Tour de Slovakia: Julian Alaphilippe attacks in final kilometre and wins stage 3
Paul Magnier takes second ahead of Hamish Beadle

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) won a rain-soaked stage 3 at the Tour de Slovakia. It was a 1-2 for the Soudal-QuickStep team as Paul Magnier took second place, while Hamish Beadle (Novo Nordisk).
Anders Foldager (Jayco AlUla), who won the second stage, finished in a group 16 seconds behind the stage winner, but maintained his overall race lead. Alaphilippe moved up three positions in the GC standings to second, now just 10 seconds back of Foldager heading into stage 4's hilly 183.5km race from Partizánske to Ružomberok on Saturday.
“I am delighted I could keep the tradition going and make it seven consecutive years that we won at least a stage in Okolo Slovenska," aid Alaphilippe after Soudal-QuickStep’s 15th stage victory in Slovakia. "The guys did a fantastic job today, and in the finale, I just felt it was a good opportunity to try something and surprise the others.
"I went all-out and I’m happy I could pull it off. The fact that we finished 1-2 makes it even more beautiful. I made a nice jump in the standings after this win, but I’m not thinking of the GC at the moment."
The third stage at the Tour de Slovakia was a lumpy 161km from Piešťany to Dubnica nad Váhom, which included three categorised ascents at Hruba Stana (0.5km at 5.2%), Dubrava (4.5km at 5.1%), and Hrabovka (1.3km at 5.5%) and nearly 70km of primarily flat roads on the way to the finish in Dubnica nad Váhom.
An early breakaway emerged that included Sam Gademan (VolkerWessels), Žiga Horvat (Hrinkow), Dominik Dunár (Dukla), Tomáš Kalojíros (Pierre Baguette) and Martin Jurík (Adria).
The five riders immediately pushed their lead out to 1:20, and the gap continued to increase to nearly three minutes just 25km into the race.
Horvat picked up the first mountain points over Hruba Stana. Their gap fluctuated but ultimately reached a maximum of 3:25 at the 75km mark as Horvat, again, took the mountain points over the top of the Dubrava ascent.
The skies opened to rain, making the roads slippery, which caused several mid-race crashes.
From the breakaway, Kalojíros took the final mountain points over Hrabovka. They splintered apart on the run-in to Dubnica nad Váhom, and they were all eventually caught at 15km out.
The last kilometre of the course was technical, with a straight final 300 metres to the line, expected to suit a punchy rider.
Soudal-Quickstep moved to the front of the field with three kilometres to go, which served as a launching pad for Alaphilippe to make his winning attack inside the final kilometre and take the stage win.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
'We'll defend the jersey with everything we've got' - Harry Sweeny's return to Tour de France comes with a new job description
Australian was crucial part of key break that put EF Education-EasyPost teammate Ben Healy in position to take race lead -
'I hope he feels tired' – After rest day coffees and a burger, Tadej Pogačar aims to strip Tour de France leader's jersey from Ben Healy
World champion expects short, challenging second week of the Tour de France to speed by -
'If you're going to dream, you might as well dream big' - Ben Healy and EF Education-EasyPost aim high as they defend Tour de France yellow jersey
'I'm just living the dream' Healy says of taking the yellow jersey -
'My body's not really recovering as well as I'd like' – Neilson Powless battling away at Tour de France despite uneven top form
EF Education-EasyPost racer part of stage 10 break that saw teammate Ben Healy take win