Team Visma | Lease a Bike won stage 3 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on Tuesday, taking the 28.4km team time trial in Perreux despite losing Wout van Aert early and Ben Tulett to a rear puncture on the descent. Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) kept the yellow jersey after his squad finished third, 29 seconds behind the winners, a gap small enough to preserve the lead he built on stage 1.
Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) was the day's biggest GC winner crossing the line faster than anyone else in the special ASO style TTT where the first rider sets the whole team's time (though GC placing are determined by each rider's individual time, confusingly).
Netcompany-Ineos slotted into second at nine seconds, with Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley both well placed but left short of yellow after a mechanical forced the team to wait for Onley. Behind those top squads, the gaps ballooned: Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) lost 32 seconds to Visma, Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) conceded 45 seconds, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar) lost 52, and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) shipped a full 1:01 to Jorgenson.
Visma adapt, EF survive, Ineos rue mechanical
After the race Jorgenson acknowledged that the race did not go their way at all but they still managed to pull off the fastest time. "It didn't really go as planned at all," he said in the ASO post race interview. "We lost Wout pretty early, he wasn't feeling super, and then Ben flatted and almost crashed on the main descent. That was a hairy moment. But I think we adapted well to the situation and we could kind of rearrange things and readjust."
The American team leader said that they couldn't have gone faster in the final 10km descent with shout-outs for TT specialists Bruno Armirail, Edoardo Affini and Per Strand Hagenes as they delivered him to the bottom of the final climb alongside Jørgen Nordhagen. Jorgenson added how much of a fan he is of the TTT format. "It's seven times better than winning on your own because you get the moment right afterwards together," he said. Producing this result despite the disruption underlined Visma's depth before the mountains.
A fairy tale keeps going for Alps local, Alex Baudin, though. He keeps the yellow jersey by 12 seconds over the Netcompany-Ineos duo of Vauquelin and Onley going into what is seen as the two least difficult days of the week on stage four. "We have a really good team for the TTT and the guys did an amazing job for me," said Baudin in an interview on Cycling Pro Net's YouTube channel. "They led me out in the last kilometres and I just had to empty myself on the last climb," he continued.
"It is not going to be easy (to keep yellow)." Baudin said. "It is doable, we kept yellow for two days so why not two or three more days and we will just try our best."
Netcompany-Ineos had the firepower to win the stage and take yellow from Baudin, but a dropped chain for Onley forced the team to slow at high speed. Vauquelin's frustration was evident in his post-race interview with Cycling Pro Net. "It's a very delicate situation because we're going at 80km/h," he said. "If you wait for someone, you lose a huge amount of time. You maybe lose 15 to 20 seconds. It's really huge."
Vauquelin said the decision to wait would not have been his call. "A bit of disappointment, we wanted to win and we had a mechanical issue. It's certainly not the best way to lose, so to speak," he said. He did, however, frame the broader result as positive - the team still finished second, took time on Seixas and Del Toro, and confirmed their ability to execute under pressure ahead of the Tour de France, which opens with a TTT in Barcelona.
The riders who lost time to the likes of Jorgenson, Onley and Vauquelin today are the riders who have it all to do in the mountains. The positive for some is that, in the cases of Seixas, Del Toro and Ayuso is that, on their day, they are some of the very best climbers in the world, so the race is wide open with an exciting few days to come.
Del Toro, when interviewed, didn't know he would be losing a minute to Jorgenson, but said: "I can be happy. It is the first time I do (a TTT) as a pro and I think we did a good job." he said. When asked how important the stage was looking ahead to the Tour de France the Mexican champion said "Quite a bit. Because we will be mentally prepared for that day. It is interesting for me to be here, so I'm happy with the effort."
Uijtdebroeks said the TTT mattered beyond this race. "It's super important for this race this week, but more important for the Tour," he said. "I haven't done a TTT since Vuelta 2023." Movistar performed above their expected ability finishing 7th at 52 seconds.
Baudin carries the yellow jersey into stage 4, a lumpy affair with plenty of attack points but a day that, with a flat final 30km, should suit another breakaway success rather than any GC action.
Cover image credit: Gaëtan Flamme
