Pithie powers to sixth victory in a month with another Tour of Slovenia stage win

Laurence Pithie (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) won the third stage of the Tour of Slovenia on Friday. The New Zealander triumphed in the leader's jersey to claim his sixth win in a month. Stefano Oldani (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA) and Ivan Cobo (Equipo Kern Pharma) took second and third.

The third stage of the race in Tadej Pogačar's home country (Pogačar himself is riding the Tour de Suisse) took the peloton from Maribor to Celje over 133.5 kilometres. The riders rolled out of Maribor at 11.20am, hoping for a calmer day than Thursday had served up.

That stage had to be neutralised after a big crash left too few ambulances available. On the restart, Dušan Rajović (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) took the sprint and beat Pithie — but the New Zealander, already in the leader's jersey after winning Wednesday's opening stage, held on to the overall lead. He defended it on Friday.

Erik Fetter (United Shipping) and Paul Wright (Modern Adventure) slipped clear in the opening phase, with home rider Marcel Gladek (Factor) bridging across a little later. In the bunch, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe took control, driving towards the crucial climb of the Celjska Koča (7.9 kilometres at 6.2%) some thirty kilometres from the finish.

Forty-three riders survived that climb, among them the strong-looking leader Pithie. The New Zealander also still had helpers around him in Jan Tratnik, Giulio Pellizzari and Florian Lipowitz. That let them play the game on their terms.

Mattia Cattaneo went on the attack inside the final kilometre but was reeled in. No matter: Pithie picked up the gauntlet and, in his leader's jersey, booked another victory. Oldani and Cobo were second and third, and Pithie naturally strengthened his lead too. Earlier this month he had already won Rund um Köln, plus stages at the Tour de Wallonie and the Four Days of Dunkirk.