Stage 4

21. Stage 4 Profile

Stage 4 was the most challenging of the tour with over 3000 metres of vertical climbing and five categorised climbs along the 164km route. The final climb was 2.5km at an eye-watering average gradient of 13% with ramps of over 20%.

22 & 23. Rob Scott in the breakaway of 8 riders

Again it was Rob Scott who managed to get into the break of eight riders and he took the first KOM at Temnica after 50km, a 4.3km ascent at an average gradient of just over 8%. This moved Rob into 3^rd place in the KOM standings, 2 points behind leader Kenny Molly (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles) and just a single point behind Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emeriates). Another 17km further on at Miren, Rob took 2^nd place and two bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint. He made it over the 3.2km at 9.5% category 2 climb at Ravnica, but was dropped from the breakaway and caught shortly before the last intermediate sprint at Deskle.

23.

The remainder of the day’s breakaway was caught with just 12km to go at the base of the second ascent up to Ravnica. Team Bike Exchange then UAE-Team Emirates blew the peloton apart over the final two climbs in the last 10km. The Italian Diego Ulissi (UAE-Team Emirates) took the victory by one second over his team leader Pogacar. James Shaw (Ribble Weldtite) had another impressive ride in 5^th place.

24. Stedman & Bostock on Stage 4 climb

Christensen and Mein helped Canyon dhb SunGod’s team climber Stedman to the lower slopes of Ravnica and still recovering from a pre-race illness he finished in 37^th place 5min 52sec down on the winner. Mein was next finisher in 54^th place 8min 51 sec down. Having not been firing on all cylinders since his Stage 1 crash, Townsend retired from the race mid-stage.

Rob Scott

‘Honestly before the fourth stage I was thinking I might DNF (did not finish) this day, but it wasn’t actually too bad and I got in the break. I got the first KOM and maximum points on that, then I just got dropped on the second climb, I was just too tired but we animated the race a good amount I think.’   

Stedman

(At the bottom of the last climb) ‘Me, Ryan and Thomas Mein knew we had to be in a good position but I was still recovering from illness and I knew at the base of the climb I had to go at the  pace I could handle. I felt a bit better on the 2nd half of the climb but it was too late to do anything by then really, it was just damage limitation basically.’

Stage 5

25. Stage 5 Profile

The fifth, last and longest stage started in the capital city of Slovenia, Ljubjana and took a steadily descending 175km route to Novo Mesto towards the southern border with Croatia. This was the first stage that the Canyon dhb SunGod team did not make the break of the day. However, the team compensated for their lack of visibility in the breakaway by Christensen and Stedman taking a prominent role at the front of the peloton from at least 74km out (when the live Eurosport GCN coverage commenced) to help keep the breakaway in check.

26 & 27. Canyon dhb SunGod sharing effort on the front of the chasing peloton

They contributed in this position for the next 50km with Christensen leading the peloton over the final categorised climb in front of a huge crowd reminiscent of those you would see at the Tour of Yorkshire. They shared this role with a couple of riders each from Caja Rural and Bahrain Victorius.

27.

Christensen suffered an unfortunate mechanical with what looked like a detached left-hand side crank with 24km to go and Stedman rescinded his place at the front of the peloton when the Bahrain Victorius team hit the front in numbers as the peloton approached the finishing circuits to complete the chasing down of the breakway.

28. Bostock with two laps of the finishing circuit in Novo Mesto to go

29. Stedman & Rob Scott in the peloton with just one 8.5km lap to go

Thomas Mein rode strongly in the closing kilometres taking the lead with 4km to go and staying there for another kilometer with two Ribble Weldtite riders, including eventual 7^th placed finisher Matt Gibson, glued to his rear wheel. Coming into the closing kilometre, Bostock was in a favourable position around the top fifteen riders.

However, as the leaders took the last left-hand bend before the slight rise to the finish, he was squeezed on the inside of the bend and dropped a few places to finish in 20^th place on the stage. Lead-out man Mein was second team finisher in 36^th place in the same time as winner Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorius) who sprinted to his second stage win.

Shortly ahead of his Tour de France title defence, predictably Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates) took the GC by 1min 21 sec from his team-mate Italian Diego Ulissi. James Shaw (Ribble Weldtite) showed he still has the ability to mix it with the world’s best by taking 5^th place at 2min 29 sec. Stedman was the first Canyon dhb SunGod rider finishing in 25^th place 9min 49sec down, and he was also the 4^th placed Continental-level rider. In what was a very impressive ride in his first road stage race at this level, Thomas Mein was the next team finisher in 51^st place, 28min 48 sec down.

Full results for all stages are available on the ProCyclingStats web-site here: Tour of Slovenia 2021 Stage 5 results (procyclingstats.com)

30. Lead-out man Thomas Mein

Rob Scott

‘We were near the front there (with 20km to go coming towards the finishing circuit) but it (the race leaders) sat up, and it got so bunched up and so choppy round the corners and then once we got onto the circuits it all strung out and it was hard to move up then.’  

 Christensen

‘One of those days you want to forget. If I wasn’t at the front, I was in the cars riding back on. Drama till the end. Was a decent day on the front with @MaxStedman_ none-the-less. Overall, we learnt a lot as a team. I can’t thank the guys enough for their commitment to the task at hand on every stage.’

 Stedman added:

‘After yesterday’s semi-disappointing day was good to get on the front with kiwi man @ryanchr1stensen for a stint.’

 Bostock

(On the last few kilometres) ‘I had Tom there and he did a really good job and Jake came up for a few seconds but it was literally that last left-hander I went from probably the top ten and that was it. There was an Astana guy on the right so I went left, then a Caja Rural rider slowed and I got absolutely rammed and had to slow even more.’ 

 Bottom Line…

The Canyon dhb SunGod team had a great start to the Tour of Slovenia with Christensen and Bostock taking 8^th & 9^th places on Stage 1. Stedman took 13^th place on the reduced bunch sprint on Stage 3 and Bostock closed the tour with 20^th place on Stage 5.

The team was active in breakaways on the first four stages with Jacob Scott and Rob Scott alternating days and both performing well in the KOM and intermediate sprints.

Stedman was 25^th in the GC standings, Christensen finished 26^th in the Points competition, Rob & Jacob Scott were 7^th & 9^th in the KOM competition, Mein was 8^th in the Young Rider standings and the Canyon dhb SunGod team finished 13^th overall. A commendable team effort with superb teamwork displayed in all stages under the directorship of Simon Holt in a very prestigious race!

31. The Canyon dhb SunGod team assembling for the Stage 5 finale

According to Pro Cycling Stats, over the course of the 5 stages, Rob Scott recorded the greatest distance covered in breakaways with 169km.

Many thanks to Simon, Eoin, Marie and Russell for their first class support of the riders, and a additional vote of thanks to Eoin, Maria and Russell for driving the team vehicles back from Slovenia to the UK after a long and very active week (which allowed a brief visit into Venice while awaiting the afternoon flight home).

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Written by Paul and Marina Stedman with rider contributions by Ryan Christensen, Max Stedman and Rob Scott.

Photo/Diagram Credits

21. Tour of Slovenia Official Website Tour of Slovenia
22. Sportida Photo Agency
23. Sportida Photo Agency
24. Sportida Photo Agency
25. Tour of Slovenia Official Website Tour of Slovenia
26. Sportida Photo Agency
27. Eurosport GCN
28. Sportida Photo Agency
29. Sportida Photo Agency
30. Lawrence Cozzutto @lawrencecozz
31. TourOfSlovenia – Official @tourofsloveniaofficial