"I thought it would be a perfect moment to dedicate a stage to Gino" - Pello Bilbao dedicates his victory in Slovenia to Gino Mader

Pello Bilbao secured the stage win in the queen stage of Tour of Slovenia. The Spaniard's acceleration in the final hundreds of meters of the fourth stage left no chance to respond for his opponents. For Bilbao, this was an emotive moment, winning a year after the tragic death of his teammate and good friend Gino Mäder.

"We had good tactics today," Bilbao opens in the flash interview. "The team takes their responsibilities at the right times and we race intelligently. After yesterday we were convinced that today would be for me. Tomorrow and today I thought it would be a perfect moment to dedicate a stage to Gino. The fact that I have now taken my first victory since the Tour de France is very nice."

In the last kilometers Bilbao showed that he has excellent legs. However, Giovanni Aleotti, the overall leader was able to hang on to his wheel. Perhaps the Spaniard could have gone even faster. "At the end I could also go for the leader's jersey, but I wanted the stage win. For the last kilometer I wanted to focus on a good punch. I am very happy that it worked out."

It was not certain for Bilbao that he would get a good start in Slovenia. In fact, he was initially not going to start in Slovenia at all. "The win gives me a lot of confidence towards the Tour. The preparations were not great. I was sick and couldn't go to Suisse. Fortunately, I was able to go to Slovenia as plan B. This is a good guideline for me towards the Tour."