Demare steals the win from Riabushenko and Kristoff

The combined strength of Aleksandr Riabushenko and Alexander Kristoff was not enough to overcome Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) on the third stage of the Tour of Slovaquie (226.6-km) from Ruzomberok to Hlohovec.

With 18 km to the finish line the four riders from the days breakaway had been swept up by the group and after some skirmishes in the peloton due to the wind, the final ascent of 700 meters saw the pair of UAE Team Emirates  (photo Bettini) fight it out against the French sprinter who was ultimately the winner.
Strong performance also from Tom Bohli, 7th at the finish line and 5th in the general classification which is led by Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

For Riabushenko, the second place confirms his current form that was shown last week with his success in the Agostoni Cup: “The last 25 km of the race were made very intense by the wind, with echolons that left no more than 40 riders at the head of the race.
From the moment of the splits to the final sprint it was all out.
We had four UAE Team Emirates guys in the leading group. The finish was suited to both Kristoff and me, so we had two cards to play, but unfortunately Demare was stronger“.

The Tour of Slovaquie will end with the 4th stage, from Hlohovec-Senica (142.1 km) which features 5 second category climbs which will make the racing hard,though may still favour the sprinters.

Stage 3 results
1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 4h39’09 “§
2 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 2 “
3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates s.t.

General ranking
1 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Deceuninck-Quick Step 13h56’45 ”
2 Stefan Kung (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 3 ”
3 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 7 ”
5 Tom Bohli (Sui) UAE Team Emirates 21 “