Slovenian Luka Mezgec will race with Mitchelton-SCOTT for the next two years, an exciting period for the 32-year-old that will provide a mix of personal opportunities and a return to lead-out duties.
A Giro d’Italia stage winner and multiple stage winner at week-long races such as Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, Tour de Pologne, Tour of Beijing and the Tour of Slovenia, Mezgec made his debut at the Tour de France in 2020 and twice came agonisingly close to a coveted victory, winning select bunch sprints behind a solo escapee.
His performance cemented his ability on the world’s biggest stage but with the return of Michael Matthews to the Australian outfit, it also presents an opportunity for Mezgec to return to a lead-out role.
Mezgec, who’s 2021-2022 contract will take his time with Mitchelton-SCOTT to seven years, previously performed the role for Caleb Ewan and is excited about the opportunity to take it up once again, with Matthews’ return to the team an extra motivation for Mezgec to re-sign.
Luka Mezgec:
“My last five years was like a dream to be a professional cyclist and all this was because of the relationships we have here between each other – devotion, work ethics, freedom and trust. We push each other’s limits and we are doing this with having a lot of fun in the process.
“I really had a lot of fun at my first Tour de France. The team backed me up really well and surely those bittersweet second places gave me confirmation that I can compete with the best on any race, no matter the name of it.
“Signing Bling (Matthews) was really good information for me, because I was always hoping to do some more lead-outs in my career. With Caleb I found this role really fascinating and many times as a sprint train we delivered him smooth in the final 200m. To be there, making quick decisions on the road with a sprinter attached on your wheel is one of the greater feelings I have had in cycling.
“We are both decent climbers so on trickier courses we will have more cards to play in the finals now. This is how I can have my own chances in the next two years. When race is open in the hard finals we can play on each other’s attacks to benefit us.
“Overall I’m just looking forward for the next two years knowing that we’ll have a blast out there.”
Matt White – Head Sport Director:
“What we can take out of this year’s Tour de France is that Luka is a class act. The performances that he made at this year’s Tour were very, very impressive.
“Luka is continuing to get better and better and I think he is going to take a lot of confidence out of the Tour in particular, but this year in general.
“He is a guy that has been with this team for a long time and he is a really integral part of the chemistry of this organisation, so for him to continue is one bonus and with the arrival of Bling, the match and the extension is an exciting one.”
“I think the combination with Luka and Bling next year is going to be a really good one. I think they will complement each other well, I think a lot of the races that we will target with Bling next year, Luka will be there at crunch moments. But also when we go with them as a combination together, in certain tactical ways they are a formidable two-pronged attack.”
Luka Mezgec
Date of Birth: 27 June 1988 (32)
Nationality: Slovenia
Joined Mitchelton-SCOTT: 2016
New Contract: 2021-2022
Top results:
– 1st 2014 Giro d’Italia – Stage 21
– 3x stage winner at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
– 2x stage winner at Tour de Pologne
– 2x stage winner at Tour of Beijing
– 2nd 2020 Tour de France – Stage 14 & 19
