The Slovenian sensation struck his stride with 18 kilometres to go, leaving Belgian Florian Vermeersch behind. With an 18-second lead, Matej got even more ahead of the Belgian 14 kilometres before the finish due to a mechanical failure, growing the gap to 30″. From then on, with no idea of the lead, Matej opened it up further on the brutal climb of the day to the Collagu. The 1.7km climb with an average of 11.8% gave Matej a 43″ lead. But with no radio to know the lead to the nearest rider, he descended in classic Matej style.
Matej rode on to the finish and looked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Vermeersch. He crashed with 3 kilometres to go, but luckily the Slovenian was back on his bike within seconds to ride solo to victory.
Matej Mohorič: ‘I’m super proud of this performance. The feeling is great. I had one of the best days on the bike; I enjoyed it so much! The course today was beautiful. If I tried it myself, I couldn’t do better: it was super technical, sharp and steep climbs, and it suited me perfectly. It hurt my legs, but I was happy; my mind was super happy.
Congratulations also to Florian and Connor. They were also super strong, but I took advantage of the weight to my advantage on the climbs.
I believed in it from the start. The more I came through selections, the more I felt I had good legs and I knew the final very well, as I estimated the last 40 kilometres. I only cut a corner in the final, going around it on the track in the recon, but that was not a good idea and I slipped. I stayed calm. I didn’t panic because I knew I had a small lead. Today I really enjoyed myself!’
