DISCUSSION - Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stage 3 - Did INEOS make the right decision by waiting for Oscar Onley? Unrecognisable UAE?

After two days dominated by breakaway specialists, the general classification contenders finally came to the fore on stage three of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and it was Team Visma | Lease a Bike who emerged on top.

The Dutch outfit powered to victory in the 28-kilometre team time trial around Le Perreux, beating both Netcompany INEOS and Lidl-Trek in what served as an important rehearsal for the upcoming team time trial at the Tour de France.

With the event using the same format as recent editions of Paris-Nice and the Tour, individual times counted at the finish rather than the fourth rider across the line, adding another layer of tactical complexity to an already demanding parcours that featured two late climbs.

Team Jayco AlUla were the first team to post a serious benchmark after the opening runs from the lower-ranked squads, before Movistar Team briefly moved into the lead thanks largely to a powerful ride from Cian Uijtdebroeks. The Belgian climber ended up isolated in the closing kilometres as his teammates faded one by one. But the real favourites were still out on the road.

Lidl-Trek, led by Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose, smashed the Movistar time by twenty seconds and looked set for a long stint in the hot seat. That optimism disappeared quickly once split times from Visma and INEOS started appearing.

At every intermediate checkpoint, Netcompany INEOS were flying. Visma remained the only team capable of matching their pace, consistently staying within a handful of seconds.

Wout van Aert was dropped surprisingly early, unable to hold the pace after roughly eight minutes of racing. It was another indication that the Belgian is still searching for his best condition. Later in the stage, Ben Tulett also lost contact after suffering a puncture.

INEOS encountered problems of their own. Race leader Oscar Onley briefly suffered a mechanical issue when his chain came off, although the Scot managed to avoid disaster by fixing the problem quickly and rejoining the effort almost immediately.

Despite the setbacks, the British squad continued to produce one of the rides of the season. Kevin Vauquelin guided Onley deep into the finale and INEOS stormed to the finish with a time that blew Lidl-Trek out of contention by 22 seconds.

Fresh off their dominant display earlier this season at Paris-Nice, the British team once again underlined their status as one of the strongest collective units against the clock.

Although Visma trailed INEOS at several points on the course, the Dutch team finished significantly stronger. The final kilometres proved decisive as French national time trial champion Bruno Armirail and rising Norwegian talent Jorgen Nordhagen delivered a perfectly timed lead-out for Matteo Jorgenson.

The American accelerated hard in the final sprint to the line and stopped the clock nine seconds faster than INEOS, sealing an emphatic stage victory for the squad of team boss Richard Plugge.

The day’s result was not enough to take the overall lead away from Alex Baudin, however. EF Education-EasyPost produced a solid collective performance to keep the Frenchman in yellow by around twelve seconds.

Jorgenson nevertheless emerged as one of the biggest winners in the general classification battle. While Onley and Ayuso remain within striking distance, the American gained substantial time on several major rivals. He now holds significant advantages over Paul Seixas, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Uijtdebroeks and especially Isaac Del Toro.

The biggest disappointment of the day undoubtedly came from UAE Team Emirates - XRG, who never looked competitive throughout the stage and lost over a minute in a performance that raises serious questions ahead of the mountain stages still to come.

Carlos Silva of CyclingUpToDate shared his take on today’s team time trial at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, highlighting both the impressive display from Team Visma | Lease a Bike and the misfortune that may have cost Netcompany INEOS a victory.

Today’s team time trial offered some interesting conclusions, the main one being the way Team Visma | Lease a Bike completed the 28-kilometre course. The Dutch squad looked incredibly sharp and already appears to have its Tour de France block finely tuned. Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar will go head-to-head in Barcelona later this summer, and for now Visma’s collective looks far more polished and better drilled.

That said, despite Visma taking the stage victory, I personally believe it only happened because Oscar Onley suffered a mechanical issue when his chain came off the chainring. The team received orders to wait for him, much to the frustration of Kevin Vauquelin. Those few seconds they lost while slowing down and allowing Onley to rejoin may ultimately have cost them the stage win. The British squad had been smashing the intermediate times and, without that piece of bad luck, we may well have seen a very different outcome. Unfortunately, we will never know how it would have ended.

EF Education - EasyPost also deserve plenty of credit after finishing third on the day and successfully defending Alex Baudin’s yellow jersey. Many expected the Frenchman to lose the race lead today, but the EF rider gave everything on the final climb and the American team were rewarded for their effort. They even posted a faster finishing time than another of the pre-stage favourites, Lidl-Trek of Juan Ayuso and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe of Dani Martinez, with those two teams separated by eight seconds at the line.

Meanwhile, expectations surrounding Paul Seixas’ team were perhaps left slightly below what many had anticipated. Losing 45 seconds to Visma… if we start looking ahead to July, Decathlon could already leave Spain needing to recover around a minute in the battle for overall leadership. Still, it is important to stay calm and wait, because in cycling no two days are ever the same. There is still plenty of time left to work and improve.

