Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) took a narrow overall victory in Friday's Tour de Pollogne and announced that he will donate his prize money to a charity that helps victims of the flash floods in Slovenia.

After heavy rainfall overnight, parts of Slovenia were hit by heavy flooding earlier today, submerging several towns, destroying buildings, and making many roads impassable. Communication networks were severely damaged, the rains are expected to continue, and it is not yet clear how many lives were lost.

Mohoric, who had tied with Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) before Friday's final flat stage to Krakow, defeated his Portuguese rival in the intermediate sprint and eventually won the Tour de Pollogne by one second.

However, despite speaking positively about the race at the press conference, Mohoric made it clear that his thoughts were elsewhere in the wake of news of the massive flooding currently affecting his country.

As Mohoric noted, the battle could not have been closer, but he managed to get the better of Almeida in the intermediate sprint showdown. He won stage 2 in Carpaz, finished second to Almeida in the uphill sprint of Bielsko Viala, and also outpaced Almeida in the intermediate sprint of stage 7.

But by dominating on each occasion, albeit by painfully narrow margins, the Slovenian moved one step closer to the overall win. If I had been a bike length slower in that sprint, I would have lost the race. I have nothing but gratitude for my teammates.

"After what happened this morning, my heart is with all the people in Slovenia who lost their homes and lives in the floods. It was a horrible event and it was very difficult to concentrate on the race."

"As soon as I return to Slovenia, I will donate all my race winnings to charity and try to help as much as I can financially.

"Of course, I can't fight the floods or directly help the firefighters. But my heart is with all those who are suffering right now."

When asked by a reporter about the final stage, the final showcase of the GC battle between Almeida and Mohoric took place in the intermediate sprint at km 67.5, with time bonuses of 3, 2, and 1 second.

A finish ahead of Mohoric would have been enough to tip the overall balance to Almeida. But Mohoric, who held a lead of several hundredths of a second in Thursday's Katowice time trial, successfully fended off Almeida's attempts to regain enough time to win GC in the intermediate sprint.

"I had planned for that sprint for quite some time," Mohoric told reporters after winning the battle with Almeida.

"We knew that the UAE would take their chances.

"But it was a little bit obvious that Almeida was not the favorite to win that sprint. It was a tricky approach. So we all knew what we had to do and executed it perfectly."

"[Lead-out man and teammate] Andrea Pasqualone took me out to 50 meters, and I was able to get a good start.