Having already done the Giro d'Italia, Luca Paolini is now preparing for the Tour de France and may even do the Vuelta a Espana later in the season as well. This week he is fine-tuning his condition in the Tour de Slovenie but like two of his Katusha teammates he got his race off to a very bad start when he crashed in yesterday's second stage.

It was a day with a lot of fear for three Katusha riders. Maxim Belkov, Luca Paolini and Alexander Rybakov were riding wheel in wheel on a fast descent some 25 kilometers from the finish when a crash happened. It all went so fast that none of the three could stay upright.

"The three were just going to catch a group of 37 riders, including Pavel Kochetkov, that got away on the first category climb. In the end all three went down. They managed to arrive at the finish but we brought them to the hospital to be sure they were ok. The left leg of Alexander Rybakov especially worried us. He needed some stitches but fortunately no fractures were diagnosed. The same for Luca Paolini and Maxim Belkov. They suffer from multiple abrasions and contusions but should be able to start tomorrow. For Alexander Rybakov we will evaluate tomorrow morning," said Team DirectorClaudio Cozzi.

Stage 2 from Ribnica to Kocevje was won in the sprint by Sonny Colbrelli from Bardiani-CSF. After 161 kilometers Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) finished second and remains the leader in the Tour of Slovenia.

Pavel Kochetkov got his second top ten place of the season and finished 9th. Earlier this season Kochetkov broke his collarbone after a crash in the Tour of Langkawi.

Today’s stage three brings the riders from Rogaška Slatina to Trije Kralji.