Giovanni Aleotti wins Tour of Slovenia

Aleotti, 25, started stage 5 with a slight lead over Spain's Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious). At a certain point it seemed that the Spanish rider might win it all, but the Italian then pulled another narrow gap between them to end the race 10 seconds ahead of Bilbao.

The last, hilly stage took the contenders for the title on a 157km ride from Šentjernej to Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia. It included two categorised climbs.

The best Slovenian in the final stage was Luka Mezgec (Jayco-AlUla), who finished fourth, while the best local rider in the general classification was Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates), who placed 12th.

Last year's winner of the final stage of the Tour of Slovenia, local rider Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) finished fifth in stage 5, while Healy had enough energy left to cross the finish line six seconds ahead of his rivals to bag his eighth career victory.

The Irish rider said that after losing time in the general classification yesterday, he decided to take some revenge today. "I know how I can win, I know how I like to win. It was always the plan to go full gas on that first climb and try and catch them by surprise. In the end I managed to go solo, and then they caught me on the last climb of the day.

"But yeah, the GC guys were playing silly buggers and I managed to get a gap and hold it to the line," Healy told the organisers after the race, adding that Slovenia is a nice place to race a bike.

The overall winner, Aleotti now has seven wins to his name. He won stage 3 of the Tour of Slovenia on Friday to take the GC lead, which he succeeded to defend until the very end of the race.

In the general classification, third place went to his compatriot Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizane), who lagged 26 seconds behind.

"It's been a really hectic race from the start. Without my teammates today the race could have gone differently for me. I'm really thankful for their commitment and help because at that moment around 40 kilometres to go, a strong group was on the way, but we were able to control the race," Aleotti told the organisers.

He was a bit worried during the race, but he did not panic. "That's definitely my biggest achievement so far in my career," he said about the Tour of Slovenia victory."

* Results, stage 5:
1. Ben Healy (Irs/EF Education-EasyPost) 3:24:06
2. Alexander Kristoff (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) + 0:06
3. Orluis Aular (Ven/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) same time
4. Luka Mezgec (Slo/Jayco-AlUla)
5. Matej Mohorič (Slo/Bahrain-Victorious)
6. Edoardo Zambanini (Ita/Bahrain-Victorious)
7. Valerio Conti (Ita/Corratec - Vini Fantini)
8. Tobias Johannessen (Nor/Uno-X Mobility)
9. Archie Ryan (Irs/EF Education-EasyPost)
10. Fernando Barcelo (Špa/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)

- General classification (5/5):
1. Giovanni Aleotti (Ita/Bora-hansgrohe) 20:10:36
2. Pello Bilbao (Špa/Bahrain-Victorious) + 0:10
3. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita/VF Group-Bardiani CSF) 0:26
4. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita/VF Group-Bardiani CSF) same time
5. Pablo Castrillo (Špa/Kern Pharma) 0:43
6. Paul Double (VBr/Polti Kometa) same time
7. Ben Healy (Irs/EF Education-EasyPost) 0:44
8. Filippo Zana (Ita/Jayco-AlUla) 0:46
9. Steff Cras (Bel/TotalEnergies) 1:28
10. Tobias Johannessen (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) 1:44