Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) secured his first career victory on stage 2 of the Tour of Slovenia, winning the sprint from a lead group of seven riders who escaped 20km from the end of the 163km stage.
The Portuguese rider beat Fabio Christen (Q36.5), who had earlier been in the break of the day, to the finish line in Rogaska Slatina. Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) finished in third place, while the peloton, led by Niccolò Parisini (Q36.5), finished 53 seconds down.
The late attack was spearheaded by Sjoerd Bax (Q36.5), who was joined in the move by the podium trio plus Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Jakob Ormzel (Bahrain Victorious) as they sought to prevent a predicted mass sprint finish.
The group proved sufficiently strong and co-ordinated to fend off the chase from behind, growing their gap to almost a minute on the run to the line before battling for the win amongst themselves.
Christen is the new leader of the race, having picked up an additional time bonus on the stage in addition to a nine-second time bonus won on stage 1. The 22-year-old Swiss rider, who started the day in second overall, now leads Oliveira by 11 seconds, while Johannessen lies in third overall at 14 seconds down.
The Tour of Slovenia continues on Friday with a 172km stage from Majšperk to Ormož, a day suited to the sprinters, ahead of a summit finish GC showdown on Saturday.
Results
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