Tour of Slovenia: Florian Lipowitz claims overall title with stage 5 solo victory

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed the final stage 5 victory with a late-race attack over the steep slopes of the Trška Gora that saw him solo into Nove Mesto with the day’s glory and the overall title at the Tour of Slovenia.

The German all-rounder crossed the finish line 24 seconds ahead of his teammate Laurence Pithie, who won the reduced group sprint for second place, and Alessandro Fancellu (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) in third.

Lipowitz, who will now turn his attention to the Tour de France in support of Remco Evenepoel, has shown superb form at this five-day stage race, winning the overall title by 42 seconds ahead of his teammate Giulio Pellizzari, while Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain-Victorious) took the last spot on the GC podium at 2:06 back.

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The fifth and final stage of the Tour of Slovenia was a five-col affair spanning 169.4km from Litija to Novo Mesto. The climbs in order of the day included Vače (5.7km at 6%), Bogenšperk (4.2km at 5.7%), Grmada (1.7km at 11.2%), Trebelno (4.3km at 6%) and lastly, Trška Gora (1.6km at 10.2%) that peaked with 9km to go before a sharp descent and flat run-in to Novo Mesto.

Lipowitz, who won the previous day, started stage 5 in the overall race lead, four seconds ahead of his teammate Pelizzari and 1:32 ahead of Omrzel.

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An early breakaway involved Fausto Masnada (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort), who started the day 3:43 behind Lipowitz in the GC, Louis Sutton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Veljko Stojnić (Team United Shipping).

Masnada surged on the penultimate climb, Trebelno, and cleared his companions, with Stojnić the first to fall off pace, followed by Sutton.

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Alone out front with 40km remaining, Masnada held a 1:!2 gap. The Italian secured full mountain classification points over the top of each of the day’s ascents and time bonuses on offer throughout the stage, but he was no match for the strength of a chasing Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad.

The gap was slashed to 30 seconds inside 30km from the finish and ultimately Masnada was reeled in completely, with the reduced field back together at 26km to go.

One short but brutally-steep climb to go, Trška Gora, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe led the field onto the lower slopes with Lipowitz sitting safely near the front of the group.

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Lipowitz sprinted over the top of the climb, securing the lead in the mountains classification, bumping Masnada down to second place, and continued on solo with 9km remaining.

Four riders emerged behind the leader with Pellizzari sitting on the wheels of Omrzel, Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Alessandro Fancellu (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort), and Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), also coming across with Mats Wenzel (Equipo Kern Pharma).

As Lipowitz soloed to victory, the reduced group reconnected with Pithie, taking the sprint for second in Novo Mesto.

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