The final difference between them was barely a millimeter, but Fabio Felline (Androni-Giocattoli) threw his bike just a bit more than Wesley Sulzberger (Orica-GreenEdge), giving the Italian the win on stage two of the Tour de Slovénie. Stage one winner Svein Tuft (Orica-GreenEdge) was dropped on a final climb and surrendered the leader’s jersey to Felline.
A narrow and twisting descent in the closing kilometres proved almost as decisive as the day’s climbing. Darwin Atapuma (Colombia) finished third on the stage, and Enrico Barbin (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox) was fourth.
The stage featured two breakaways, the first being 14 men strong. This one was closed down, giving time for two more men, Dalivier Ospina (Colombia) and Antonio Parrinello (Androni-Giocattoli), to try an escape.
With a category-one and two category-three climbs on the menu, no breakaway could stick, and the duo was pulled back before the first climb. The first category-three climb created a select group of 30. On the second of the two category-three ascents, Patrik Sinkewitz (Meridiana-Kamen) got away, but he crashed on the way down, allowing the rest to come back.
“I am very happy with this victory, because it is important for me and for the team,” Felline said at the finish. “I was confident before the stage that I could win it. But Saturday’s stage is more difficult than it was today.”
Sulzberger later sent out a zoomed in look at the photo finish over Twitter, and it wasn’t more than a few hairs width between his wheel and Felline’s.
“The result was determined by a millimetre,” bemoaned Orica-GreenEdge director Matt Wilson. “It was a really good ride by Wes, but I know he’s a bit disappointed to lose out by so little. It was a really, really difficult day. The stage included a big categorized climb in the first 50 kilometres. The bunch split into pieces over the climb and then came back together. There were two riders up the road after that, and we had to take control a bit to bring that back. From there, we tried to set things up for the finish, supporting Svein, Sebastian [Langeveld] and Wes into the bottom of the final climb.
“The last climb was ten kilometres long, and it proved too much for Svein and Sebastian,” Wilson explained. “Wes was able to hang on with a group of ten riders that formed over the top of the climb. Following the summit, there was a very technical descent through the finish town. The roads were narrow, and there were lots of corners. It was a crazy finish – nothing like a typical sprint run in, that’s for sure. Wes is carrying some really great form at the moment. If he keeps this up, the win will come soon.”
Tour de Slovénie Stage Two – Kocevje – Visnja Gora (168km) Brief Results:
1, Fabio Felline (Androni-Giocattoli) in 4h22’52”
2, Wesley Sulzberger (Orica-GreenEdge) in s.t.
3, Darwin Atapuma (Colombia)
4, Enrico Barbin (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox)
5, Radoslav Rogina (Adria Mobil)
6, Arthur Vanoverberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
7, Jan Polanc (Radenska)
8, Tadej Valjavec (Sava)
9, Jure Golcer (Tirol)
10, Tomaz Nose (Adria Mobil)
General Classification after Stage Two:
1, Fabio Felline (Androni-Giocattoli)
2, Arthur Vanoverberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) at 15”