Taaramäe wins Tour de Slovenia

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Rein Taaramäe sealed final overall victory at the Tour of Slovenia as Katusha teammate Alexander Porsev claimed the stage win on the final leg in Novo Mesto.

Porsev proved too quick in the bunch sprint, seeing off the challenges of Rüdiger Selig (Bora-Argon 18) and Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data), while the fancied Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) and Elia Viviani (Sky) could only manage 8th and 10th, respectively.

The finale was a technical one, and as the peloton tackled three laps of the finishing circuit in Novo Mesto, Porsev realised that positioning would be nine-tenths of the law in the final kilometre.

"I knew I had to take that last corner as the first rider. I did it with some risk," Porsev said. "The last kilometre was very tricky with the rain, the corners and with the wet cobblestones. At 300 metres from the finish, at the last corner, I went full gas and nobody could pass me again."

It was the 30-year-old Porsev’s first win of the 2016 season, though he was consistent in the sprints at the recent Giro d’Italia. “To win is important. It makes the difference for a fast rider,” said Porsev, who added that he was drafted into the sprint role late on the day’s stage. “My goal was to work for Alexey Tsatevich, but Alexey crashed at 6 km from the finish so we had to go to plan B.”

Taaramäe, meanwhile, finished safely in the main peloton to claim overall victory, 1:42 ahead of Jack Haig (Orica-GreenEdge) and 2:38 clear of Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18). The Estonian’s performances in Slovenia have been a continuation of his recent run of form, following his victory at Sant’Anna di Vinadio on the final weekend of the Giro.

"I have to say that it was not difficult today. The stage was flat but our team was so amazingly good. When they started chasing they immediately took back two minutes in less than 10 km. It was a pleasure to have these teammates," said Taaramäe.

After stagnating in his final years at Cofidis, Taaramäe re-established himself during his lone season at Astana in 2015, when he won the Vuelta a Burgos and the Arctic Race of Norway. He worked in the service of Ilnur Zakarin at the Giro, but the 29-year-old, who finished 11th at the 2011 Tour de France, has not yet renounced on his own ambitions in Grand Tours.

"Now I will take some rest and will go for three weeks to an altitude training camp for my second part of the season with the Tour of Poland, the Olympic Games in Rio and the Tour of Spain as my next goals," Taaramäe said. "I am still ambitious for Grand Tours too. I am not too old for that."

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