Tour of Slovenia 2025 Stage 4

June 7, 2025 The GC is still close with over 50 riders within 1 minute 18 seconds but it should be blown wide open after today. The first 115KM after heading West from the start in Maribor is relatively easy with just a few rollers but the difficulties start with 60KM to race with the Volovljek climb, 5KM long at over 8%. It is merely an hors d'oeuvre however because after the descent and a long valley road through the town of Potok, the road rears up to start the final climb to the finish. Golte is a 13KM climb that averages 7.5% but it goes up in two steps. The first ramp is 5KM at 7.5% then there is a brief respite before going back up for the last 6.5KM which is over 9% and takes the riders to the finish line at the ski and wellness resort. The riders rolled out of Maribor along a beautiful promenade on the banks of the Drava River with plenty of spectators out to see the show on a warm early Summer's day. Six riders got away early including Samuele Zoccarato of Polti-VisitMalta, Anže Skok of Adria Mobil, Kyrylo Tsarenko of Solution Tech-Vini Fantini, Mihael Štajnar of Pogi Team Gusto Ljubljana, Dominik Röber of Benotti Berthold, and Carl-Frederik Bévort of Uno-X Mobility. Their lead got out to 7 minutes as a maximum and they still had 5 minutes 45 seconds with 66KM to go as they approached the Volovljek climb. On a narrow road through Luče that follows the Savinja River, there were at least two different crashes that affected Tao Geoghegan Hart of Lidl-Trek and both Kulset brothers of Uno-X Mobility. The bunch was generally content to ride up Volovljek at a reasonable pace but Euskatel-Euskadi wanted to push on. Interestingly, Txomin Juaristi attacked but the peloton was still 3 minutes 45 seconds behind the break. By the top with 53KM to go, the gap was still 3 minutes from the break to the peloton with Juaristi about 40 seconds ahead of the bunch. The descent was pristine with a perfect surface, flowing turns, and gorgeous views. The bunch lost interest in riding once they got to the valley and the pace went completely out. Gaps expanded and with 28KM to go, the break had 5 minutes 10 seconds with Juaristi stuck directly in the middle. Lidl-Trek and Bahrain Victorious finally put men on the front and by the foot of the final climb of Golte, Juaristi was caught by the peloton and would have been re-thinking his 40KM solo chasse patate. We were not getting time gaps to the break but they had split up with just Zoccarato, Bévort, and Tsarenko in front after 1500M of climbing. Lidl-Trek continued to ride and put on a strong pace from the bottom and with 10KM to go, the time popped up with 3 minutes between the peloton and the last two riders of the break, Zoccarato and Tsarenko. The bunch was still around 35 riders with 5.5KM to go and Lidl-Trek setting the pace. It wasn't quick enough however which allowed Jan Castellon of Caja Rural Seguros RGA to attack. Up the road, Tsarenko attacked Zoccarato and was off solo with 4KM to go and still around 2 minutes ahead. The first real moves from the group of favorites came with 3.5KM to go but it was all start stop attacks. Race leader Fabio Christen of Q36.5 was dropped in the flurry and started his slide backwards. Felix Großschartner of UAE-XRG and Anders Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility proved to be the best climbers from the favorites group and the pair were together with 1500M to go as they caught Castellon, leaving just Tsarenko in the lead with Zoccarato in the middle. The road got really steep inside the final kilometer with riders from the favorites group all spread out riding their own pace. Tsarenko zipped up his jersey and was in disbelief when he crossed the line for the biggest win of his young career. Zoccarato came in 28 seconds later with the GC riders nipping on his heels. Johannessen finish third on the stage but best placed of the GC, finishing 38 seconds after Tsarenko. Großschartner came across 3 seconds later with Johannes Kulset of Uno-X Mobility in fifth at 47 seconds and Geoghegan Hart at 48 seconds. Johannessen now holds the GC lead by 16 seconds over Großschartner and 19 seconds on Geoghegan Hart. Anything can happen in tomorrow's final stage but the final GC is likely set as there is little terrain to make much of a difference.