CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious rider Jakob Omrzel delivered a standout performance at the Tour of Slovenia, finishing fourth yesterday in the general classification (GC) and claiming the white jersey for best young rider – a career milestone in front of his hometown crowd in Novo Mesto.
The five-day race covered 804.4 kilometres and 12,401 metres of climbing, starting in Primorska and culminating, as tradition, on the iconic Main Square in Novo Mesto.
Bahrain Victorious came into the race aiming for a top-10 GC result, a stage win, and the white jersey. While the team narrowly missed out on a stage win – with Phil Bauhaus finishing second and third on stages one and three, respectively – Omrzel’s strong GC result and victory in the young rider classification marked a major success.
Omrzel, just 21 years old and part of the Bahrain Victorious Development Team, capped off the race by finishing seventh in yesterday’s final stage’s bunch sprint.
His consistent performances earned him fourth overall, just 35 seconds behind race winner Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), and the white jersey – his first at the pro level.
After the race, Omrzel commented: “The entire race around Slovenia went very well for us.
“On the first day, I had a bit of an accident. When I fell in the last kilometres, the fall was not serious, so we continued on the following days. Day after day it went well, we raced more and more as a team and in the end we defended the white jersey. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get on the podium in the general standings, but I won fourth place.
“All in all, it was very nice. Today was a special day for me when I saw all my friends and acquaintances along the road, it helped me a lot and gave me extra strength.
“I knew going into Trska gora that it would be tough and that the differences wouldn’t be big. I was surprised because I held on well and reached the top with the two best cyclists in the race. That’s already my achievement.
“I also did a little stupid thing three kilometres to the finish line, but everything ended happily. I’m very proud of the white jersey in a professional race and I have the momentum and motivation to move forward and I’m going into the next races even more confident.”
Bahrain Victorious sports director Borut Bozic praised the team’s efforts. “We came to this race with an inexperienced team,” he said. “There were a lot of guys who were racing professionally for the first year.
“We went to the race with high goals, which is the mentality of our team. We aimed for victory with Phil Bauhaus in the sprint stages. But we also had Jakob, for whom this was his important race. Considering that we know what type of cyclist he is, we set a high goal, namely to reach for the white jersey. We managed to get the white jersey, but we didn’t win the stages, but we were second and third.
“What I’m most pleased about is that the guys stuck very well to the plan that we set for each stage individually. And considering that the guys are inexperienced, they completed all the tasks with perfection.
“In addition to all that, I’m pleased that I saw quite a bit of progress in the cyclists who have already had a few races this year and already have some experience. And I can say that they really raced this race superbly, and as a result, we as a team did a great job here at the Tour of Slovenia.”
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