Ineos pip Lidl-Trek in Paris-Nice TTT as Ayuso moves into yellow

Ineos Grenadiers took a strong victory on stage 3 of the 2026 Paris-Nice after timing their 23.5km effort to perfection, with Kevin Vauquelin providing the final launch for victory to beat Lidl-Trek by just two seconds. It wasn't all disappointment for Lidl-Trek, however, as Juan Ayuso moved into the yellow jersey.

With a team time trial set for the opening day of this year’s Tour de France in Barcelona, this offered a dress rehearsal in the format, with times taken individually at the finish line, as will be the case in July. 

The early benchmark of the day was laid down by Jayco-AlUla with a time of 27:37.23, but they would be overtaken by UAE Team Emirates-XRG by 16 seconds.

UAE's stint in the hotseat would be brief as Visma | Lease a Bike set a scorching time of 26:55.92, with an average speed of 52.2 kph. Visma's team contained the likes of Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini, Bruno Armirail, and, of course, Jonas Vingegaard, vying to win the general classification.

However, Visma were out of the hot seat as more teams completed the effort, with Decathlon CMA CGM some four seconds quicker. 

That was all down to one man, Daan Hoole, who somehow found himself solo, and the Dutchman dug deep to set the time in the finale. All this after Hoole's stage 2 efforts, where he launched a daring attack inside the last 20km only to be swept up at the last.

Decathlon's stay in the hotseat became uncomfortable as Lidl-Trek were motoring and still all together as a unit as they passed through the first time check one second quicker.

One by one, riders dropped off the Lidl train, leaving Mathias Vacek to launch Juan Ayuso inside the final kilometre, and the Spaniard came home nine seconds faster than Decathlon and 13 up on Vingegaard.

The win wasn't set in stone, however, as the Ineos Grenadiers set the fastest time through the intermediate, 12 seconds faster than Lidl, teeing up a tense finale for Lidl. Although they couldn't quite hold that tempo all the way to the line, Ineos did enough to claim victory by two seconds.

Joshua Tarling delivered Kevin Vauquelin inside the final kilometre, and Vauquelin dug deep to power Ineos to stage victory as Juan Ayuso takes the yellow jersey thanks to the four bonus seconds he took on stage 2.

Ayuso will be aiming to defend the jersey on stage 4 with the uphill kick to the line in Uchon. The Spaniard leads Vauquelin by two seconds in the overall standings, with Oscar Onley third at three seconds. Jonas Vingegaard is seventh at 17 seconds.