Stage 3 is the first of the two hilly stages and the easier one. 155k, one Cat 3 and two Cat 3’s with the second one coming 10k from the end. From there a downhill and a short ramp to the finish. Major gaps would be a surprise. Also two sprint points along the way.
The top puncheurs dominate the start list. Top name is Bobridge who would love to grab some bonus seconds.
8k in, first two attackers are Gesbert and Jensen, who were both on the stage favorites list. They have a 1-minute lead. Multiple riders trying to join them and the peloton still chasing.
15k gone. Two more strong puncheurs have reached the front in Azman and Kanerva. Van Tricht is 15 second behind. 4 more riders are trying to come across behind him. The peloton is at 1’17 and might not let them go.
Gesbert takes maximum points at the first sprint point ahead of Kanerva. Peloton has eased off and the lead is out to 2’25. Van Tricht and the 4 other riders should be able to reach the front over next 20k before the first climb. The other four are Ludvigsson, Pira, Lauk, and Owen.
116k to rider and the 9 riders in the breakaway are all together as they start the Cat 4 climb. It is 2.4k at 6.9%. The lead is 4’13
Other than the KOM leader none of the breakaway riders had any KOM points coming in. Gesbert proves the hungriest and takes the points ahead of Van Tricht and Jensen.
91 k to go for the peloton. The teams working are Polar (Fiedler), Indosat (Arif Prayogo) and ELCO (Farantakis). Lead is down to 3’06.
By the time the breakaway reaches the Cat 3 climb with 84k to go their lead is down to 2’47. The climb is 5.4k at 7.4%.
With 3k to climb Duolingo (Sipos) has joined the chase and has the lead down to 1’34.
1.5k to the top. Gesbert attacks chased by Pira. Lauk and Owen have been dropped.
Gesbert opens up a gap and powers to 6 more mountain points. He has 13 seconds on the next 6, 24 seconds on Owen and Lauk and 2’03 to the peloton, a handful of riders have been dropped by the peloton including the entire Strava, team except those in the break.
Ludvigsson takes 2nd on the climb. Gesbert leads that competition by 19 points now. He drifts back to the rest after taking the KOM points.
Jensen takes the 2nd sprint ahead of Azman and Van Tricht. Lauk and Owen still 49 seconds behind. The peloton at 2’43. 60k to go.
55k to go for the peloton. An uncategorized climb causes a split in the peloton. Kelly doing the damage at the front. Lauk and Owen have been caught and Pira has been dropped from the break. Completely flat from here to the final climb which starts with about 14k to go. So this should come back together.
Despite strong efforts by Trans to maintain the split with 40k to go the peloton is back to 154 riders. They trail the break by 1’57. Trans continuing to lead the chase.
29k to ride. Azman attacks the break. Behind 22 riders have a small gap over the rest of the peloton. That group trails the breakaway by 1’03.
25k to go. Azman is caught and, Gesbert and Ludvigsson counter. Behind the peloton has split further with a 19-rider group trying to catch the first group of 22. Trans and ELCO are driving the pace. Gaps between the 3 pieces of the peloton are still pretty small but team leaders will need to be at the front when the peloton hits the climb in about 10k. Currently among the GC favorites ony Bobridge is in the front group. Wirtgen, Ganna, Dunbar, Mano, Fraile, and Conci are in the 2nd group.
22k to go. The 6 surviving breakaway riders are back together and the first two chase groups have merged. The breakaway has 32 seconds and there is another 43 seconds from the first chase group to the rest of the peloton, which includes 120 riders. Kalaba is trying to bring the peloton back to the first chase group for Minions. All their riders missed the split. The good news for them is ELCO and Trans seem to be running out of riders ahead and Koretzky is on the front himself right now.
With 16k to go and 2k to the last climb Gesbert is dropped from the break but with the Bobridge-led peloton just 22 seconds behind they will all be caught soon. Minions were able to close the gap but now a new 61 rider group has split off. This split looks more permanent as most of the pre-race favorites are present in the front group. However, Tanfield,the Yellow jersey, is not in the front group, so Wirtgen in virtual yellow now. Key names missing the split are Kung, Vlasov, and Fernandes.
The breakaway is caught by the time the riders start the Cat 3 climb to Trebeljevo. It is 3.8k at 6%. The Tanfield group is 1’33 behind. 14 riders have been dropped from the front group, Ioannidis the big name in that group. ELCO seem to be focused on Koretzky for the stage rather than the GC.
Koretzky feels that pressure and attacks. Calmejane leads the chase.
Calmejane shuts down the attack with 2.8k to the top. 10 more riders including Paillot are dropped.
Koretzky attacks again. This time the response is from Conci, Mano and Ganna. Lammertink, Keizer, Kämna and Foss have been dropped from the front group which is down to 27 including Koretzky.
1k to go in the climb for Koretzky. He has 6 seconds on Conci and and 14 seconds on a chase group that is down to 16 riders. The chase being led by Paret-Peintre now. Additional favorites dropped include Fraile, Oliveira, Vangstad, and Izagirre.
Conci catches Koretzky and they go over the top with 12 seconds on the chase group of 14. Calmejane and Waeytens are the last 2 dropped. They need to get back on if Trans wants to reap a benefit from all this chaos they helped create.
The front two are brought back and Ganna attacks on the downhill. Over the top Paret-Peintre, Brown, Dennis and Borges were all dropped. Leaving just 11 riders in the front group. Ganna, Conci, Bobridge, Wirtgen, Koretzky, Mano and Dunbar were all expected to be present. The others are Würtz, Boily, Errazkin, and Moazemi. The first of those probably the big surprise.
5k banner. The pressure goes off and the Dennis/Brown/Paret-Peintre/Borges group gets back on. El Sabbahi also in that group.
2.8k to go. With nobody willing to drive the pace the group swells back to 41 riders. Paillot is the last rider mentioned not back in the front group. They can see the final climb ahead.
No other riders are able to rejoin. As they start the final climb (1.4k at 6.4%). Brown is ahead of Dennis. Cosnefroy leads out Conci and Borges is protecting Dunbar.
1k to go, the group staying together, after looking like there would be a lot of time gaps it has turned into a 40-rider bunch sprint. Bobridge and Koretzky are well placed in the middle of the picture.
600 meters, it looks like Bobridge vs Koretzky vs Borges.
300 meters, still those 3. Borges has the inside line. Keizer has lost touch at the back of the group.
100 meters Bobridge pulls ahead as Borges starts to weaken.
Bobridge gets the win. Koretzky can’t quite pay off his team’s work with a stage win, he settles for 2nd.
Conci finishes off a great day for hm by snatching 3rd from Borges who gets 4th. The defending champion shows his strength with 5th. Then the rest of the top 10 are Dunbar, Wirtgen, Mano, Würtz, and Errazkin
The first 38 get the same time, Keizer is the first to lose time as he finishes 1’09 down. Wirtgen takes Yellow, 3 seconds ahead of the Grieg pair of Paret-Peintre and Brkic.
Koretzky takes the points lead. Foss is the best young rider. Grieg leads the teams competition.
Tour of Slovenia 
