Bauhaus wins 2nd stage at Tour of Slovenia

Hot on the heels of Torstein Traeen’s emotional stage win at the Tour de Suisse, Phil Bauhaus sprinted to the win in the 2nd stage of the Tour of Slovenia, scoring the next win for Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS. The German sprinter capped off a strong performance by his teammates.

At the end of the opening stage of the Tour of Slovenia, Phil Bauhaus had to settle for 3rd place. Despite a nasty cat2 climb halfway into its route, the 2nd stage of the race looked like another opportunity for the fast men. But a number of teams that did not have strong sprinters in their line-up for this five-stage race upped the pace significantly on that climb in a bid to eliminate pure sprinters. A number of big names got distanced, but Phil Bauhaus managed to get back to a visibly reduced peloton right after the descent. From there Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS did its share to keep the speed up and any sprinters from returning on the mostly flat approach to the finish.

Despite miserable weather conditions and some sections on narrow alleys, the team managed to pull this off with a strong collective performance. Thus the stage ended in a sprint decision of a group of about 80 riders in Rogaska Slatina. As the last lead-out Nikias Arndt dropped Phil Bauhaus off on the rear wheel of Alberto Dainese. From there Bauhaus kept a cool head and chose the perfect moment to get out of the slipstream and dash towards the finish line with a powerful acceleration to cross it first. This was the second victory of the season for Phil Bauhaus and the 7th win for Team BAHRAN VICTORIOUS. Bauhaus also moved into the lead on GC and in the points standings.

At the Tour de Suisse, the riders of Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS could not repeat the stellar performance of the day before when Torstein Traeen had won the mountain stage finishing atop the Gotthard Pass. At least Finlay Pickering could support team captain Wout Poels on the final ascent of the tough stage from Ambri to Cari, limiting the time loss somewhat.  

RESULTS:
30TH TOUR OF SLOVENIA, STAGE 2: ZALEC - ROGASKA SLATINA, 177.9KM
1. Phil Bauhaus, GER/TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS, in 4:26.08 hours
2. Alberto Dainese, ITA, st
3. Luka Mezgec, SVN, st

Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency