There's no two without three for Paul Magnier at the Okolo Slovenska. Thanks to yet another effortless sprint, the French sprinter from Soudal Quick-Step has won the third stage of the Slovak stage race, the 191.7-kilometer Kežmarok-Banská Bystrica, after already claiming the previous two stages.

As in previous days, the 2004-born rider from Laredo beat the local hero Lukas Kubis (Unibet Tietema Rockets), who wearing the national champion's jersey, secured his third consecutive second-place finish behind the Frenchman.

Taking the third spot on the podium today was Matthew Walls (Groupama-FDJ Continental Team), while Alessio Delle Vedove (XDS-Astana) secured his second top ten finish in three days of racing in Slovakia with an eighth-place finish.

THE RACE. After a cautious start, Thomas Gloag (Visma Lease a Bike) was the first to stir things up, launching a solo attack after 36 kilometers. On the Popová 2nd category climb, he was initially followed by Riccardo Lucca (Karcag Cycling EPKAR Team), Rémi Daumas (Groupama-FDJ Continental Team), Pawel Bernas (Mazowsze Serce Polski), Arnaud Tissières (Solution Tech-Vini Fantini), and Jasper Haest (VolkerWessels), who however, unable to create significant gaps, were quickly reabsorbed by the peloton. Ten kilometers later, Rémi Daumas (Groupama-FDJ Development), Martin Voltr (ATT Investments), and Bernas (Mazowsze) tried again: the three, finding a good understanding, progressively approached the lone breakaway until he decided to wait for them. After 70 kilometers, a four-rider breakaway formed, reaching up to 2'45" advantage over a group that then, under the pace set by Soudal Quick-Step and Jayco-AlUla riders, decided to match the pace of the leaders to prevent their margin from expanding further. After passing the 3rd category Chorepa and the 1st category Sedlo Prašivá, where Voltr took the mountain classification leadership, the peloton increased the pace, bringing the gap under 1'30" to the breakaway, who were caught just after the Raticov vrch climb. However, the group remained compact for only 8 kilometers as Rick Ottema (Diftar Continental Cyclingteam) and Oscar Nilsson-Julien (Groupama-FDJ Continental Team) broke away at 32 kilometers from the finish, quickly gaining a minute on the peloton. Once again, Soudal Quick-Step took charge of closing the gap, an operation completed successfully at 7 kilometers from the finish, also thanks to the support of Unibet Tietema Rockets riders. As in the previous two days, it was again a group sprint that decided the stage, with Magnier emerging victorious, brilliantly launched by Van Gestel, leaving Kubis and Walls behind.

The Frenchman, accumulating more and more bonus seconds, is now the clear leader of the general classification. Tomorrow he will have the chance to complete a four-stage sweep in the Vráble-Sládkovičovo (169.1 km), a simple and completely flat stage, followed on Sunday by the final stage with a summit finish at Kohútka, which will decide the overall winner of the general classification.

STAGE RESULTS

1. Paul Magnier (FRA/Soudal-Quick Step) - 4:32:13

2. Lukáš Kubis (SVK/Unibet Tietema Rockets) - s.t.

3. Matthew Walls (GBR/Groupama-FDJ Continental) - s.t.

4. Milan Menten (BEL/Lotto) - s.t.

5. Tilen Finkst (SLO/Adria Mobil) - s.t.

6. Eliott Boulet (FRA/Groupama-FDJ Conti) - s.t.

7. Marcin Budzinski (POL/ATT Investments) - s.t.

8. Alessio Delle Vedove (ITA/XDS-Astana Dev.) - s.t.

9. Adam Bittman (CZE/Elkov-Kasper) - s.t.

10. Dominik Neuman (CZE/ATT Investments) - s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Paul Magnier (FRA/Soudal-Quick Step) - 11:43:12

2. Lukáš Kubis (SVK/Unibet Tietema Rockets) at 0:15

3. Thomas Gloag (GBR/Visma-Lease a Bike) at 0:28

4. Pawel Bernas (POL/Mazowsze Serce Polski) at 0:28

5. Milan Menten (BEL/Lotto) at 0:29

6. Matthew Walls (GBR/Groupama-FDJ Conti) at 0:29

7. Matúš Stocek (SVK/Elkov-Kasper) at 0:30

8. Oscar Nilsson-Julien (GBR/Groupama-FDJ Conti) at 0:30

9. Andrea Raccagni Noviero (ITA/Soudal-Quick Step) at 0:31

10. Jasper Haest (NED/VolkerWessels) at 0:31

OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS

Points Classification: Paul Magnier (FRA/Soudal-Quick Step)

Mountain Classification: Martin Voltr (CZE/ATT Investments)

Young Rider Classification: Paul Magnier (FRA/Soudal-Quick Step)