The 30th Tour of Slovenia, the most prestigious road cycling race in the country, will open with a stage in the northeast of the country on 12 June which will take riders through Austria, Hungary and Croatia on the way. The five-day race will also visit Italy and include a climb to the Krvavec ski resort.

Part of the UCI ProSeries, the second tier men's elite road cycling tour, the race has apparently become a permanent fixture in the June slot, as either a warm-up for the Tour de France or an opportunity for riders to follow up on the Giro d'Italia.

The event will feature six UCI World Tour teams - Bahrain-Victorious, Bora-Hansgrohe, EF Education-EasyPost, Jayco-AlUla, UAE Team Emirates and Groupama-FDJ, the organisers told the press in Ljubljana on 27 March.

Although Slovenian superstars Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) will skip the race again, Slovenia will have strong competitors in Matej Mohorič and Matevž Govekar (Bahrain-Victorious) and Luka Mezgec (Jayco-AlUla).

Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates) has said that the chances of his appearance in the Tour of Slovenia are "50-50". "We need to see in what form I will be after the Giro, and then we will decide," the 28-year-old said.

Novak, who will be working for Team Emirates captain Pogačar on the Italian circuit on 4-26 May, is looking forward to the last stage of the Tour of Slovenia from Šentjernej to Novo Mesto, which runs close to his home village.

A climb to Krvavec (pictured) to be the most challenging stage of the Tour of Slovenia. Photo: Robert Hrovat/STA

The race will also feature Slovenian cyclists from the local teams - Adria Mobil, Kranj and Ljubljana Gusto Santic, while the organisers have decided that there will be no Slovenian national team at this year's race.

"We tried to bring the strongest possible competition" the race director Bogdan Fink said, noting that the 840.5-km challenge will feature 12.34 km of cumulative elevation gain, 25% more than in 2022 and 2023.

The first stage will start in Murska Sobota, and on the way to Ormož, the route will visit three neighbouring countries - Austria, Hungary and Croatia.

After the second, Žalec-Rogaška Slatina stage, the third stage from Ljubljana to Nova Gorica will make sure that the race visits all four countries neighbouring Slovenia, crossing into Italy, and providing some answers about the overall winner.

The following stage from Škofljica to the Krvavec ski resort will decide who will take over the green jersey of the best rider and probably keep it also after the last stage from Šentjernej to the traditional finish line in Novo Mesto.

The climb to Krvavec is 11.7 km long with an average incline of 7.7%, while the last 50 km of the last stage is also very diverse, featuring a climb to the increasingly popular Trška Gora in the NE (1.5 km/10.5%).

The record edition of the Tour of Slovenia in terms of the number of cyclists (154) will be broadcast live by Eurosport and the national broadcaster RTV Slovenija, bringing eleven televised hours of elite racing.