On the third day of the race, the teams and riders from all over the world were welcomed in the spa town of Piešt'any, once again in nice weather. The special guest of the stage was Soudal - Quick-Step general manager Patrick Lefevere, who came to greet his riders.
The stage took the peloton from Piešt'any to Dubnica nad Váhom. The riders were credited with 161 classic kilometres, three mountain and two speed premiums. The cyclists tasted the short climbs of the White Carpathian Mountains and a spurt was expected at the end.
The opening posed the classic question of who would manage to get to the front and collect the premiums. The breakaway formed quickly. The very third or fourth attempt was successful already. This time both two Slovak teams joined and two Slovak riders, which has not happened at this race for years.
Dominik Dunár from Dukla Banská Bystrica, Martin Jurík from Adrie Mobil and Czech rider Tomáš Kalojíros from Slovakian Pierre Baguette team were at the front. They were complemented by Sam Gademan from VolkerWessels and Žiga Horvat from Hrinkow. They were all riders from continental teams, so they didn't pose a big risk for the favoured teams.
Still, they didn't get much that space, Jayco and Soudal only let them in for three minutes. It was a great schooling session for the young Slovaks Dunár and Jurík, though. It was Jurík who won the opening stage in Vrbov. The Slovenian rider Horvat was the first one on Hrubá Strana. Subsequently, he also won the premium at Dúbrava. The last Hrabovka was won by Kalojíros. But it didn't change the fact that Matúš Štoček remained the best climber so far.
Kalojíros also won the final special stage in Lednické Rovne and just after that the peloton caught up with the breakaway. The finish in Dubnica nad Váhom was very attractively designed by the race builder Stanislav Holec and there were technical passages in the last kilometer where the Soudal - Quick-Step team directed it perfectly for the benefit of Julian Alaphilippe and the two-time world champion did everything right to pull it off accordingly on his end. He won for the second time in Slovakia and is now on second position in the overall standings.
Danish stage 2 winner Anders Foldager continues to lead, but now he has only a ten-second lead over Alaphilippe. There has been a change in the Best Slovakian rider competition, where Martin Svrček has been replaced by Lukáš Kubiš. The rider of Elkov - Kasper managed to push himself up among the best riders of today's stage, finishing on fifth position.
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