Today I’m not going to talk about UAE Team Emirates - XRG. Over the first two days I focused mainly on João Almeida. Today, I’d have to talk about the entire team. The Emirates squad looked completely unrecognisable. And now... who’s to blame? UAE are a team completely lost at the moment, without direction. Without a leader. Without a voice.

Ruben Silva from CyclingUpToDate, is usually far from being a fan of team time trials, but today even he had to admit the formula delivered an intriguing spectacle.

I'm not the biggest fan of TTT's, but I think there was an interesting formula for today. Whilst I think it's certainly excessive to just insert climbs everywhere, I think in a TTT occasionally it fits. Because the discipline already requires a lot of coordination, planning and execution - none can fail - and when you had some small climbs and descents into the mix, that planning takes up an even bigger amount of importance.

Some teams pushed the climbs to the limit and had few men late on to leadout into the final climb. Some had a lot of men and went full speed into the climb. Hence when you look at a team like UAE, who once again performed poorly in the discipline, you understand it's not a lack of good individual time trialists but just a lack of good execution in the discipline.

On the contrary EF, with a team that is nowhere near the same level, was so strong they even managed to save Alex Baudin's jersey. Seeing Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro lose some meaningful time is good for the race, it will pressure these two riders into having to make the difference, and not race defensively once we reach the mountains once again - specially as both played it very conservative on day 1, where they lost more time to Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley.

These 2 are also the ones that have the most to talk about. I remind everyone that at Paris-Nice, INEOS had several riders in the famous crosswind stage stay with Onley, whilst Kévin Vauquelin behind in the peloton was isolated. Onley then cracked fully, and Vauquelin at the end (the strong INEOS rider by far) was livid.

Today Onley had a mechanical, which is not his fault, but upon being ordered to wait, Vauquelin was once again livid that his teammates were stopping.Did INEOS lose 9 seconds in that slowing down? I argue maybe not, but 9 seconds is around what they lost. The disappointment was clear, as the Frenchman could've won the stage and also moved into the yellow jersey.

Both riders are very good, were signed given freedom to their own ambitions, but are below the main climbers - so I think none will want to sacrifice for the other, and we could well see more internal disputes here and also at the Tour de France.Not to say bad luck took INEOS' win, Visma also had their bad luck and Ben Tulett fell out of GC completely due to it.

So overall, an interesting day. The INEOS duo have 48 seconds over Seixas and 1:04 over Del Toro, which are meaningful gaps that have to be closed. Add Matteo Jorgenson and a very strong Visma to the mix next to the INEOS boys; and an Ayuso-Skjelmose duo that is looking good for Lidl, and we have a proper GC fight on our hands.

Jorge Borreguero from CiclismoAlDia kept a close eye on everything that unfolded on the road and, at the end of the day, summed up what could prove to be a turning point in the general classification of the 2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

The team time trial created significant gaps in a discipline where the differences between the main contenders are usually quite small. Team Visma | Lease a Bike delivered a real statement ride, once again proving they remain one of the strongest and most organised blocks in the peloton.

Matteo Jorgenson emerged as one of the biggest winners of the day. Beyond the collective victory, the American has placed himself firmly back into contention for the general classification and confirmed he is arriving in excellent condition ahead of his major objective later this summer. If he maintains this level in the mountains, he will undoubtedly be one of the riders to beat.

It was also an excellent day for Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard gained 13 seconds on Paul Seixas and 29 seconds on Isaac Del Toro, a very valuable advantage in a one-week stage race where margins like these can ultimately prove decisive.

Paul Seixas, meanwhile, came through the stage relatively well. His team managed to limit the damage and losing only thirteen seconds to Ayuso keeps his chances fully alive heading into the mountain stages, terrain where he has already shown himself to be one of the strongest riders in the peloton.

For Movistar Team, the outcome was clearly positive as well. Finishing seventh, ahead of teams such as UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Jayco AlUla, highlighted the strength of their collective performance. Cian Uijtdebroeks’ final effort also helped minimise losses against the main favourites while gaining time on Del Toro. It may not have been a spectacular result, but it was certainly competitive enough to keep them firmly in the GC battle.

The biggest disappointment among the leading contenders was undoubtedly UAE Team Emirates - XRG. Losing almost half a minute to Visma and also conceding time to Lidl - Trek now forces Isaac Del Toro into a far more aggressive role over the coming stages if he wants to regain ground in the overall standings.

What became clear after today’s team time trial is that the general classification battle has been completely reshaped. Visma looked like the most complete and organised team in the race, INEOS showed both strength and internal tension, EF exceeded expectations, while UAE Team Emirates - XRG left more questions than answers.

With meaningful gaps now opening between the main contenders and several riders already being forced into a more aggressive approach for the mountains, the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes suddenly feels far more unpredictable, and far more explosive, than it did just 24 hours ago.