The 9th GP Slovenian Istra, powered by I Feel Slovenia won by Bartlomiej Proć.

The opening cycling race on Slovenian soil ended with the final sprint of the larger group. Bartlomiej Proc celebrated, the second place was taken by the Italian Alberto Bruttomesso, and the first Slovenian Anže Skok took an excellent 3rd place.

As usual, the race on the Slovenian coast was an introduction to the Slovenian cycling season. For the second year in a row, sunny weather and ideal conditions for cycling awaited cyclists in the center of Izola. This year, there were 148 cyclists from 28 countries and 26 teams at the start including five Slovenian teams that had big goals in the home race.

For the first two hours, the rhythm was calm. Slovenia Fabijan Kralj (Ljubljana Gusto Santic) and Canadian Matthew King (XSpeed United Continental) where leading in a breakaway with almost 4 minutes of advantage. The main group soon picked up the pace and the lead started to melt away. Matthew King, remained alone in the breakaway and fought well to win the KOM trophy. The main group caught the escapee about 50 km before the finish line.

It proved once again that the route is quite selective, but the winner is decided in a sprint of the diluted group. Despite the constant attacks that took place in the last three city laps, a group of 40 riders came to the finish. In the fast sprint Proc was able to take advantage of a great position, narrowly beating the Italian Bruttomesso and the Slovenian Skok. It was Proc's first UCI category race victory.

"It was a very fast and chaotic finish and I'm happy to take my first victory in the UCI category races," Bartłomiej Proć said after the race.

Anže Skok was very satisfied with the 3rd place: "Finally everything came together for us. We rode the whole race just as we imagined. First we had Fabijan in the breakaway, but in the finishing kilometres  we always kept positions in the front. It's always rock and roll in these city laps, there's a lot of attacks and the group stretches out. Before the sprint I was in a good position and I only went full throttle in the finish line. I am very satisfied with the 3rd place."

Foto: Vid Ponikvar