When another super-slave, Jan Tratnik, sprinted home on the 16th stage of Girot, his first win in a Grand Tour, in San Daniele del Friuli outside Udine in northern Italy after 229 km, he had 40 km left to drive the Vuelta a Espana (Around Spain) which had its initial stage in the Basque Country.
- These days have been special because we have been so close to Slovenia.
The last three kilometers I was finished but I saw my girlfriend 500 meters before the finish and got extra energy and was able to fly towards the finish, says 30-year-old Tratnik to Cyclingnews.
He holds the Slovenian flag high.
The Tour de France was a settlement between the Slovenes Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic.
It would be a quarter of an hour before the total cyclists in Girot showed up at the finish.
Overall leader Joao Almeida jerked just before goal, got a gap and extended the lead to his main rivals by two seconds.
The Portuguese is now 17 seconds Wilco Kelderman.
- I felt strong.
Sometimes the best defense is to attack and that was what I did today, says Almeida, who lost 41 seconds of his lead during Sunday's brutal finish uphill.
In Vueltan, four-time Tour de France winner Chris Fromme had many eyes on him in his last start for the star team Ineos Grenadiers.
The British showed weakness with having problems uphill with 18 km left on today's tough stage.
He did return to the cluster, but not impressively.
Ineos drives for Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who won the Giro d'Italia last year.
Vueltan is in progress.