With support from Pogacar and many others: brother Ivo furious, Rui Oliveira ignores relegation and celebrates victory

On day one, Groenewegen struck immediately: after being set up perfectly by his Jayco AlUla team, the Dutchman kept his cool to seal the victory. This also gave the sprinter the first leader's jersey, and it looked difficult to keep that jersey on day two. Between the start in Velenje and the finish in Rogaska Slatina, the organizers had mapped out a 162.7-kilometer course, which included several climbs. The Celsjka koca (7.8 kilometers at 6.3%) was a serious climb, although the top was more than 90 kilometers from the finish.

Just like the day before, Christen picked a spot for the early breakaway. The Swiss rider from Q36.5 was joined by home riders Mihael Stajnar and Teo Pecnik, Spaniard Diego Uriarte, and Italian Andrea Piras. The five were given a maximum lead of just over five minutes by the peloton, with the sprinters' teams once again taking control of the pack.

However, halfway through the stage, that control was suddenly gone. The peloton broke up on the climb, and Groenewegen missed the move. Jayco AlUla had some work to do, while in the first peloton, Lidl-Trek and Bahrain Victorious tried to keep the gap intact for Teutenberg and Bauhaus.

Suddenly, it was full-on racing with more than 70 kilometers to go to the finish. All this took its toll on the leaders' advantage, and we quickly saw the breakaway group fall apart. Uriarte decided to go it alone, while Pecnik was the first to be caught by the chasing peloton.

After all the remaining breakaway riders had been caught, we could gradually conclude that Groenewegen would no longer be in contention for the stage victory and would lose his leader's jersey. The gap remained around one and a half minutes for a long time, while at the front, the UAE Emirates-XRG and Lidl-Trek peloton were riding well.

The pace set by UAE, among others, eventually caused Juan Sebastian Molano to drop out. Lidl-Trek continued to push hard at the front, causing the first group to thin out more and more. With some tricky hills still to come in the final, we were in for a very exciting finish. We saw acceleration after acceleration, resulting in a leading group that included Taco Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), Sjoerd Bax and Christen (both Q36.5), Rui Oliveira and Felix Grossschartner (both UAE Emirates-XRG).

With seven riders in front, we entered the final lap. With a lead of three-quarters of a minute, the victory would go to one of the seven riders at the front. In addition to the five riders mentioned above, the young Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) and Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) were also in contention. It was difficult to predict the winner, although Oliveira, Christen, and Johannessen looked the fastest on paper.

Bax tried a late attack with 1.3 kilometers to go but to no avail. So, it was time to wait for the sprint. Christen was the first to launch his sprint, but Oliveira overtook him. A gesture from Christen towards the Portuguese rider did not prevent the UAE rider from winning the stage. The Swiss rider from Q36.5 took the leader's jersey, while Geoghegan Hart and Grossschartner made an important move in the GC. They gained just under a minute on their rivals for the overall victory.

As it turned out, Christen's gesture was justified. The organization relegated Oliveira back to sixth place in the day's results, as they felt he had deviated too much from his line. This was a double blow for the Swiss rider from Q36.5: in addition to the leader's jersey, he also lost the stage victory. It was a painful afternoon for Oliveira, who had already celebrated his victory extensively with his twin brother Rui

The same twin brother responded to the disqualification via X. "If you decide from now on to disqualify someone by this move, cycling is over," he said angrily. "You can start relegate everyone because everyday and in every sprint something like this and even WORST happen and nobody is dsq." New stage winner Christen spoke briefly about the incident in a press release from Q36.5. "I started my sprint early because I was in the wind. In the final, Oliveira touched me and that stopped me from sprinting to the line."

Rui Oliveira himself eventually posted on Instagram. "This is it for me. I crossed the finish line first, with my hands in the air. I've been chasing this victory for seven years, and no one can take this moment and these photos away from me. After a difficult year, it was hard to believe that I won, and that's all I have to say about today. It was a special day, despite everything. I'll keep fighting for it." Tadej Pogacar replied under the post: "Proud of you, brother. For me, it was a clear victory, well deserved."