Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes 2026 stage 3 preview | Favourites and start times for Tour de France dress rehearsal

After two days, we already arrive at perhaps the most important stage of the Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes. The team time trial in stage three will shake up the general classification and create real gaps, but there is more at stake than just this race. In de Leiderstrui sets out the favourites!

The stage 3 team time trial will be crucial. Not only for the race itself, but also towards the Tour de France, where a team time trial opens the action in Barcelona. There are a few little hills here and there, and this test is not easy either. In fact, this team time trial goes even more up and down over the more than 28 kilometres around Perreux.

The start is relatively straightforward: we head in a north-westerly direction. There are still a few bends in the first few kilometres, but soon the gradual climb to Coutouvre follows. The first kilometre is the hardest, at an average of 6.1 per cent, but after that it is mostly grinding on false flat. In Coutrouve there is also the first intermediate point, after eight kilometres of racing.

In Montagny there is the next time check, but a relatively technical descent follows. It is short, and after that the road will rise slightly again. There are a few bends there too, but because of the slightly lower speed you will not be bothered much by that. In Montagny, after 15.8 kilometres, there is the final time check: then there are still about 13 kilometres to ride.

And those are mainly downhill. It is never really steep downhill; it is more of a rideable descent. There are also very few corners on the course in the final section, so it will be a power effort to the finish in Perreux. The final kilometre and a half does climb stingingly, with five right-angle bends in the closing section.

3:05 pm: Team Picnic PostNL
3:09 pm: Lotto Intermarché
3:13 pm: NSN Cycling Team
3:17 pm: Jayco AlUla
3:21 p.m.: TotalEnergies

3:25 p.m.: Bahrain Victorious
3:29 p.m.: Cofidis
3:33 p.m.: Tudor Pro Cycling Team
3:37 p.m.: Caja Rujal-Seguros RGA
3:41 p.m.: Alpecin-Premier Tech

3:45 p.m.: Soudal-Quick Step
3:49 p.m.: UAE Team Emirates-XRG
3:53 p.m.: Movistar
3:57 p.m.: XDS Astana
4:01 p.m.: Lidl-Trek

4:05 p.m.: Decathlon CMA CGM
4:09 p.m.: Uno-X Mobility
4:13 p.m.: Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
4:17 p.m.: Netcompany INEOS
4:21 p.m.: Visma | Lease a Bike

4:25 p.m.: Groupama-FDJ
4:29 p.m.: EF Education-EasyPost

Fairly cool, but the riders will not mind that too much. It will reach a maximum of around 21 degrees, with a force-three wind from the north-west. A drop or two may fall, but expect it to stay dry.

This year, two team time trials have already been held at the highest level. Early in the year Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe won the Trofeo Ses Salines, and Netcompany INEOS won the stage in Paris-Nice. The British team lines up in the Tour Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes with five of the same names, including the monster Josh Tarling, but also hard workers such as Dorian Godon and Sam Watson.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe already won a team time trial in Spain in January, but now starts with a very different line-up. Back then Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz were there. Whether they can achieve the same result with names like Maxim Van Gils, Gianni Vermeersch, Daniel Felipe Martínez and Finn Fisher-Black remains to be seen.

For the big favourites, we may well look at the expected teams. Visma | Lease a Bike lines up with a very strong squad, because with Bruno Armirail, Edoardo Affini and Wout van Aert there are three top time-trial riders present, plus hard men such as Per Strand Hagenes and Matteo Jorgenson.

But Decathlon CMA CGM also has a chance. That will mainly come down to three names: Daan Hoole impressed in Paris-Nice, but Stefan Bissegger also has an enormous engine. And then there is of course Paul Seixas, who unleashed devastating power in the individual time trial at the Tour of the Basque Country.

For UAE Team Emirates-XRG there is no Tadej Pogacar, Mikkel Bjerg or Florian Vermeersch, but there are Ivo Oliveira, João Almeida and Isaac Del Toro. Juan Ayuso can count on Quinn Simmons and Mattias Skjelmose at Lidl-Trek, while Movistar brings an attractive team with Raúl García Pierna, Pablo Castrillo and Iván Romeo.

Top favorites: Visma | Lease a Bike and Decathlon CMA CGM
Outsiders: Netcompany INEOS and UAE Team Emirates-XRG
Long shots: Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Lidl-Trek and Movistar

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]