After being forced to settle for 3rd on the opening day of the 2024 Tour of Slovenia, there was no stopping German powerhouse Phil Bauhaus on stage 2 as the Bahrain - Victorious sprinted to victory and into the race lead as a result.
“It was for us sprinters and for me, a super hard day on the climb in the middle of the stage. UAE and other guys really went a hard pace. I was with Alberto Dainese and Alexander Kristoff on top of the climb and we could come back and the last 40-50km was just basically suffering for sprinters," reflected Bauhaus, a now three-time Tour of Slovenia stage winner in his post-stage interview.
Once Bauhaus, Kristoff and Dainese did get themselves back into the mix, the final sprint was a fiercely contested one. "I prepared really well so I’m happy with my legs and then in the sprint, it was just squeezing everything out. I’m really happy I could pass Dainese and take the win,” the 29-year-old reflected on the narrow win.
“Every year I improve and I get stronger. After the Giro d'Italia I was in Mallorca for three weeks, working on my threshold and my sprint because the Tour de France is coming up and it’s also a big goal for me. And these days you also need to be really strong as a sprinter," the German sprint star concludes. “Bunch sprint is always about small details and yesterday I was third - I think it was a good result. Obviously, you always want to win but it's super difficult, Groenewegen and Kristoff, they are world-class bike riders so yesterday we did good, not perfect. Today we did really amazing teamwork from the start to the end so it’s really nice to pay my team back also.”
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