jersey lead ahead of cycleYorkshire.
Tour of Slovenia 
