Tour of Slovakia: Paul Magnier does an encore

There's no stopping him. Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) repeated his stage win in the second stage of the Tour of Slovakia , winning a bunch sprint in Liptovskŷ Mikuláš and further extending his lead in the general classification.

The Frenchman outsprinted Thomas Capra (Bahrain Victorious Development Team) and Simon Vaníček (ATT Investments) at the end of the 186.8km race, taking home his tenth victory of the 2026 season. An impressive haul that confirms how the increasingly well-oiled Soudal-QuickStep train is working to perfection.

The sprint came after the day's breakaway was caught 16 km from the finish. Carl Kagevi (Lucky Sport), Martin Bárta (ATT Investments), and Zsombor Palumby (United Shipping) had attacked from the start, building up a three-minute lead before being pushed back by the peloton.

From then on, the sprinters' teams took over, with Soudal-QuickStep and Groupama-FDJ United dictating the pace until the final sprint, orchestrating an almost textbook sprint that left very little room for their opponents.

Also worth keeping an eye on is Thomas Capra, a young rider from the Bahrain Victorious Development Team, whose second-place finish confirms his promising potential for those seeking low-cost surprises in the fantasy cycling world. Meanwhile, the overall standings are increasingly looking up to Magnier, who now looks ahead to the remaining stages with confidence.