Paul Magnier won his third consecutive stage at the Tour of Slovakia after another perfectly-executed sprint lead out from Soudal-QuickStep.
The talented 21-year-old French rider has now won 14 races and nine just in 2025, again using his powerful sprint on the high-speed finish after his teammates rode to control the attacks and lead the sprint.
Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets) repeated in second for a third time with Britain's Matthew Walls (Groupama-FDJ) third.
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Magnier also took bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint and so extended his overall race lead.
"It's super nice for me and the team. We again did an amazing job," Magnier said after Soudal-QuickStep celebrated together.
"It was hard to control the race at the start on steep climb but then Josef Černý did a good job. We controlled the later attacks and there were three of us in the final metres and that made my sprint easier.
"It's nice to take three wins in a row, I did it in the Tour of Britain last year and so it means the shape is really good.
"I hope to win again on Saturday. It's a short and flat stage, so difficult to control. Then the last stage will be hard and hectic."
The 191km third stage from Kežmarok to Banská Bystrica included a number of climbs but a flat final 10km.
Thomas Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked alone after 30km on a steep point and led the race over the early climbs, sweeping up a hail of KOM points. Several counter attacks were chased down by the peloton before a group of three formed with 125km to race and Gloag opted to wait for them.
The break climbed the gradual 15km long Edlo Prašivá climb but with Magnier there, Soudal-QuickStep then drove the peloton in pursuit to try to catch them before the final intermediate sprint with 34km to go. Magnier swept up the extra three seconds but Oscar Nilsson-Julien (Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ) and Rick Ottema (Diftar Continental Cyclingteam) got away to create another attack to chase.
Nilsson-Julien went solo on the final Mičinský vrch climb with 15km to go and put up a brave fight but he was caught with seven kilometres to race. Despite the hilly profile of the stage the sprinters would fight for victory.
Niklas Behrens (Visma-Lease a Bike) tried to go long but only acted as a guide in the final kilometre. Dries Van Gestel then took over for Soudal, taking Magnier to the final 200 metres so he could open the sprint and win yet again.
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