Race leaders after stage 1 (Velenje - Rogaška Slatina):
Overall: Laurence Pithie (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe)
Points Classification: Laurence Pithie (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe)
Mountain Classification: Tomáš Přidal (Team United Shipping)
Best Young Rider: Tomáš Přidal (Team United Shipping)

Best Slovenian in Rogaška Slatina was Tilen Finkšt (Solution Tech Nippo Rali) in 8th! Congrats!

[Unofficial results] Laurence Pithie (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) is the winner of the first stage of 2026 Tour of Slovenia!

(13km to go) Smaller group is in the front, the rest of the pack can't catch the leaders any more. Minutes away from the finish of the stage.

(25km to go) The break is over, the main peleton has split in several groups with Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe leading the pack. Riders have crossed Rogaška Slatina for the first time, two more finish laps to go!

(28km to go) Half of the breakaway group was caught. Diego Uriarte Belzunegi (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Axel Van Der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi) are still fighting in the front, but the gap is shrinking with every minute.

35.2 km to go. Leaders are 1'20" ahead of the main group. In a little bit more than 10 km the peloton will come to Rogaška Slatina for the first time, then they will do two more laps and race for the stage victory. View from Kristal Observation Tower in Rogaška Slatina will be amazing!

Taj Žagar (Factor Racing) and Alan Banaszek (Wibatech Lubelskie Perła Polski) have crashed on the descent and have abandoned the race. We're keeping our fingers crossed that they will be back on the bike soon!

Tomáš Přidal (Team United Shipping) has won the mountain finish Ješovec pri Šmarju (92.8km) and will wear Lidl jersey tomorrow!

Ješovec pri Šmarju (92.8km) is the only mountain finish of the day. It's category IV climb, only 1.7km long. This will just give a taste of what is ahead of us on the next stages, but it can shake up the situation in the race.