Brajkovic seals Slovenia victory

Koren wins final stage in Ljubljana

Janez Brajkovic (Astana) claimed overall victory in the Tour de Slovénie thanks to his showing in the final time trial in the evocative city of Ljubljana, although the home favourite was pushed to the pin of his collar by a surprisingly strong Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox).

Pozzovivo and Brajkovic had shown that they were the cream of the field the previous day on the road to Škofja Loka as they eased away from the peloton on the final climb with 35km still to race. The diminutive Italian outsprinted Brajkovic to take the stage and the overall lead, but with an advantage of just 4 seconds, Pozzovivo was widely expected to hand it over to his host on Sunday.

And so it proved, although it was a far closer run affair that Brajkovic could ever have imagined. The Slovenian favourite finished the stage in 6th place, 33 seconds down on winner Kristjian Koren (Liquigas-Cannondale), and he was almost caught out by the shock display from Pozzovivo, who conceded just 10 seconds to Brajkovic over the 17km course.

In the end, that was enough to give Brajkovic overall victory, just 6 seconds clear of Pozzovivo. Koren completed a fine day for the home country by taking the third step of the overall podium to go with his tight stage victory over Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD).

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Janez Brajvokic (Astana) with his trophy from the Slovenia victory

Photo: © Metod Mocnik / Dnevnik