Yesterday's 32.2km team time trial (TTT) at Paris-Nice was the first time the event was back in the race after an absence of 30 years. And while the TTT can sometimes turn a race on its head, and at times ruin the battle for the yellow jersey, that wasn't the case yesterday.
The time differences after the stage leave the two favourites - Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) - nicely poised for a good battle. Pogačar was 12 seconds up on Vingegaard before the stage but is now 11 seconds down on him.
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With Pogačar likely to win time bonuses at the intermediate sprints in the coming days - as he did on stages 1 and 2 - and more bonuses on offer at the finishes, Vingegaard really needs to drop his rival on the climbs if he wants to win this race overall.
Yesterday's stage was won, in an average speed of 56.963kmph, by Jumbo Visma. They claimed victory by just one second, with EF Education-EasyPost in 2nd place. That result put Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) into the yellow jersey. The Dane has a lead of one second over Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma) ahead of the summit finish on today's stage 4 to La Loge des Gardes.
Photos by Aurélien Vialatte & Anderl Hartmann
