3:30 at Sežana 180,4 km. Only 25 minutes separates the top five after five hours of racing! The top five riders are the top five finishers in 2008. ROBIč Jure 5 hours 6 minutes 35,90 kph; BALOH Marko 5:10:00 35,44; RATSCHOB Thomas 5:12:00 35,21; PRIMC Gregor 5:20:00 34,33; STRASSER Christoph 5:31:00 33,19

The next 15 riders are only separated by 32 minutes. Favorites Bartik, Virag and Biasiolo are very much in the race. BARTIK Patrik 5:43:00 32,03 STEINBERGER Bernhard 5:44:00 31,94 FUCHS Eduard 5:45:00 31,84 MARKEZ John 5:55:00 30,95 LAPANJA Matevz 5:56:00 30,86 BAYER Sandi 6:02:00 30,35 VASSALLO Marco 6:04:00 30,18 SEVIC Peter 6:08:00 29,85 VIRAG Fredi 6:11:00 29,61 STIGL Rudi 6:12:00 29,53 BIASIOLO Fabio 6:12:00 29,53 RIHTARIC David 6:13:00 29,45 PERCIC Tomaz 6:13:00 29,45 ANDOLJSEK Franci 6:14:00 29,37 LANGHI Paolo 6:15:00 29,30

The race is 1,182 km around the perimeter of Slovenia and has almost 10,000 meters of climbing. The race starts in southcentral Slovenia, heads southeast to the Adriatic sea, north and then west through the mountains along Austria, south along the Hungarian border and then southwest along the Croatian border back to the start/finish.
Race Map

The race has an extensive list of sponsors and pays 5,000 € ($6,675) in cash prizes to the top three in each division. Men: 1500 €, 1000 €, 500 €; Women: 1000 €, 600 €, 400 €.

5:18. The three women, Sabrina Bianchi, Hanka Ebertova, and Caroline van den Bulk are within 15 minutes of each other at km 224 in Gorica, with Ebertova in the lead. Ebertova and van den Bulk are already RAAM qualified.

Two riders have dropped.

7:21:45 / Robič fell badly when crossing the bridge over Tolminka at 342.8 km. Officials have warned other riders to be very careful of the slippery surface

10:53 Robič is the first through TS#4 in 13:59 race time (32.2 kph), Baloh is 21 minutes back, then Ratschob +53, Strasser +1:12, Primc +1:08. On the road Strasser is ahead of Primc; however, he has received a 15 minute penalty for riding without his vehicle. Strasser's vehicle broke down, he's currently racing with the vehicle from the Austrian film crew; Robic has offered him his spare vehicle.

13:11 About 20 racers are on the Pass Vršič, the highest point of the race (1,611 meters), with about two feet of snow.

15:22 In the women's race van den Bulk was third at TS# 2, 13 minutes behind Ebertova and 10 minutes behind Bianchi. She managed to overtook both competitors on the ascent to Predmeja and was 53 minutes ahead of Bianchi and 1:27 ahead of Ebertova. Van den Bulk already passed TS# 4 in Javornik, while Bianchi and Ebertova have just begun the climb to Vršič.

15:49 The first five riders are through TS#5 (Radmirje, 544.1 km). Robic 17:20 / 31.5 km/h, Baloh + 44 / 30.2; Ratschob +1:28 / 29.1; Primc +1:37 / 28.8; Strassser +1:52 ; 28.8.

Van den Bulk is building her lead over the other women; she went through TS#4 (Slovenski Javornik, 451.2 km) in 20:08 / 22.4 km/h. Ebertova +1:15 / 21.1; Bianchi +1:49 / 20.5.

19:55 “Robič is constantly gaining advantage and is dictating his own devilish tempo like always.” —RAS website. Robič was the first rider through TS#6 in Kamnica (661.7 km) in 20:53 with Baloh 50 minutes back. Ratschob and Strasser arrived at TS#6 together 1:50 behind Robic; however, Strasser also has a 15 minute penalty.

