Pogačar surges clear to win stage 3 and take yellow jersey – Tour de France

Tour de France 2026

Stage 3

A devastatingly-long and sustained acceleration by Tadej Pogačar in the final metres of the 2026 Tour de France’s first summit finish saw the World Champion capture both the yellow jersey and UAE Team Emirates’ second stage win in as many days.

Pogačar crossed the line with a two-second advantage on Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), just enough with the time bonus for the victory to move back into overall command of the race.

Third was Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), with a peloton already reduced by the Tour’s first incursion in the Pyrenees amidst severely hot weather then scrambling for the lesser places.

On a day featuring nearly 4,000 metres of climbing and the race’s return to France, Slovenian 22nd stage win of his career was forged thanks to kilometres of relentless hard work by UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

The UAE train reeled in Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), the last survivor of a break of 18, shortly after the penultimate classified ascent of the Col de la Calvaire, with the Frenchman claiming the polka-dot jersey but unable to make it to the finish.

Then on the short, punchy ascent to Les Angles, UAE set things up with a devastatingly long acceleration by stage 2 winner Isaac del Toro until around 300 metres to go, and when Pogačar unleashed his ferocious drawnout sprint for the line on the back of that, nobody, not even Vingegaard, was in any position to respond.

“It’s because of Isaac [del Toro] today, I got some extra power in the final. He committed more than 100% in the final climb. All the team, actually, in the middle of the stage we decided that it was possible to go for the stage win. I’m really happy that we started the Tour like this, and it was an incredible finish today,” Pogačar said when asked about his latest triumph and return to yellow.

“If we can win like we did today, and the team feels super good then we have to take the opportunity and we tried and we give it all today and we win.

“To take the yellow jersey is the dream for any cyclist of each age. So for me every time I can get it already is really special. I don’t know how long it [holding the lead] will last, but we try to enjoy every moment.”

Overall, Pogačar’s time bonus and slight time gap leave him tied on time with Vingegaard. But with Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) now at 23 seconds on GC, Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) the only other rival contender at less than 30 seconds, and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMN CGA) now 48 seconds behind, after just three stages of racing, these are some potentially significant gaps.

Stage 3 kicked off with early attacks involving Liam Slock (Lotto-Intermarché) and 2026 Tour de Suisse King of the Mountains Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep), but despite the obvious enthusiasm to go clear, none of them succeeded in staying away.

In contrast, on the opening category 3 Côte de Saint-Feliu de Codines, Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) was already struggling for a second straight day, finally abandoning, while a little later, another top Belgian, GC contender Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar) found himself in difficulties, too.

Forming the breakaway on a stage seemingly made for long-distance moves proved much more difficult than perhaps expected, with riders of the calibre of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) all failing to make the cut. Even if it could be expected that Jorgenson’s attempts to go clear would receive a firm thumbs-down from arch-rivals UAE Team Emirates, after a full 50 kilometres when another American, Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) also tested the water, he received an equally-negative reaction from even more teams.

Almost a third of the stage had passed (and all of the major climbing was yet to come) before Vervaeke, Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobliity), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) sparked a massive move that, crucially, received both Jumbo’s and UAE’s unspoken blessing.

This temporary truce enabled another 15 riders to make their way over in dribs and drabs, including Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), recent Tour de Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes leader Baudin, Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathon CMA CGM), Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana), Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious), Bernal, Luke Plapp and Mauro Schmid (both Jayco-AlUla), George Bennett (NSN), Raul García Pierna (Movistar), Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United), Michael Storer (Tudor), Joris Delbove and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) and Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

While Bernal, suffering from a puncture, had to drop back to the peloton, Pedersen staked an early claim on the green jersey by winning the sprint at Campdevanol, roughly halfway through the stage. But while Baudin went on to claim the polka-dot jersey as well, ultimately grabbing points in these secondary classifications was going to be as good as it got for the breakaways.

The interminably-long Coll de Toses, the first Pyrenean climb of the Tour and its first Cat. 1 ascent, had not even officially begun before UAE Team Emirates-XRG began whittling back the gap of the 20 ahead.

Baudin was the best-placed rider on GC at 1:07 and logically remained one of the most active in the break, but as the advantage dipped under two minutes it became very unclear if the move would make it to the finish. Looked at from the outside, the UAE pace didn’t seem like the harshest of tempos, but even so for potential GC outsiders like Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUia) and 2025 yellow jersey Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), it proved too much and they were far from the last to ease back on a much harder day all round than expected.

Baudin did claim maximum points at the summit of the Toses, ahead of a break now reduced to the Frenchman, García Pierna, Prodhomme, Bennett, Van Mechelen and Vercher. But UAE were looking increasingly active on the front of the bunch, though, with Tim Wellens in particular making it even clearer as the race headed towards France that this move would have a hard time staying away.

