title: URI removes / from path
body: <p>Good morning everyone. I have the following code:</p>
  <pre><code>String url = &quot;https://example/example/rest/verify/&quot;;
  &lt;!-- It is absolutely necessary that code starts with / --&gt;
  String code = &quot;/gRmaik5E5rUAoJFy7iovg==&quot;;
  
  UriComponentsBuilder builder = UriComponentsBuilder.fromHttpUrl(url).path(code);
  UriComponents components = builder.build(true);
  URI uri = components.toUri();
         
  ResponseEntity&lt;String&gt; response  = new RestTemplate(requestFactory1).exchange(uri, HttpMethod.GET, null, String.class);
  </code></pre>
  <p>The problem is that the uri variable is assigned to the RestTemplate constructor as <code>https://example/example/rest/verify/gRmaik5E5rUAoJFy7iovg==</code>, that is, it removes the initial <code>/</code> from the code variable.</p>
  <p>I would need the url to look like this: <code>https://example/example/rest/verify//gRmaik5E5rUAoJFy7iovg==</code> with two <code>//</code> in the variable code.</p>
  <p>Any requests?</p>