Michael Storer just misses out on Tour of Slovenia's best young rider, finishes fifth overall
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (Ljubljana Gusto Xaurum) grabbed the lead in the young rider classification from Team Sunweb's Storer on the final 21.5 kilometre ITT stage, pipping the Australian by just two seconds. Storer's Aussie teammate Jai Hindley finished third in the classification.
The West Australian took the lead in the young rider's competition after his strong eighth place finish on stage three.
"The team did a really good job to hold onto the overall in the team classification today," Storer said.
"Unfortunately I had some mechanical issues at the beginning which likely affected the overall result. But we can be happy as a team and individually for our efforts this week.”
Storer's fifth place overall was ably supported by Hindley and Sunweb Aussie Chris Hamilton who had a full Giro in his legs as a key domestique for Tom Dumoulin.
Hindley and Hamilton finished 11th and 12th respectively on the final GC.
U23 Giro Ciclistico d'Italia: Robert Stannard wins final stage ITT and finishes third overall
Stannard's stunning time trial victory on the final 22.4 kilometre stage of the 'baby Giro' propelled him from seventh to third overall for his Chinese continental team Mitchelton-BikeExchange. The 19-year-old also took out the points classification of the 10-day race.
“I am really happy with how it went today," he said. "I was seventh at the start of the time trial and to have won the stage and also gained enough time to make the podium and hold onto the point's jersey is fantastic.”
“The team have been great throughout the race and everyone really worked hard for each other and we also showed a lot of trust in each other. I’ve shown in this race that I can climb with the best and if it wasn’t for the one bad day on stage four I could have finished even higher.
“After such a long and tough ten days, it’s great to get the stage win on the last day, I was so tired, and the final climb felt like it would never end, but it couldn’t have ended better.”
Nathan Haas second in Tour de Suisse KOM classification
The Katusha-Alpecin rider finished second in the classification behind Mark Christian (Aqua Blue Sport).
The Canberran also finished third behind Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) on stage two, and on stage six finished second after getting in the break.
"When Andersen was able to ride over the top of us," Haas said after stage seven, "he showed more strength and he was just better in the final. It was all I could do.
“I went through a rough patch with my health in April. With my team doctors and my family, I put a lot of effort into getting back into shape. So for me it’s unreal to be back and feeling this strong.”
Other honourable mentions
- Jack Haig finished 13th overall at the Tour de Suisse, also with a full Giro under the belt
- Cam Myer finished 7th in the final stage ITT of the Tour de Suisse
- We of course reported Sarah Roy's OVO Energy Women's Tour stage win earlier in the week but she finished the Tour in 16th position overall.
