Tour of Slovenia: Anders Halland Johannessen claims overall title after dramatic finale on stage 5

Anders Halland Johannessen wins the Tour of Slovenia
(Image credit: ©SPORTIDA/Vid Ponikvar)

Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) confirmed his overall victory of the Tour of Slovenia with a dominant ride on a dramatic final day into Novo mesto, as Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won the reduced bunch sprint for stage 5.

Having built his lead with consistent performances across the previous four stages, Johannessen simply had to not get dropped on the undulating final day, and he made sure of that by attacking the final climb to Trška Gora behind the breakaway, and finishing in the main group.

The Norwegian was once again the strongest GC rider on the road, and it looked like the day was going to go to Juanpe López (Lidl-Trek), the final remnant of the early break; however, he was reeled in just as the race reached the final kilometres. 

Johannessen was guided home safely by Johannes Kulset to take the overall win, with the latter finishing sixth on GC thanks to a great week of racing in Slovenia. Oliveira's teammate, Felix Großschartner, finished second overall, with Geoghegan Hart rounding out the final podium.

"All this stage was really chaotic, really hard from the beginning, then Uno-X controlled the break. I didn't survive the last steep climb, but I came back on the descent. Once I came back, Felix paced for me to catch Juanpe, we got him in the last kilometre," said Oliveira, describing the final.

"I like to sprint from far, and this corner to the bridge was key. I knew if I went long, it's super hard to catch me. I kept looking behind because I didn't know how close they were, and man, I'm super happy.

"My brother took one stage win, I took a second one, it's amazing. Also, Felix was second on GC and showed how good he is before working for me as a teammate. Kudos to him, and all my team."

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James Moultrie
News Writer

James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.

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