The 32nd edition of the Tour of Slovenia got underway with a 141.3-kilometre stage from Velenje to Rogaška Slatina. The opening stage looked on paper to be a day suited for the fast men, but the race was turned on its head by Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe in the final 30 kilometres as the pace increased and the peloton split apart. Edoardo Zambanini responded well to remain in the front group and was rewarded with 3rd place in the sprint behind Laurence Pithie and Arne Marit, both of Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe, giving Bahrain Victorious a podium result on the opening day of the race.

Edoardo Zambanini said after the race:

“I was feeling good throughout the race. The race exploded over the last 30 kilometres with the Bora riders. Today’s strategy was to sprint with Alberto. Then we were left with a small group at the front, so we decided to go for the sprint with me. With 300 metres to go, I was in a good position, but then I almost crashed because I moved to the left and the riders in front also moved to the left. I had to brake hard and then restart my sprint, which cost me a lot of speed. But in the end it was okay. I was feeling good and I am satisfied with the result. For the first day, we are happy.”

Sports Director Borut Božič said:

“Our plan was to sprint today with Alberto. We knew that Bora had a strong team and that the final wasn’t so easy. We were also prepared for the possibility that they could make a selection at the end of the race, but we were happy that we still had a good number of riders in the front group of around 40 riders. Zambanini did everything exactly as we asked him to do. In recent weeks he has been very strong, especially in this type of bunch sprint finish. He did his job well. He could perhaps have sprinted a little differently after being boxed in with around 300 metres to go, but we are happy with his result and with the performance of the whole team.”