23:30 Robič has passed through TS# 7 in Moravske Toplice (785.2 km) on the flattest part of the route. He reached TS# 7 in 24:54 / 31.6 km/h. Baloh is the only other rider to reach TS# 7 +1:34 / 29.7.

Biasiolo is moving up; between TS# 5 and TS# 6 he advanced from 16th to 12th

Van den Bulk reached TS# 5 in 25:29 / 21.4 km/h; Ebertova is the second woman +2:20 / 19.6.

Erik Rosenstein, racing in sixth place, is the first rider not already qualified for RAAM. He reached TS# 6 in 1:00:30 / 27.1 km/h. Currently there are eight riders with +15% of his time—if they maintain their relative positions they'll qualify for RAAM. Last year Gregor Primc set the qualifying mark with a fine ride. Primc, only 24 then, finished fifth overall in 46:33. Besides Primc only Andreas Dengler (age 40) and Marko Kopac (53) qualified for RAAM.

Eleven riders have dropped. Mirko Zver, who dropped at 3:50, came by race headquarters this evening with much appreciated pancakes and strudel!

23:57. Strasser got off course. He's back on the route but has dropped to fourth place.

Saturday, May 9
2:21 Robič reached TS# 8 in Šmarje pri Jelšah (906.7 km) in 29:27 / 30.9 km/h Robič is about 50 minutes ahead of last year's pace. He's having a very good race and enjoying favorable winds. In 2008 he finished the 1182 km (734.6 miles) in 40:29 / 29.2 km/h (18.2 mph). At this pace he'll finish about 11:00 local time in Postojna (5 a.m. EDT).

4:08 Baloh is the only other rider to reach TS #8 Šmarje pri Jelšah so far + 1:51 / 29.1 km/h.

At TS# 7 the order was: Robič 24:54 / 31.6 km/h; Baloh +1:34 / 29.7; Ratschob +2:43 / 28.5; Strasser +3:13 / 28.2; Primc +3:14 / 28.0.

After Primc there is a gap of over 2.5 hours to Rosenstein in sixth place; he is setting the RAAM qualifying pace.

Biasiolo has moved up to 10th place, + 7:52 / 24.0.

5:11 Strasser has passed Ratschob and arrives at TS#8 in 32:15; Ratschob arrived eight minutes later. However, because of Strasser's 15-minute penalty he is behind Ratschob in the standings. Ratschob is 2:56 behind Robič, averaging 28.1 km/h; Strasser is +3:04 / 28.2 km/h.

5:24 Two more riders have dropped.

5:26 Primc arrives at TS#8 just 17 minutes behind Ratschob and only nine minutes behind Strasser

5:44 Van den Bulk came through TS# 6 in 31:04 / 21.3 km/h. Ebertova and Bianchi haven't reached TS# 6 yet.

Saturday Results
13:06 Juré Robič finished in 40:12 / 29.5 km/h, 17 minutes faster than last year.

15:05 Almost a sprint finish for second! Thomas Ratschob finished in 42:00 / 28.3 km/h. Gregor Primc was just six minutes behind: 42:06 / 28.2 km/h. Great performance by both racers. Ratschob cut three hours off his 2008 time and Primc cut over four hours off.

Baloh was in second place at TS# 10 Črnomelj (1,062.1 km) but fell to fourth by TS# 11.

17:20 Marko Baloh finished in fourth in 42:55 / 27.7 km/h. Christoph Strasser took fifth in 44:43 / 26.7 km/h. Strasser is a very strong rider, but was hurt by the loss of his support vehicle and a penalty for riding without a support vehicle and then getting lost.

18:23 Bernhard Steinberger passed Erik Rosenstein Saturday morning en route to TS# 8 and was the first non-qualified rider to finish. He reached Postojna in 45:49 / 25.9 km/h. To qualify for RAAM riders need to finish in 52:41 or less.

