Marko Kump won 5th edition of GP Adria Mobil

185 kilometers long race with four bigger climbs (Brezovica, Vahta and twice to Gabrje) was actually quite calm, except for the rain that made conditions very hard for the riders. Four riders escaped quickly after the start of the race, but the main peloton with Adria Mobil Cycling in charge had the race under control. Breakaway was dominated by Australian Benjamin Hill (Ljubljana Gusto Santic) and Czech Matej Zahálka (Elkov Author), each of them took one mountain prime, and also Slovenian Nik Čemažar (Cycling club Kranj). But Adria Mobil’s team couldn’t let that turn into success, they were racing with only one possible outcome in mind – Marko Kump’s victory.

Breakaway riders were caught ahead of the last three laps around the city of Novo mesto, by that time the front of the race changed in the group of about 40 cyclists. Pace was stronger with each of the three laps, with Adria Mobil taking full control of the race. Award came on the end of the very last lap with fantastic victory of local hero Marko Kump!

Marko Kump, Adria Mobil Cycling: “Race was anything but easy, despite it might have looked differently. Our riders did amazing job today and controlled the race from start to finish and raced absolutely fantastic in the very last kilometers. They are the ones that made this victory possible.
This is our home race and the success on this race is a must, which created a lot of pressure. Especially since I was considered the first favorite and everybody expected the victory. I tried to put that in the back of my mind and focus on the race. I must admit I felt relief after crossing the finish line and taking another victory.”

Adria Mobil’s Sports Director Branko Filip was of course overwhelmed after another victory, in fact this was team’s second victory of the day – earlier on Dušan Rajović won on the Austrian cup race. Branko Filip said: “Everybody knew that we’re the organizers and the main favorites. They also know that Marko is in good form and the team is working very good. This created additional pressure, especially towards the last climbs when Marko came to me and said that he might not have the strength for the last climbs. In that case team would wait for him, but it wasn’t necessary – he and the whole team did a fantastic job!”

David Per completed Adria Mobil’s success with fourth place. But two remaining places on the podium went to Czech Republic and Austria thanks to František Sisr (Elkov Author) in Avstrijec Daniel Auer (Maloja Pushbikers). Slovenians Jaka Primožič (Cycling club Kranj) and Matic Grošelj (Ljubljana Gusto Santic) were fifth and sixt.

Race director is usually the one that has the last words on this race, and let’s not break that tradition. Bogdan Fink is happy with how everything finished: “Fifth international cycling race Grand Prix Adria Mobil was another success. We did have some rain, but that didn’t cause problems to the organization and we also had just a couple of mild crashes. After 2015 we can again celebrate a Slovenian victory and general success of the Slovenian riders, which is always nice.”

Results (top-20)
Full results

Adria Mobil Cycling
Photography: Vid Ponikvar, Sportida