10-May-2026: Soudal Quick-Step will leave Bulgaria with two victories in the bag after Paul Magnier made the double in Sofia, at the end of the opening weekend’s third and final stage.
Wearing his Castelli ciclamino wooed suit, Paul Magnier delivered our team’s 130th Grand Tour stage victory, thanks to a phenomenal sprint and a perfectly-executed bike throw in the closing meters of Sunday’s stage to become just the ninth Frenchman with multiple victories at a single edition of the Corsa Rosa.
Bulgaria’s capital was prepared for a bunch gallop, but it almost didn’t happen, as a three-man breakaway came close to giving the chasers the slip. The catch was made just 500 meters from the line, on the wide boulevards of Sofia and just before the peloton entered a cobbled stretch that made sprinting even more demanding.
Soudal Quick-Step’s Frenchman let the others open the sprint before launching another huge acceleration in the last 150 meters to edge out Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) on the line and rack up his 28th victory for the Wolfpack. It was a win that helped the 22-year-old consolidate his lead in the maglia ciclamino classification, which has now increased to more than 40 points ahead of the race traveling to Italy for the fourth stage, set to take place on Tuesday.
“I dreamed about winning again after my first success here and I’m happy I could do it before leaving this country, where we felt great. The plan was to be well-positioned with one kilometer to go, and that’s what we did. The guys were fantastic, just like on Friday’s stage, and I want to thank them for that. It feels amazing to beat some of the best sprinters in the world and keep the beautiful ciclamino jersey on my shoulders”, said the youngest ever French rider to score two victories at a Giro d’Italia edition.
1 Paul MAGNIER SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 4:09:42 0:10 0:00
2 Jonathan MILAN LIDL-TREK 4:09:42 0:06 0:00
3 Dylan GROENEWEGEN UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS 4:09:42 0:04 0:00
GC
1 Guillermo SILVA XDS ASTANA TEAM 13:10:05 0:00
2 Florian STORK TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM 13:10:09 0:04
3 Egan BERNAL NETCOMPANY INEOS 13:10:09 0:04
