00:01After a couple of sprints which have thrown up some surprise winners in Luke
00:05Lamperty and Max Cantor, it is time for the team time trial on stage 3 of Paris
00:10Nice. This is the fourth straight edition of the race with a TTT and in
00:152023 and 2025 victory went to Wisma Lisa bike. The Dutch squad enjoyed this
00:22exercise and they are hoping to put Jonas Vingegaard into a strong overall
00:26position today. The course isn't very demanding so it'll come down to little
00:34details. Being able to go fast and stay together it should suit us. We work a lot
00:39on the team time trial. Obviously there are other very strong teams but we're not
00:44unhappy to have a TTT. Well two years ago UAE team Emirates took victory in Auxerre
00:51with the squad featuring their leader Brandon McNulty. The American was a last
00:55minute call up this year after Joao Almeida fell ill.
01:01Honestly I haven't seen it yet. The team came and did recon but because I was called late
01:05I came in a day later so I've only seen it on paper. I mean it looks like it has
01:10a
01:10little climb at the finish but I mean I'll try to do GC. I mean obviously Jonas and Juan are
01:16super
01:17good and probably a bit better but I mean I'll give my best for the GC.
01:22Another GC favourite is Juan Ayuso who took four bonus seconds yesterday.
01:26The Spaniard has already won the tour of the Algarve with his new team Little Trek
01:30and says they have what it takes to win today.
01:34Obviously the first time I do it with a with a new team but we've practiced quite a lot over
01:38the winter and also we came here before to also do one training more all together. So I think yeah
01:46we're we have quite a good chemistry and I hope we can show it and display it and I think
01:52we have a
01:52really good good team to try and go for the win. 23 and a half kilometres on a rolling course
01:58just east
01:58of the Loire river. It is a first past the post format so the first man over the line sets
02:03the time for
02:04his team. Tactics and legs will play a big part in terms of when the domestiques drop off.
02:14Well Picnic Postonel were the first to roll down the start ramp at 10 past three local time.
02:19The teams would be setting off at four minute intervals and hoping to stay together for as long
02:24as possible. As Axel Zingley said there were so many little details involved in a successful TTT.
02:30And the big teams have all been working on the discipline ahead of this year's Tour de France
02:34which starts with the team time trial around Barcelona on July the 4th. Each rider today
02:40then would be given their actual time and it's no longer necessary to have four men at the finish.
02:48Jayko Alula going much quicker than Picnic at the first checkpoint after 14k
02:53with a couple of the big stage favourites among the first teams to get underway.
02:59Next up it's the winners of this team time trial from a year ago. It's Visma Lisabike looking for
03:05another team time trial victory. Victor Campanos, the former European time trial champion, leads off first.
03:12Well meanwhile UAE team Emirates were looking to launch McNulty, a talented time trialist with six
03:18individual career wins in this discipline. Their riders just falling away one by one.
03:27Picnic were the first team to finish in 28 minutes 19 seconds. Rapidly knocked off top spot though by
03:33Jayko Alula who were over 40 seconds quicker. UAE arriving with just McNulty and Marc Soler but that
03:40didn't stop them taking the fastest time from Groupama FDJ United who had meanwhile gone quicker than Jayko Alula.
03:50All eyes were now on Visma Lisabike who still had four riders as they embarked on the final
03:55kilometre. Victor Campanart putting in a final turn for Vingegaard who also had the French champion Bruno
04:00Amurai and talented young Italian Davide Piganzoli for company. Vingegaard racing to the line as the
04:07Dutch team went top of the pile. And this is going to be an exceptional performance from Visma Lisabike
04:14that puts them straight into first place currently 26.55 an average speed of 52.4 kilometres per hour.
04:22Well Decathlon CMA CGM adopted a very different strategy of launching Dan Holler solo on the final
04:28climb but despite having almost five kilometres to cover on his own the Dutch champion was on an absolute flyer.
04:38Dan Holler comes to the line it's the CMA CGM who go fastest.
04:44And then were you a bit scared to be alone in the final?
04:47No because we knew it was fast and I mean if you have to swap off from the front and
04:53get back into
04:54the wheel at 70 is quite difficult so we used the guys before and then it was just me to
05:01to bring it home.
05:03A sensational performance from Holler but other teams were eyeing up that stage win notably Lidl
05:08Trek and the Ineos Grenadiers. While the last to go were EF Education Easy Post with their race
05:13leader Lamperti. The American one of the first men in pink to drop and saying goodbye to that yellow and
05:18white jersey.
05:22Well the battle for the stage honours was raging with Lidl Trek going a few seconds quicker than
05:27Decathlon at the intermediate checkpoint. A few minutes later Ineos improved that mark by 13 seconds
05:34at a blistering average of 54.8 kilometres an hour.
05:39Iuso sprinting to the finish line after being led out by Matthias Vacek and putting Lidl Trek on top by
05:45nine seconds. But the Ineos train was soon storming into the station led by the Josh Tarling Express.
05:51He had Kevin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley in his slipstream. Vauquelin making a dash for the line but could
05:57he overhaul Ayuso for yellow and white?
06:00Time is still green and will he reach the finish line in time to give the Ineos Grenadiers the stage
06:06victory. They do and the Ineos Grenadiers go fastest by 2.4 seconds, a time of 26 minutes and 40
06:14seconds.
06:21The Ineos claiming their first victory in a TTT since the Tour of Britain 2021. Yesterday they also
06:28locked out three of the top four positions in the individual time trial at Torreno Adriatico.
06:32They have clearly done excellent work against the clock over the winter. Vauquelin and Onley are now
06:37second and third overall.
06:43I was impatient to try out a TTT with Ineos. I knew it could be good for us and today
06:48everything worked
06:49out well. I'm happy that we could show all the work that we've done on time trials. We did well
06:55in
06:55the Algarve and on Torreno yesterday. Now the TTT here so yeah we're on a brilliant run.
07:02A stellar effort from Onley, Godon, Kwiatkowski, Rodriguez, Tarling, Vauquelin and Watson as
07:08Ineos won by just two seconds from Lidl Trek. Decathlon, Visma and Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe completed
07:13the top five. No stage win for Lidl Trek but Ayuso is our new race leader thanks to the bonus
07:19seconds
07:20he snaffled yesterday. The Spaniard leads Vauquelin by two seconds and Onley by three.
07:27There were no points handed out today so Luke Lamperty remains in the green jersey and he'll
07:32actually get an opportunity to wear it in Wednesday's fourth stage.
07:37Kasper Pedersen is still on top in the mountains classification the dame with a four point advantage
07:43over Matisse Lebert. And there's also been a change of white jersey. Ayuso is now the best
07:49young rider ahead of Vauquelin and Onley. Well those boys will get a chance to stretch their climbing
07:55legs in tomorrow's fourth stage which features a summit finish on Auchan. Join us for that on Wednesday
08:00and thanks for watching.
