Tour of Slovenia 2025 Stage 3

June 6, 2025 The 172KM stage from Majšperk to Ormož has a brief excursion out of Slovenia and into Croatia for about 10KM but that's about the only noteworthy element on today's profile. There is the 4.5KM climb of Jeruzalem which averages 2.5%. It tops out about 15KM before the finish which should give the sprinters time to organize for a bunch kick before the climbers have their day tomorrow. Everyone who was interested in being in the break made the break but that was just five riders. The group consisted of Albert Gathemann of Benotti Berthold, Marcel Skok of Adria Mobil, Nejc Komac of Factor Racing, Jon Pritržnik of Pogi Team Gusto Ljubljana, and Mikel Retegi of Equipo Kern Pharma. Danny van der Tuuk of Euskatel-Euskadi decided he also wanted to be involved and had to make more of an effort but did eventually make it across to make six at the front. With 89KM to go, the break had 4 minutes 10 seconds on the peloton being led by Q36.5. The break were working very well together and maintained 3 minutes 40 seconds with 64KM to go as they started one of the few short unclassified climbs. Jayco AlUla added a man to the chase just to make sure the break was in check. On the descent of the next unclassified climb, Retegi over cooked a corner and went into the grass but was able to stay upright. He seemed have lost a bit confidence though because a few corners later, he lost his front wheel and hit the deck pretty hard on his right side and was not able to make it back to the breakaway. Fatigue started to set in up front with riders starting to miss turns. Komac took a pull and looked around to see he had a 5M gap and went off alone with 37KM to go and quickly consolidated his lead. Jayco AlUla put the entire team on the front and with 30KM to go, Komac's advantage over the bunch was still 2 minutes 10 seconds. He entered the wine growing area of Jeruzalem and hit the climb of the same name with 18.5KM to go. Bahrain Victorious and Jayco AlUla continued to ride on the front at a pace that would keep the sprinters safe but also hard enough to keep Komac in check. He held 1 minute over the top and still had 30 seconds with 5KM to go. The road widened, allowing more teams to push to the front which only increased in the speed in the bunch. A slight uphill drag killed Komac's momentum and he was brought back into the peloton with 4KM to race after a very impressive effort off the front. Komac's teammate Paul Wright went on the counter attack but the sprint teams were not going to let anyone spoil their chances at a stage win. Jayco AlUla, UAE-XRG, Lidl-Trek, and Bahrain Victorious were all battling at the front but it was the Australian squad that led through the final kilometer. Trains got mixed up and the last 300M was a bit messy. Juan Sebastián Molano of UAE-XRG wound up his sprint first just inside 300M to go. A UAE-XRG lead out rider sat up to create a gap and Dylan Groenewegen of Jayco AlUla was forced to go the long way round. Groenewegen and Molano were side by side at 100M but the road gently dragged up which was too much for Molano to hold his speed for so long. Groenewegen put his hands up after crossing the line for his second victory of the race. Molano managed to hold on for second with a bike throw ahead of Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious.