Tadej Pogačar won stage 3 of the 2026 Tour de France at Les Angles, beating Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz after UAE Team Emirates-XRG controlled the final climbs and set up a late fight between the GC contenders. Paul Seixas finished fourth after staying with the best riders on the race’s first summit finish.
The Slovenian world champion had started the day 6 seconds behind Vingegaard after clawing back time on stage 2 in Barcelona. This time, on the first road stage to finish in France, he took the victory himself after UAE spent much of the final 50 kilometres tightening the race and bringing back the breakaway.
Vingegaard finished second after another tense head-to-head with Pogačar, while Carapaz took third for EF Education-EasyPost. Seixas’ fourth place confirmed the 19-year-old’s climbing level on a day where the favourites waited until the final kilometre before making their move.
First summit finish after the Catalan Grand Départ
Stage 3 took the race from Granollers to Les Angles over 195.9 kilometres, leaving Catalonia, crossing into France and ending in the Pyrénées-Orientales. After the opening team time-trial in Barcelona and UAE’s one-two on Montjuïc, this was the first real mountain test of the 2026 Tour.
The stage included three category 3 climbs and the category 1 Col de Toses, the first category 1 ascent of this year’s race. It was not a high-mountain stage in the classic Tour sense, but the long distance, intense heat and uphill finish made it a serious early GC test.
Vingegaard began the day still in yellow for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, but Pogačar was only 6 seconds behind after taking time back on stage 2. Remco Evenepoel sat third overall, while Isaac del Toro wore green after his Barcelona victory and also led the young rider classification.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG also started the stage leading the team classification, which explained their yellow helmets and their visible presence near the front for much of the day.
Long fight for the breakaway
The race began with a long and brutal fight to form the break. Alex Molenaar, in the polka-dot jersey after stage 2, attacked almost immediately, but nothing stuck in the opening kilometres. The first climb, the Côte de Saint-Feliu de Codines, only intensified the battle.
Julian Alaphilippe, Richard Carapaz, Egan Bernal, Matteo Jorgenson, Luke Plapp, Mads Pedersen and several others were active in the opening phase, with attacks constantly forming and being pulled back. Valentin Paret-Peintre and Javier Romo briefly moved clear on the climb, with Paret-Peintre taking the first KOM points.
The pace was punishing. The peloton covered 43.6 kilometres in the first hour despite the rolling terrain and the repeated attacks. Cian Uijtdebroeks was already struggling near the back, while Arnaud De Lie was distanced early after another difficult day following illness.
There was also an early crash near the front of the bunch involving Bruno Armirail, Tobias Foss and Josh Tarling, with Isaac del Toro among those affected or held up. Everyone got moving again, but it added further disruption to a stage that had barely settled.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Charly LópezNineteen riders finally get clear
The decisive breakaway eventually formed after around 70 kilometres of racing. Louis Vervaeke, Magnus Cort, Nelson Oliveira and Matteo Vercher had opened the first meaningful gap before a large group bridged across.
The move eventually grew to 19 riders: Cort, Oliveira, Raúl García Pierna, Plapp, Mauro Schmid, Joris Delbove, Vercher, Pedersen, Alex Baudin, Nicolas Prodhomme, George Bennett, Bernal, Vlad Van Mechelen, Alex Aranburu, Michael Storer, Clément Braz Afonso, Vervaeke, Harold Tejada and Abel Balderstone.
Bernal’s time in the move was short-lived. The Colombian suffered a puncture and dropped back to the peloton, leaving the rest of the break to build a lead that reached around 3 minutes.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike initially controlled the bunch, with Per Strand Hagenes keeping the gap in check, before UAE and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe became more involved. Baudin, who started the day just over a minute down on GC, briefly moved into the virtual yellow jersey as the break’s lead grew.
Pedersen takes points as Baudin targets polka dots
The intermediate sprint in Campdevànol gave Mads Pedersen his reason for being in the move. The Lidl-Trek rider won the sprint ahead of Delbove and Baudin, adding 25 points to his green jersey tally and moving himself into the virtual lead of the points classification.
The focus then shifted to the Col de Toses, the first category 1 climb of the 2026 Tour. García Pierna attacked at the foot of the climb, with Van Mechelen and Vercher later joining him before the stronger climbers in the break began to regroup.
Baudin, Prodhomme and Bennett worked their way back towards the front as the break splintered. Pedersen and Aranburu were among those dropped as the road steepened, while the peloton, led first by UAE and then by a combination of GC teams, held the gap at around 1:40 to 2 minutes.
Baudin led over the top of the Col de Toses to take 10 points, ahead of Prodhomme, García Pierna, Van Mechelen, Vercher and Bennett. That put the EF Education-EasyPost rider into the virtual lead of the mountains classification and gave him a clear objective for the rest of the stage.
UAE take control after the border
After the Col de Toses, the race passed La Molina and then crossed into France through Puigcerdà. The Tour had left Catalonia after more than 300 kilometres of racing across the Grand Départ weekend and was now heading into the first French finish of the race.
