Results Tour de France 2026 Stage 3 - Tadej Pogacar blasts rivals apart at Les Angles and lands blow to Vingegaard, Evenepoel & Seixas

Tadej Pogacar has taken victory on stage 3 of the 2026 Tour de France, powering clear of his general classification rivals on the final rise to Les Angles after UAE Team Emirates – XRG had spent the day dragging the race back from a dangerous breakaway.

The Slovenian was delivered into position by Isaac del Toro inside the final kilometre before launching a sprint that none of his rivals could match. Jonas Vingegaard had started the day in yellow by just six seconds, but after Pogacar’s stage win and the bonus seconds that came with it, the GC battle of this Tour has tightened again.

The first Pyrenean stage of the race began in fierce heat in Granollers, with repeated attacks preventing the race from settling during a rugged opening phase. A crash on the first climb and early splits added to the damage, but the main consequence was that the peloton spent far longer than expected fighting over the composition of the day’s move.

When the breakaway finally formed, it carried enough quality and enough general classification danger to force a reaction. Alex Baudin, starting the day 1:07 behind Vingegaard, became the virtual yellow jersey once the gap moved beyond two minutes, giving Team Visma | Lease a Bike a reason to keep the escape under control rather than letting the stage drift completely away.

Mads Pedersen also used the move to strike in the points classification, taking maximum points at the intermediate sprint in Campdevanol to move into the virtual green jersey lead ahead of Del Toro. Egan Bernal had been one of the most active riders in the long fight to establish the break, but his challenge ended with a puncture just as the move began to gain ground.

Baudin then shifted his target as UAE began to close in. He took maximum points over the Col de Toses, attacked again on the Col du Calvaire and crested that climb first too, securing the polka dot jersey for stage 4 after a combative day at the front.

The original 19-man move had been gradually stripped down as the stage crossed from Spain into France, where wildfire restrictions had prompted local authorities to ask fans to stay away from the roadside. Crowds were still visible in places, but the finale carried a different feel from a normal Tour mountain stage.

UAE took charge of the chase through the middle and final parts of the stage. Tim Wellens produced a long turn in the valley before Nils Politt, Felix Grossschartner, Brandon McNulty, Adam Yates and Del Toro helped keep the pressure on for Pogacar. By then, Baudin’s yellow-jersey dream had faded, even if his day had already been salvaged through the mountains classification.

Nicolas Prodhomme briefly joined Baudin before sitting up to return to the peloton and support Decathlon CMA CGM Team leader Paul Seixas. Baudin continued alone for as long as he could, but UAE swept him up with around 12 kilometres remaining, ending the breakaway’s stage-winning hopes and handing the race to the favourites.

The heat and terrain had already created damage behind. Romain Gregoire, Ben Healy, Ben O’Connor and Kevin Vauquelin were among those put into difficulty on or after the Col de Toses, while Arnaud de Lie faced a long solo fight near the back of the race after being dropped early.

Once Baudin had been caught, the approach to Les Angles became a positioning fight between the GC teams. UAE still had numbers around Pogacar, but Lidl-Trek moved up for Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose, Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team positioned Tom Pidcock, Decathlon CMA CGM Team kept Seixas in the mix and Visma protected Vingegaard near the front.

The official final climb was only 1.7km at 6.5%, but the road had been rising for several kilometres before that. Sepp Kuss briefly set the tempo with Del Toro, Pogacar and Vingegaard lined up behind, while Remco Evenepoel and Seixas were also still in position as the group stretched towards the final kilometre.

Pogacar had to correct his position after losing a few places around a roundabout following a motorbike manoeuvre, but he moved back up without panic. Del Toro then took over at the front inside the final kilometre, delivering a clear lead-out for Pogacar after his own stage victory in Barcelona 24 hours earlier.

From there, Pogacar finished it himself. Vingegaard was placed on his wheel as the sprint opened, but Pogacar immediately put metres into the rest of the group, taking the stage with a burst that underlined UAE’s control of the day from the chase to the final acceleration.

Vingegaard had begun the stage in yellow, with Pogacar only six seconds behind and Evenepoel, Del Toro and Ayuso all within 20 seconds of the race lead. After Baudin’s long breakaway challenge, UAE’s controlled chase and Pogacar’s final kick, the Tour’s first Pyrenean stage ended with the race’s biggest rivalry already sharpened again.