Dylan Groenewegen makes history with Tour of Slovenia Stage 3 victory

Victory of the third stage of the 2025 Tour of Slovenia has gone to Dylan Groenewegen, adding to his victory from stage 1. Behind him, Juan Sebastian Molano of UAE came home in second, and Phil Bauhaus in third place.

Fabio Christen started today 16 seconds ahead in the GC, after he was dramatically awarded the win on stage 2 following Rui Oliveira's controversial penalty. The third stage saw the riders take on a 172km course, from Majsperk to Ormoz.

The main breakaway of the day included five riders: Danny van der Tuuk, Marcel Skok, Albert Gathemann, Nejc Komac and Jon Pritrznik. Inside 50km to go, they had a gap of 2 minutes 35 to the peloton, with a sole chaser (Mikel Retegi) 30 seconds behind after crashing whilst in the break.

The local fans then had something to cheer about, as Slovenian rider Nejc Komac went solo. Over the top of the Jeruzalem climb (4.5km at 2.5%), Komac had a 54 second lead to the peloton. It would be a special win for Komac on home soil, and would be only the second win for his team (Factor Racing) since 2023.

The bad news for Komac was that Team Jayco AlUla were pulling the peloton, hoping to deliver Dylan Groenewegen to the victory. With Jayco pushing the pace, the gap started to come down, and fast.

Paul Wright, also of Factor Racing, made an attack from the peloton that was quickly extinguished by the peloton. Unfortunately for Komac, his time in the spotlight for the day looked to be over, as with 8km to go his gap and been decreased to 24 seconds, and his job was made even more difficult by a headwind.

Within the last 5km the gap was only 10 seconds, and the peloton was preparing the sprint trains. Komac was caught with 4km to go, but not without a superb solo effort today, as he handed over the action to the sprint teams. His teammate Paul Wright then threw a spanner in the works for the sprint teams, as he once again attacked and tried to create a gap.

Jayco AlUla then came to the front once again, and were commanding the peloton for Groenewegen. UAE refused to make his job easy, but Groenewegen proved too strong in the final sprint to take a record seventh Tour of Slovenian victory in his career. Tomorrow, the riders will take on the penultimate stage, a 175km route from Maribor to Golte.