Victory number 38 for Soudal Quick-Step this season.
Two wins in two days for Paul Magnier, who once again stomped his sprinting authority on the Okolo Slovenska mass gallops, thus extending his lead at the top of the general classification. It was a success possible thanks to the formidable work of the Soudal Quick-Step boys, who pulled hard the entire day and neutralized the group that formed with 50 kilometers to go, when four riders went clear from the peloton on the climbs in an attempt to put pressure on the sprinters.
In the last 15 kilometers of this stage that concluded in Kosice – the country’s second-largest city – that action came to an end, the man responsible for this being former winner of the race Josef Cerny, whose extraordinary pulls at the front of the peloton made the difference. Under the flamme rouge, Magnier benefitted from a flawless lead-out of Yves Lampaert and Dries Van Gestel before powering like a locomotive with 150 meters to go and capturing his eighth victory of the season.
“It’s nice to win in the yellow jersey and keep it on my shoulders for at least one more stage. The guys did another great work today: they controlled everything, reeled in the breakaway, and then brought back those attacks that came in the hills. Then, in the finale, they made sure to put me in an excellent position for the last 200 meters, and all I had to do from there was finish it off. I’m delighted I could do that, especially at the end of a day with so much climbing. We now have two victories and it would be nice to not stop here”, said Paul, the first Frenchman to win multiple stages at a single edition of Okolo Slovenska.
Photo credit: ©Okolo Slovenska
