Slovenian Kristjan Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale) confirmed his form for the Tour de France with a win in the final 17km time trial in the Tour de Slovenie on Sunday, while his compatriot Janez Brajkovic got a long-awaited overall win in his home tour, cementing the title with a sixth place in the time trial.
In the race around Ljubljana, the country’s capital, Koren pulled off something of an upset over Italian national time trial champ Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD), who finished less than a second behind the Liquigas-Cannondale rider. Orica-GreenEdge filled out four of the next five spots, with Daryl Impey in third, Michael Hepburn fourth, Jens Mouris fifth, and Sam Bewely seventh.
"I am very happy,” smiled Koren afterwards, “both to have taken a victory in front of my people, and also for having given a strong message about my condition. After the Tour of California and the Critérium du Dauphiné, I started to feel good. I arrived at the Tour de Slovenie motivated and confident about picking up a major achievement. The team has always believed in me and supported me: for this I thank them.
Maciek Bodnar (Liquigas-Cannondale) was eighth, Brett Lancaster made it five Orica-GreenEdge in the top ten with his ninth place run, and overnight race leader Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox) rounded out the top ten.
Brajkovic’s final overall victory bumped Pozzovivo down to second, and Koren finished third overall.
“Jani is very happy with this home victory,” said team director Gorazd Stangelj. “We were the favourites going into the time trial but Pozzovivo did very well and caused us some trouble. We planned everything down to the most minute detail; Jani was very calm and knew what he was capable of. Overall victory is just a reward for the effort we put into this race and is a good sign for the Tour de France.”
Brajkovic is expected to be the leader for Team Astana in the Tour de France, along with Alexander Vinokourov. Brajkovic’s win in Slovenia headlined a banner day for Astana on Sunday, as the team also took the final stage win in the Tour de Suisse with Estonian Tanel Kangert.