Third day held the status of the queen stage. Peloton needed to cover 172 kilometres through mountains of Veľká Fatra. In the first half of the stage, there were three first category climbs of Vrch Varta, Príslop and Zázrivá-Havrania. On top of Príslop there was Matej Lacz prize awaiting for the first rider, because it was the highest point of this year's Tour of Slovakia.
The fourth and final hill of the day, short but steep Beliansky kopec, was then located just nine kilometres from the finish line in city of Martin. Therefore, the differences in the peloton could be expected and today was instrumental for the general classification standings.
The start of the stage was delayed by 25 minutes because one of the squads was late for the start. After the race started from city of Ružomberok, there was intermediate sprint right away and Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma) was the first rider to cross the line and take points and bonification seconds, right ahead of Matúš Štoček (ATT Investments).
First ascent of the day was controlled by the team Jumbo-Visma. Their rider Milan Vader, leader of the mountain classification, could therefore take the maximum points at the top.
In the descent, the day's breakaway was created. It consisted of Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ), Andrea Pietrobon (EOLO-Kometa), Aljaž Jarc (Adria Mobil), Jiří Petruš (ATT Investments) and Matěj Záhalka (Elkov - Kasper).
The peloton controlled them tightly. Their maximum advantage of the day was around two minutes. Intermediate sprints in Dolný Kubín and Martin were won by Le Gac, Záhalka and Pietrobon took the mountain sprints in Príslop and Zázrivá-Havrania respectively.
As was expected, the stage was decided on Beliansky Kopec. Break have been caught and Milan Vader put in a huge attack splitting the peloton to multiple groups. In a chaotic descent, the group of eight was made, from which Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) attacked on the flat in closing kilometres.
Swiss rider was followed by race leader Cavagna, Andrea Bagioli (2x Soudal - Quick-Step) and Michele Gazzoli (Astana Qazaqstan). This group made it to the finish in Martin and the sprint was won by Andrea Bagioli, ahead of Gazzoli and Küng.
Rémi Cavagna held on the yellow jersey and extended his lead in front of now second Stefan Küng to 2:20. He also leads the points classification. Milan Vader and Colby Simmons remained in polka-dotted and white jerseys respectively, while Lukáš Kubiš (Dukla Banská Bystrica) took over the best Slovak rider classification.
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