Two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar made a winning return from injury on Thursday with a dominant time-trial victory at the Slovenian championships.
The UAE Team Emirates rider was back in action for the first time since suffering a wrist injury in a nasty crash in April.
Pogacar had no such problems in the 15.7km time trial near Lake Bled, beating second-placed Marko Pavlic by a massive five minutes and 14 seconds with a time of 29 minutes and 43 seconds.
“The national championship is good preparation for me and an ideal test before the Tour de France,” he told siol.net ahead of the race.
The 24-year-old will also take part in the 156km road race on Sunday.
Pogacar had been in scintillating form this year before his horrible accident during the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, winning the Paris-Nice stage race and the Tour of Flanders, Fleche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race one-day classics.
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