17/06/2012

KRISTIJAN KOREN HEROIC HOMECOMING. Victory in the final time trial in the Tour de Slovénie

Second pro win for the Slovenian



The taste of this particular victory is very special for Kristijan Koren. Liquigas-Cannondale’s 25-year-old Slovenian won the time trial in front of a home crowd on the last day of the Tour de Slovénie (17.8 km in the city of Ljubljana). This is Koren’s first win of 2012, and his second since turning pro (GP di Camaiore in 2010, his debut year). His winning time was 20’31”, 1” better than Malori and 17” ahead of Impey (third). Koren finally succeeded in this year’s Tour de Slovénie after placing well in stage three (third on the uphill finish) and stage two (fifth in the sprint finish): results that confirm the great versatility of the green-blue rider. Koren finished third in the general classification behind Brajkovic and Pozzovivo



«I’m really happy because I won in front of my own people and also because I’ve given a strong signal about my condition. » Koren explained. «I felt good after the Tour of California and the Critérium Dauphiné. I was well motivated coming into the Tour de Slovénie and convinced I could produce a good result. The team always believed in me and supported me: I thank them for that. The goal now is to keep up this level of performance. I’ve got the national championships coming up, which will fine-tune me for the Tour de France. I want to get to France in top form so I can help the team to get the best possible result. »



Koren believes being able to produce good performances over different types of terrain is a major added bonus, «I see myself as a good all-rounder and value this quality. I try to improve year after year while still maintaining my acceleration and my resilience on climbs. I can hold my own in a time trial and on a good day like today can even go for the win. Of course the goal is to keep improving and score more satisfying results both in terms of helping the team and winning myself when the chance arises. »