Behind the break, UAE Team Emirates-XRG began to take command. Florian Vermeersch, Nils Politt and Tim Wellens all took long turns before Felix Großschartner, Brandon McNulty, Adam Yates, Del Toro and Pogačar moved into position deeper in the stage.
The break’s advantage gradually fell as the race approached the Col du Calvaire. Baudin attacked with around 34 kilometres remaining, with Prodhomme reacting and joining him. The two French climbers worked together, while their former breakaway companions were slowly absorbed by the bunch.
Baudin led over the Col du Calvaire ahead of Prodhomme, securing enough points to take the polka-dot jersey. Prodhomme then sat up and later waited for Seixas, bringing his Decathlon CMA CGM teammate a bottle as the favourites’ group closed in.
Baudin caught before the final climb
Baudin pressed on alone after Prodhomme eased off, continuing a strong ride that had already lasted more than 125 kilometres in the breakaway. He was named the most combative rider and had the mountains jersey secured, but UAE were not giving the stage away.
Grossschartner drove the reduced bunch inside the final 15 kilometres, with the gap to Baudin dropping steadily. The Frenchman was caught with around 11 kilometres remaining, ending the breakaway’s hopes and setting up a GC finale.
By then, the bunch had been reduced to around 30 riders. Lidl-Trek, Team Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG all occupied the front positions, while the road began rising towards Les Angles even before the final categorised climb officially started.
The last categorised climb was only 1.7 kilometres long at 6.5 per cent, but the road rose for around 7 kilometres to the finish, averaging close to 4 per cent. That made positioning crucial, but the favourites still waited deep into the finale before attacking.
Photo Credit: GettyUAE and Visma lead into Les Angles
Inside the final 5 kilometres, Pogačar sat behind four UAE teammates, with Jorgenson and Vingegaard lined up directly behind him. UAE had done most of the work, but Team Visma | Lease a Bike began to move up as Großschartner swung off and Sepp Kuss and Jorgenson took responsibility for the yellow jersey.
The final kilometres became a mountain lead-out rather than a series of long-range attacks. Lidl-Trek moved Ayuso up, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe brought Evenepoel into position through Jai Hindley, and Decathlon CMA CGM kept Seixas close to the front.
At 2 kilometres to go, the official climb began. Pogačar and Vingegaard were still watching each other rather than launching, with Del Toro moving into position after Kuss had kept the pace high.
The final kilometre began with the domestiques still driving. Kuss led, Del Toro sat behind, and the main favourites were lined up and waiting. The stage would be decided by acceleration rather than distance.
Pogačar beats Vingegaard
Del Toro lit up the finale for Pogačar, turning his own stage 2 winning legs into a final lead-out for the world champion. Vingegaard followed closely, with Seixas also well positioned in fourth wheel as the sprint up the climb began.
Pogačar launched the decisive move in the closing metres and had the finish to beat Vingegaard to the line. The Slovenian took his first stage win of this Tour, answering Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s stage 1 advantage and building on UAE’s strong collective display from Montjuïc.
Vingegaard finished second, limiting the damage but losing the stage to his closest rival. Carapaz came through for third, taking an important podium on a finish that suited explosive climbers. Seixas finished fourth, another remarkable result for the French teenager in his debut Tour.
The gaps were expected to be small because the leaders waited so long to attack, but the message was still clear. UAE had controlled the final climbs, brought the break back and put Pogačar in position to take the win.
Baudin takes polka dots after long break
While the stage win went to Pogačar, Baudin was rewarded for one of the strongest rides of the day. The EF Education-EasyPost rider spent around 125 kilometres in the breakaway, led over the Col de Toses and Col du Calvaire, and secured the polka-dot jersey.
He also took the combativity award after animating the stage long after the original 19-rider break had started to fall apart. For a French rider on the first stage back on French roads, it was a visible result even if the stage victory was ultimately out of reach.
Baudin had briefly been the virtual yellow jersey during the middle part of the stage, but the GC teams never let the gap become dangerous enough for that to last. UAE’s chase ensured the break would be brought back before Les Angles.
The mountains jersey was a clear consolation. After Alex Molenaar had taken polka dots on stage 2, Baudin’s category 1 points on the Col de Toses shifted the classification and gave EF Education-EasyPost a reward from a hard day out front.
Early Tour rivalry tightens again
The stage strengthened the feeling that this Tour has already narrowed into a direct Pogačar-Vingegaard duel, even with other contenders still close. Vingegaard landed the first blow in the Barcelona team time-trial. UAE answered through Del Toro and Pogačar on stage 2. At Les Angles, Pogačar took the win himself.
Vingegaard’s second place showed he remains fully in the race, and Team Visma | Lease a Bike were calm through much of the day, only taking over late. But UAE were the more assertive team, especially after the border, and they shaped the finish almost from the moment the break’s gap began to fall.
Carapaz’s third place was also important. He had been active early in the race and then survived the final selection, showing that EF Education-EasyPost had more than one reason to be pleased after Baudin’s breakaway ride.
Seixas’ fourth place may be one of the most significant results outside the two main favourites. The French teenager had already shown resilience on stage 2 after a bike change, and this time he was still there when the GC riders sprinted for the summit finish.
Tour de France 2026 stage 3 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
