With a top 2 in the Tour and victories in the Vuelta and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Slovenia experienced the best cycling year in its history.
So the Slovenians honored their cycling heroes in this holiday season with illuminated and colorful bicycles.
The Tour ended in a battle between two Slovenians. Tadej Pogacar eventually defeated Primoz Roglic after a spectacular final time trial. Roglic then won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Vuelta.
To brighten up the streets in these dark days, the idea arose in Slovenia to place colorful and illuminated bicycles on balconies, public places, in shop windows, on the facades of houses and in gardens.
“We want to pay tribute to our riders and bring a positive note in this crisis period due to the coronavirus,” said Tina Jancigaj Avsec, one of the initiators.
“The bicycles symbolize our movement towards a better future. We also want to promote tourism in our region. 2021 should be a happier year than 2020.”
The 10 most beautiful creations will receive a prize, the initiators already promised.
Bicycles are actually placed as a symbol of resistance against government of prime minister Jansa and his extreme right wind party SDS established right at the beginning of 1st corona wave in spring. He is a populist leader known by prematurely congratulate Trump on re-election and beside North Korea leader the only prime minister on the world still not congratulating new president elected Biden. He is demolishing democracy in relatively young country and his role mode is neighboring Hungary prime minister Orban. Protests on bicycles (in order to keep social distance) were massive during whole summer and were fading in second corona wave where Slovenia is having the highest number of deaths per capita for two months in a row. Therefore bicycles as a New Year installation are actually a new way of expression support to the opposition sociality.