Favorites stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025 | Final test for the first yellow jersey of the 2026 Tour de France
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Follow us on GoogleOn day three of Paris-Nice, the A.S.O. has opted for a recipe also used last year: a team time trial, but one in which the individual time counts. From a tactical point of view, this promises to be interesting, just like last year. This can be attributed to the necessary elevation meters, which make good planning and teamwork crucial throughout 28 kilometers. IDLProCycling.com shows you what to expect!
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Course stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025
It will be a team time trial, but the individual time will count. How did it go again last year in Auxerre? A strong seven from UAE Emirates won ahead of Jayco AlUla and EF Education-EasyPost. Remco Evenepoel's Soudal Quick-Step finished fourth, Visma | Lease a Bike with overall winner Matteo Jorgenson 'only' sixth, and Primoz Roglic left some of his BORA-Hansgrohe teammates behind early on and ended up in eleventh place.
This just goes to show what a challenge this special event is. We had to arrive with four or five riders in TTTs in the past, but the A.S.O. has now opted for a more modern variant. Proof that this test case has been successful is that the opening stage of the 2026 Tour de France in Barcelona will consist of this format, with a finish on Montjuic, next to the Olympic stadium of the Catalan city.
Anyway, we got sidetracked. The team time trial of Paris-Nice 2025 - starting on the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit - has a similar character. It is 28.4 kilometers long and runs primarily on gently sloping roads, where teamwork and tactics will be key. Four kilometers from the finish line, the Cote de la Pisserotte (1 kilometer at 5.4 percent) can provide a nice launching pad, while the last few hundred meters in Nevers climb slightly.
Times
Start: 8:30 AM EST
Finish: 10:28 AM EST
Start: 8:30 AM EST
Finish: 10:28 AM EST
Team time trial start times for stage 3 of Paris-Nice 2025
8:30 AM EST Tudor Pro Cycling
8:34 AM EST Jayco-AlUla
8:38 AM EST Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
8:42 AM EST INEOS Grenadiers
8:46 AM EST Movistar
8:50 AM EST Groupama-FDJ
8:54 AM EST UAE Emirates XRG
8:58 AM EST Lidl-Trek
9:02 AM EST EF Education-EasyPost
9:06 AM EST Visma | Lease a Bike
9:10 AM EST Picnic PostNL
9:14 AM EST Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
9:18 AM EST Cofidis
9:22 AM EST Intermarché-Wanty
9:26 AM EST Arkéa-B&B Hotels
9:30 AM EST Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
9:34 AM EST Uno-X Mobility
9:38 AM EST Bahrain Victorious
9:42 AM EST TotalEnergies
9:46 AM EST Alpecin-Deceuninck
9:50 AM EST XDS Astana
9:54 AM EST Soudal Quick-Step
8:34 AM EST Jayco-AlUla
8:38 AM EST Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
8:42 AM EST INEOS Grenadiers
8:46 AM EST Movistar
8:50 AM EST Groupama-FDJ
8:54 AM EST UAE Emirates XRG
8:58 AM EST Lidl-Trek
9:02 AM EST EF Education-EasyPost
9:06 AM EST Visma | Lease a Bike
9:10 AM EST Picnic PostNL
9:14 AM EST Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
9:18 AM EST Cofidis
9:22 AM EST Intermarché-Wanty
9:26 AM EST Arkéa-B&B Hotels
9:30 AM EST Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
9:34 AM EST Uno-X Mobility
9:38 AM EST Bahrain Victorious
9:42 AM EST TotalEnergies
9:46 AM EST Alpecin-Deceuninck
9:50 AM EST XDS Astana
9:54 AM EST Soudal Quick-Step
Weather stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025
Dry, 16 degrees Celsius, and hardly any wind. There's nothing to complain about, I would say.
Favorites stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025
All teams have brought the necessary watts to France so that we can expect a battle at the highest level. UAE Emirates-XRG, for example, will be lining up with fast riders Joao Almeida, Brandon McNulty, Pavel Sivakov, and Nils Politt. However, their work will be cut out to keep last year's second-place finishers behind them again.
The Aussies from Jayco AlUla will be lining up with a turbo time trial team. Max Walscheid, Michael Matthews, Ben O'Connor, Mauro Schmid, Kelland O'Brien, Ben O'Connor, and Michael Hepburn can all ride excellently in a time trial. At the same time, some also bring team pursuit experience from the track. However, the loss of Luke Durbridge is a bitter pill to swallow.
Visma | Lease a Bike is also one of the top favorites. The Dutch team starts with Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson, but Victor Campenaerts and Edoardo Affini are also strong riders. The same goes for INEOS Grenadiers, although they may have even more pure power with Joshua Tarling, Tobias Foss, Thymen Arensman, and Magnus Sheffield.
Read more below the photo!
EF Education-EasyPost (including Neilson Powless but without Kasper Asgreen) also usually performs well in team time trials. At the same time, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe (Aleksandr Vlasov and Matteo Sobrero) and Lidl-Trek (Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose) will also aim for a place in the top five.
Soudal Quick-Step (Max Schachmann and llan Van Wilder), Decathlon AG2R (Stefan Bissegger and Bruno Armirail), and Groupama-FDJ (Stefan Küng and Rémi Cavagna) also have fast riders. At the same time, Movistar with Will Barta, Ivan Romeo, and Lorenzo Milesi could surprise. For the other teams, it seems to be mainly a matter of minimizing damage.
Favorites stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025, according to IDLProCycling.com
Top favorites: Visma | Lease a Bike and INEOS Grenadiers
Outsiders: Jayco AlUla, UAE Emirates-XRG, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
Long shots: EF Education-EasyPost, Soudal Quick-Step, Lidl-Trek, Decathlon AG2R, Movistar and Groupama-FDJ
Outsiders: Jayco AlUla, UAE Emirates-XRG, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
Long shots: EF Education-EasyPost, Soudal Quick-Step, Lidl-Trek, Decathlon AG2R, Movistar and Groupama-FDJ
Read also
Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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Latest Comments
- Eight riders told to go for stages, and nobody gets one—hard to know what the plan was there. It’ll be interesting to see whether they pick a clear leader next time.bikebuffj10-11-2026
- Was Bernal’s 20th place really their best GC result? I thought he might have finished higher. Either way, it sounds like a rough Tour for the whole team.gearguru3310-11-2026
- Five days in breaks with no stage win is a painful stat. The team had chances, but they need to turn those opportunities into results.julien10-11-2026
- The Onley Vuelta example makes sense: a team with someone to rally around often looks much more cohesive. Hopefully INEOS can build on that rather than expecting a quick return to the Sky years.cadencekingm10-11-2026
- Thomas is right about the ambiguity. Eight riders all chasing stages can end up pulling in different directions, even if nobody’s deliberately working against anyone. They need a clearer plan once the GC leaders are out.robert6510-11-2026
- What a mess. The report makes it sound as though nobody properly explained the decision, and that’s hard to defend.jennifer1910-11-2026
- I’m still learning the rules: does moving left in a sprint automatically bring a penalty, or does it depend on whether the other rider is blocked? It sounds like Brand wasn’t impeded here.patriciaw10-11-2026
- A final decision still needs a proper explanation. If the federation’s complaint goes nowhere, I hope the officials at least review how they handled the riders afterwards.michael5410-11-2026
- Fair play to Lucinda for saying Marie had won fair and square. That kind of sportsmanship matters, especially after such a controversial decision.raceready710-11-2026
- Schreiber beat Brand on the road, so the jury needed to explain clearly why that slight deviation warranted relegation. Being cut off before she could give her account sounds appalling.lindae10-11-2026