By the time the race returned to France, the gap was down to just under 1:30 between reduced break and bunch. The lowest slopes of the long, grinding, sunbaked slopes of the Col de la Calvaire initially produced a small amount of skirmishing in the break, but Van Mechelen and Baudin were keenest to keep the momentum going, the Frenchman finally making a solo move with an impressively sustained drive at 44km to go.

Finally he was joined by Prodhomme and from the way the two worked together, it seemed that snaffling the few points left on offer for the mountains jersey would be an important goal. In the bunch, meanwhile, Politt and Wellens had long swung off by this point, but Pogačar’s support train was still four riders strong. Led by Austrian powerhouse climber Felix Großschartner the UAE squad continued to make that numerical advantage count in the chase, too.

Baudin cleared the summit just ahead of Prodhomme, who did not dispute the points available, allowing Baudin to confirm his new hold on the polka-dot jersey. His shorts covered with salty sweat stains, Baudin continued to plug away alone despite his slowly ebbing advantage and just over the top of a long, unclassified ascent prior to Les Angles, the Frenchman flung in the towel.

Seemingly indifferent to his capture, UAE continued to drive hard down the long straightaway to the finishing category 3 climb, nominally two kilometres long, but in fact much more of a drag than that. After their runaway success in Barcelona, all eyes were on what strategy UAE might employ on the 2026 Tour’s first stage back in France and it was only a question of time before they revealed it.

First the tireless Großschartner kept the pace high on the lower, steadier, slopes of the Angles, where there were still five UAE riders still on the front, led by – who else? – Pogačar.

Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek tried to overcome the UAE hegemony, but Adam Yates’ short but effective turn on a technical, snaking road through the village of Les Angles and then onto the exposed slopes above was the umpteenth reminder of which team was really in charge.

There were brief hints of unrest by riders as powerful as Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Red Bull’s Jai Hindley with Jorgenson’s compatriot and teammate Sepp Kuss keeping the pace high thereafter. However, when Del Toro came to the fore in the closing kilometre, the way the much reduced peloton instantly lined out and the way it all but fractured thanks to Del Toro spoke volumes about the Mexican’s power levels.

On and on Del Toro drove, with Pogačar in third place behind Vingegaard, Seixas just behind, but the rest of the field finding it very hard to resist. And if this was what UAE’s top right-hand man for Pogačar could achieve, what about when the man himself attacked?

Finally, with 300 metres left, Pogačar’s rivals found out. Blasting past Vingegaard, who seemed more interested in seeing who was following him than immediately giving chase, the Slovenian’s final assault was unmatchable.

It was the briefest of shows of force, lasting perhaps 10 to15 seconds at most. But in that time, not only did he regain control of yellow, but he also amply confirmed that at this point of the Tour at least, the Slovenian remains very much in a class of his own, and the man to beat for the overall, too.

At 181.9 kilometres, tomorrow’s stage 4 takes the yellow caravan through the foothills of the Pyrenees. Along the way, the riders tackle roughly 2,800 metres of climbing. The final 35 kilometres of the race runs mainly downhill.

Carcassonne has become a familiar and popular stop in recent editions of the Tour. Just last year, Tim Wellens claimed a stage victory here from the breakaway.

This year, the riders set off from the fortified town. They head towards the Pyrenees, but without venturing into the high mountains. At the same time, the terrain is far from flat. Some 40 kilometres in and two uncategorised climbs in each others wake loom – Col de Villerouge (8.6 kilometres at 3%) and Col de Bedos (3.4 kilometres 4.3%) – before the Col du Paradis throws in 6.4 kilometres 4.1%. Riders chasing KOM points have to wait until after the 100-kilometre mark.

The Col de Coudins offers 10.5 kilometres at an average gradient of 5.5%. After the battle for the polka dots, the route stays on a plateau for around 20 kilometres before descending into Bélesta. The road then rises gradually towards the second categorised climb of the day, the Col de Montségur: 6.9 kilometres at 6.6%. From the summit, 35.5 kilometres remain.

Following the descent, the remainder of the route undulates towards the finish in Foix. It rises slightly at times, but the overall trend is downhill.

Located at the confluence of the Ariège and Arget rivers, Foix has become a haven for attackers in recent Tour history. Luis León Sánchez (2012), Warren Barguil (2017) and Hugo Houle (2022) all triumphed here from breakaways, although each on a different finale to this year’s.

Stage 3 result:

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:45:11
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2s
3. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
4. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, both at same time
5. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +4s
6. Lennert Van Eeetvelt (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
8. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
9. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
10. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, all at same time

General Classification:

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 8:46:55
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +23s
4. Isaac del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +24s
5. Juan Ayuso (Esp) Lidl-Trek, +27s
6. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +48s
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +53s
8. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious, +1:09
9. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +1:11
10. Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +1:17