For the second time at the Tour of Slovenia, Dylan Groenewegen powered to sprint success.
The 31-year-old Dutchman from Team Jayco AlUla again crowned himself the best sprinter in the bunch sprint on stage three.
In the 171-kilometre stage, the main obstacles were at the beginning and at the end. The riders conquered two fourth-category climbs in the first 20 kilometres and were presented with another climb in the closing phase.
The peloton soon gave way to a breakaway group of six riders, who gathered a maximum lead of more than five minutes. Team Jayco AlUla riders pulled in the peloton and the gap quickly reduced in the second part of the stage.
The team remained well positioned leading up to the climb to Jeruzalem, a 4.5km ascent at 2.5%, the last big test 15 kilometres from the finish line. As a result, Groenewegen was perfectly placed in the peloton.
Coming into the final of the stage Team Jayco AlUla riders controlled the pace. When the very last escapee, Nejc Komac, was caught, it was assured that the third stage would be settled with a bunch sprint. In the dash to the line, Groenewegen was again the strongest after a solid lead-out.
With the result today the Dutchman brought his number of victories in this Tour of Slovenia to two. With a total of seven victories across all his appearances, he set a new record for the number of stage wins.
Dylan Groenewegen
“This second win is obviously a very nice boost for myself and the team. We knew today’s finish and realised there were opportunities for success. But of course, we also remembered that yesterday was a difficult stage. On paper, today may have looked like it was definitely going to be a bunch sprint, but the finale was not that easy at all. The course went up and down a lot, there were plenty of narrow roads and there was also some wind. But still we kept control as a team.
“Towards the end, the team pushed hard and did everything possible to be able to put me in contention for the bunch sprint. For that reason, we absolutely deserved this win. It was a great battle with Olano, I really had to go deep to beat him. This kind of team performance makes me feel really good.”
Tour of Slovenia 2025 stage 3 results
- Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla) 3:57:48
- Juan Sebastián Olano ST
- Phil Bauhaus ST
