Team Visma | Lease a Bike won stage 3 of the 2026 Tour Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes, setting the fastest time in the 28.4-kilometre team time trial around Perreux despite losing key riders during the effort. Matteo Jorgenson led the team home in 32:52, 9 seconds faster than Netcompany INEOS and 29 seconds ahead of EF Education-EasyPost, whose third place was enough to keep Alex Baudin in the yellow jersey.
Netcompany INEOS looked set to win after Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley came through the final climb together to stop the clock in 33:01. Their ride reshaped the general classification battle, but Visma | Lease a Bike were still out on course and finished faster, even after Wout van Aert dropped away early and Ben Tulett punctured before almost crashing on the main descent.
EF Education-EasyPost were the final team to finish, carrying Baudin’s race lead onto the course after his stage 1 victory. The team could not challenge for the stage win, but Baudin reached the line in 33:21, just enough to hold yellow. After two breakaway stages, the team time trial produced the first major GC reset of the race.
Photo Credit: GettyEarly teams set the first benchmarks
The stage started and finished in Perreux, with two time checks on the undulating course after 8 kilometres and 15.8 kilometres. Picnic-PostNL were first down the ramp, but the Dutch squad were never likely to shape the top of the standings and finished well outside the leading times.
Lotto-Intermarché and NSN briefly moved the reference point, before Jayco AlUla produced the first serious performance of the day. Their time of 33:46 stood out early, especially as they were more than a minute quicker than the other teams at the second checkpoint.
Bahrain Victorious threatened to beat Jayco AlUla after going quicker at the first two checks, but they faded on the final section and finished 12 seconds slower. UAE Team Emirates-XRG also started strongly, setting the fastest first checkpoint at the time, but they too lost ground late and came home 7 seconds behind Jayco.
That early pattern revealed the nature of the course. The first part rewarded pure speed and organisation, but the final climb changed the finish. Teams effectively had to deliver their best GC rider to the lower slopes, then allow the strongest remaining rider or small group to drive up the final rise.
Lidl-Trek and Red Bull move the target
Lidl-Trek were the first of the later starters to knock Jayco AlUla from the top. Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso led the team home in 33:24, putting them into the hot seat and giving both riders useful time in the general classification.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe then came through in 33:33, not enough to challenge for the stage but still a solid ride on a course that punished any lack of rhythm. Decathlon CMA CGM, with Paul Seixas among their GC options, were less convincing. Léo Bisiaux led Seixas up the final climb, but a slight mistake on the final bend and a slower overall time left the French team 13 seconds behind Lidl-Trek at that point.
That was a meaningful loss for Seixas. He started the race as one of the most watched young contenders, but after stage 3 he had ground to make up, sitting 12th overall at 1 minute. On a race where the first two stages had already created unusual gaps, every second in the team time trial mattered.
Netcompany INEOS nearly turn the race yellow
Netcompany INEOS delivered one of the rides of the day. Their team were fastest at the first checkpoint, quickest again at the second, and looked smooth through the middle section. Josh Tarling gave them huge power early, before dropping off on the final climb and leaving Onley, Vauquelin and Carlos Rodríguez to finish the job.
There was still one major scare. Onley dropped his chain with around 9 kilometres remaining, forcing his teammates to wait. Vauquelin was visibly urging the team on, aware that both the stage and the yellow jersey were in play.
Even with that disruption, Netcompany INEOS crossed the line in 33:01, 23 seconds faster than Lidl-Trek. For a while, it looked like the winning time. More importantly, it put Vauquelin and Onley close to the virtual race lead, with Baudin still to finish for EF.
The question after the stage was obvious. Netcompany INEOS finished only 9 seconds away from the stage win, and Vauquelin was only 13 seconds from taking yellow. Onley’s dropped chain did not ruin their day, but it may have cost them the chance to win the stage and possibly the race lead.
Visma | Lease a Bike overcome problems to win
Visma | Lease a Bike were not flawless, but they were the fastest. The team were second at the first checkpoint, 3 seconds behind Netcompany INEOS, then still second at the second checkpoint, 6 seconds down. The ride looked strong, but not yet stage-winning.
Their difficulties made the final result more impressive. Van Aert was dropped early after not feeling his best, while Tulett punctured and almost crashed on the main descent. Tulett had been the team’s best-placed GC rider, so losing him was a blow both for the stage and the overall picture.
Jorgenson and Jørgen Nordhagen then drove the team towards the final climb, before Jorgenson went alone to the line. He stopped the clock at 32:52, beating Netcompany INEOS by 9 seconds and securing Visma | Lease a Bike’s stage victory.
Afterwards, Jorgenson summed up why the team time trial remains such a distinctive discipline, calling it “seven times better than winning on your own” because the team could share the moment immediately after the finish. He also admitted the ride had not gone to plan, with Van Aert dropping early and Tulett suffering that late mechanical scare.
Baudin survives the final climb alone
EF Education-EasyPost started last, carrying Baudin’s yellow jersey onto the course. The equation was simple but tight. Baudin had 32 seconds on Vauquelin and Onley, and 44 seconds on Jorgenson at the start of the day. EF did not need to win the stage, but they had to keep the loss controlled.
The team were 11 seconds down on Netcompany INEOS at the first checkpoint and remained outside the stage-winning pace through the middle sector. By the final climb, the stage win was gone and the race lead was the only question left.
Baudin entered the final rise on his own, needing to beat a target time of 33:33 to keep yellow. He had roughly half a minute to cover the final 200 metres, and he did enough. EF finished third on the stage in 33:21, 29 seconds behind Visma | Lease a Bike and 20 seconds slower than Netcompany INEOS.
That left Baudin still in yellow, but with a much tighter lead. He now sits 12 seconds ahead of Vauquelin and Onley, with Jorgenson at 15 seconds. Ayuso and Skjelmose are next at 47 seconds, while Seixas is 1 minute down.
GC tightens before the flatter stages
The team time trial changed the shape of the race without removing Baudin from the top. After winning stage 1 from the break and surviving stage 2 while Anton Charmig won from another escape, the EF rider now has a much smaller cushion, but still a realistic chance of carrying yellow through the next two days.
Stages 4 and 5 are expected to favour sprint finishes, which means Baudin could remain in the race lead until the mountains return on stage 6. The problem is that Netcompany INEOS and Visma | Lease a Bike are now much closer. Vauquelin, Onley and Jorgenson all gained heavily, while Ayuso and Skjelmose kept themselves within reach.
The other individual classifications stayed largely stable. Nadav Raisberg remained in the points lead, while Clément Braz Afonso continued to lead the mountains classification. Baudin also still leads the young rider standings, ahead of Vauquelin, Onley and Ayuso.
Stage 3 did not have the road-race chaos of the opening two days, but it still delivered a meaningful reshuffle. Visma | Lease a Bike produced the fastest team ride despite problems, Netcompany INEOS nearly took both the stage and yellow, and Baudin survived by a narrow enough margin to keep the race delicately balanced.
Tour Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes 2026 stage 3 result
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Main photo credit: Getty
