"We did that perfectly" - Paul Magnier goes back-to-back with another dominant victory in Slovakia
Cycling
Paul Magnier is clearly in a great shape to wrap up this season as the Frenchman keeps winning left, right and center. The young sprinter of Soudal - Quick-Step kicked off a successful last third of the season with a stage win at the Tour de Pologne which he followed up with already three victories over the past week, with the most recent on Thursday during stage 2 of Tour de Slovaquie. Additionally, Magnier continues to lead the general classification with three stages to go.
"It couldn't have been better. It's fantastic to win in the leader's jersey. The team performed absolutely perfectly. We controlled the pace from the start, and then we also had to control some of the accelerations from some very strong riders. We did that perfectly," said the Frenchman in a flash interview after the stage.
Soudal - Quick-Step had everything perfectly under control in the second stage, keeping the strong breakaway on a short leash. Their final leadout was then a piece of art with three riders at the front with 500 meters to go. On the wheels of Dries Van Gestel and Yves Lampaert, Magnier's job was quite easy.
"They guided me perfectly into the final two hundred meters, and then I just had to finish the job," he nodded. This Magnier's third win in a row, if we count GP de Fourmies last Sunday. "I'm very proud to have won today, after another excellent team effort."
Everything under control
Despite a clean execution in the last kilometer, the parcour was harder than it may have seemed with multiple hills in the second half of the stage forcing a selection that saw some of Magnier's sprint rivals (for example 3rd in opening stage - Joppe Herremans) lose touch with peloton. The breakaway with strong climbers Bart Lemmen and Paul Double caused some concern for the Wolfpack, but never put them in any major trouble.
"Not necessarily 'no problem,' but the team controlled everything," the Frenchman again praised his team, which indeed ensured the sprinter was launched in a truly ideal way.
"We only let a few riders go, and then we had to make sure the pace was high enough that they wouldn't finish," Magnier continued. "As I said, they did perfectly. I just had to focus on my sprint. That's what I did, and I'm very proud of it."
With the shape Magnier appears to be in, he could be well on his way to win first four stages of the Tour de Slovaquie in a row. The question then remains whether the Frenchman can survive the tricky stage on Friday with a 16-kilometer climb (at 4%) in the middle of the day. "I hope so. It's another tough stage, but we're definitely going to try," he concluded.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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