20:04 So far three more riders have qualified after Steinberger: Erik Rosenstein, seventh overall in 47:09 / 25.2 km/h; Matevž Lapanja eighth in 47:59 / 24.7 and Eduard Fuchs tenth in 48:03:30. Fuchs finished just 30 seconds behind Fabio Biasiolo who took ninth. Lapanja is a local favorite and had a bit of a disadvantage—he was racing with the 2008 route book!

19:33 In the women's race van den Bulk came through TS# 9 in 48:21 / 20.1 km/h. At TS# 8 Bianchi was 4:45 behind van den Bulk. Ebertova hasn't reached TS#8 yet—at TS#7 she was 5:41 behind van den Bulk and her average speed was 2.5 km/h slower than van den Bulk.

23:42 Two more riders have finished and qualified for RAAM: Tomaž Perčič in 50:52 / 23.1 km/h and Marko Fon in 51:10 / 23.2 km/h.

Sunday Results
4:14 Eleven more competitors finished the race during the night: Jean Marc Velez 13th, David Rihtarič 14th, Alexander Vonbank 15th, Janez Pirnar 16th, Patrick Hager 17th, Paolo Langhi 18th, Miran Modic 19th, Patrik Bartik 20th, Sandi Bayer 21st, Mitja Smreker 22nd and Zvonko Hasemali 23rd.

Alexander Vonbank, 51, won the new age 50+ division and also qualified for RAAM with a time of 54:25. He set the qualifying mark for 50+ racers, his time +15% or 62:24:45. Janez Pirnar (50) who finished just eight minutes behind Vonbank and Zvonko Hasemali (50) who finished in 56:54 have also qualified for RAAM.

4:52 Van den Bulk reached TS# 10 in 53:45 and has just 220 km to go. Bianchi was seven hours behind van den Bulk at TS# 9 and Ebertova was 8.5 hours back.

5:24 Dušan Dundek (50) finished in 58:06 and qualified for RAAM.

   

Preview
The Race Around Slovenia RAAM Qualifier on May 7 draws a stellar field of 60 riders. The 2009 racers include RAAM veterans Marko Baloh, Hanka Ebertova, Juré Robič, Caroline van den Bulk, Jean Marc Velez and Fredi Viraq. Christoph Strasser, who finished second to Robič last year, is racing RAS as part of his RAAM 2009 preparation, as are Baloh and Velez. Van den Bulk was the 2008 World Cup champion; RAS is the second race in her 2009 World Cup campaign.

Other familiar European racers include Rico Hugues, Thomas Ratschob, Team RAAM veteran Tomaz Percic, Gregor Primc and Patrick Bartik.

The race starts in the evening of May 7 in Postojna. After 1,182 km (734 miles) and almost 10,000 meters of climbing the riders finish in Postojna.

Racers will head southeast to Crnik Kal with great views of Adriatic sea and Slovenian coast. The riders will pass through Koper, which is the major port of Slovenia. Racers continue north and then east through the mountainous region adjoining Austria. The climb to the 1611-meter pass Vrsic is demanding, full of steep and short bends; this is the highest point of RAS! The competitors climb another steep pass to Crnivec (904 m). Leaving the mountains the racers continue northeast along the Austrian border. Turning southeast the racers will enjoy the Panonske flats, the flattest part of Slovenia. They'll continue southward near the Hungarian border and then southwest over undulating terrain near the Croatian border. Riders reach Brezice, the most southern point. Turning west they are challenged by one of the longest ascents over Gorjanci Mountain, although it is not steep. Continuing through rolling terrain riders then face the Sodrazica climb over the Bloke massif on the way to the finish.

The race is tough—last year 13 riders DNF'd out of a field of 50. Race Director Andrej Berginc and his volunteers run a strict race. Using rules very similar to RAAM, in 2008 they gave four penalties for running stop signs and handed out three warnings.

Story of the 2008 Race Around Slovenia RAAM Qualifier

Race Around Slovenia, 1,182 km
World Cup event with 4.0 Difficulty Points
Qualifier for the Race Across AMerica
May 7, 2009
Postojna, Slovenia
Website for Race Around Slovenia
E-mail Andrej Berginc, Race Director    andrej.berginc @ studioproteus.si

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