“I waited quite a long time for this one” – Yannis Voisard finally breaks through on AlUla Tour summit finish

Patience rather than panic proved decisive on the first real GC test of the 2026 AlUla Tour, as Yannis Voisard delivered a perfectly judged late effort to claim stage three and move into the race lead.

After two sprint dominated opening days, the uphill finish at Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah finally split the race. Multiple attacks flew on the steep final kilometres, but Voisard resisted the temptation to go early, instead waiting for the headwind and the gradient to thin the front group.

That restraint paid off in the final kilometre, when he bridged back to the last attackers and powered past them in the closing metres to take the biggest victory of his career.

“It’s amazing to start the season with a victory,” Voisard said after the stage. “I waited quite a long time for this one, since Hungary a few years ago, so I’m super happy to win today.”

The decisive moment came not with the first acceleration, but with the last. Voisard explained that the headwind on the final climb forced him into a patient approach, even as rivals tried to force the issue earlier.

“I knew with the headwind that I had to wait until the very last moment, really until the final kilometre,” he said. “Then I went all-in at the end. I didn’t really think about the guys behind.”

When the elastic snapped ahead of him, Voisard had the legs to respond.

“I had the power to come back on the three riders in front,” he added, “and then I knew I had a quite strong finish on a finish line like this.”

Beyond the stage victory itself, the manner of the win carried wider significance. Stage three was stacked with WorldTour contenders and established GC riders, making Voisard’s late surge a meaningful benchmark rather than a situational success.

“The level is super high here,” he said. “I really want to thank my teammates because they did an amazing job from the start of the week. So it’s a big win for us.”

The result hands Voisard the leader’s jersey with two stages remaining, but he was quick to temper expectations given the nature of what lies ahead.

“We’ll do our best,” he said. “We don’t know. Maybe tomorrow there can be crosswinds again, and the last day for sure will be super hard. We’ll do our best to keep this jersey.”

For now, though, stage three belongs entirely to Voisard, a victory built on restraint, confidence, and the belief that waiting for the right moment was better than forcing the issue too early.