GRANOLLERS > LES ANGLES – Stage 3 – Tadej Pogacar asserted his authority on day 3 of the Tour de France 2026. UAE Emirates XRG’s Slovenian leader mastered the altitude finish at Les Angles to take his 22nd stage win in the event, his first this year. He also opened a 2-second gap to Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). The two stars are level on time in the overall standings, but Pogacar is the new leader thanks to a better combined stage placings in the opening stages. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) completed the stage podium ahead of Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM). Pogacar’s 22nd stage victory sees him equal the fifth-highest total in Tour history, held by André Darrigade.
After a couple of days entirely held in Catalonia and focused on Montjuïc, the peloton bid farewell to the Spanish Grand Départ and head to France with a 195.9-km cross-border stage 3. The road rises as the race enters the Pyrenees and rises above 1,500 metres of altitude. The total elevation gain for the day is an impressive 3,850 metres to reach Les Angles (1,794m above sea level).
The 183-rider peloton set off from Granollers just after noon. The Sun is out. And the attackers are inspired. As soon as the flag drops, Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) sets off to try to defend his polka-dot jersey. His move is rapidly nullified as there are numerous contenders for the breakaway, including big names such as Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Bernal left behind by an 18-man break
Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) leads the way to the first summit of the day, up Côte de Saint Felix de Codines (cat. 3, km 17.2). But the battle continues at an intense pace.
Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), and Matteo Vercher (Total Energies) manage to open a gap at km 58. Counter-attackers react and bridge the gap in successive waves, until a group of 18 riders is consolidated at km 72 with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious), Luke Plapp, Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), George Bennett (NSN), Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar), Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ), Michael Storer (Tudor), Joris Delbove (Total Energies), Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
Egan Bernal was about to make the break when he suffered a mechanical that took him out of contention.
Stage Highlight Video:
The road rises
Trailing by 1’07’’ in GC, Baudin is the main threat to the Maillot Jaune. The gap hits a maximum of 3’05’’ at km 96. At that point, the race enters the final 100 kilometres and UAE Emirates-XRG take over the pace-setting from Visma-Lease a Bike. The gap is down to 1’30’’ as Pedersen dominates the intermediate sprint in Campdevanol (km 98.4).
Soon after, the road rises to head to the Col de Toses, the first cat. 1 ascent of the Tour de France 2026. Garcia Pierna attacks at the bottom. He’s joined by Van Mechelen, then Vercher, and eventually Baudin, Prodhomme, and Bennett. Baudin leads the way to the summit while UAE Emirates-XRG control the gap.
With 45 kilometres to go, the race crosses the border and enters France after around 340 kilometres on Catalan roads.
UAE control, Pogacar concludes
Baudin attacks at the bottom of the climb to Col du Calvaire (11.4 km at 4.1%). Only Prodhomme can keep up. Baudin takes the KOM points at the summit again and all but secures the polka-dot jersey. Shortly after the summit, he goes solo. Last month, he covered the last 28 kilometres of stage 1 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on this own to take victory. But the peloton only trail 35 seconds as he enters the last 20 kilometres. Baudin is eventually reeled in with 11.5 kilometres to go.
UAE Emirates-XRG control the finale and Isaac del Toro ups the ante into the last kilometre. Pogacar opens up his sprint with 200 metres to go. On his wheel, Jonas Vingegaard is immediately distanced. He crosses the line in second position, with a gap of 2 seconds, just ahead of Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM).
The gap on the line and the time bonuses mean Pogacar and Vingegaard are level on time. The Slovenian leads the standings thanks to a lower tally when adding up the positions in which they finished each stage.
Stage 3 Results:
| UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 04h 45′ 11” | – | B : 10” | |
| J. VINGEGAARD | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 04h 45′ 13” | + 00h 00′ 02” | B : 6” |
| R. CARAPAZ | EF EDUCATION – EASYPOST | 04h 45′ 13” | + 00h 00′ 02” | B : 4” |
| P. SEIXAS | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 04h 45′ 13” | + 00h 00′ 02” | – |
| T. JOHANNESSEN | UNO-X MOBILITY | 04h 45′ 15” | + 00h 00′ 04” | – |
| L. VAN EETVELT | LOTTO INTERMARCHE | 04h 45′ 15” | + 00h 00′ 04” | – |
| F. LIPOWITZ | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 04h 45′ 15” | + 00h 00′ 04” | – |
| R. EVENEPOEL | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 04h 45′ 15” | + 00h 00′ 04” | – |
| I. DEL TORO | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 04h 45′ 15” | + 00h 00′ 04” | – |
| J. AYUSO | LIDL-TREK | 04h 45′ 15” | + 00h 00′ 04” | – |
General Classification after Stage 3:
| T. POGACAR | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 08h 46′ 55” | – | B : 16” |
| J. VINGEGAARD | TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE | 08h 46′ 55” | – | B : 6” |
| R. EVENEPOEL | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 08h 47′ 18” | + 00h 00′ 23” | B : 4” |
| I. DEL TORO | UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG | 08h 47′ 19” | + 00h 00′ 24” | B : 10” |
| J. AYUSO | LIDL-TREK | 08h 47′ 22” | + 00h 00′ 27” | – |
| P. SEIXAS | DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM | 08h 47′ 43” | + 00h 00′ 48” | – |
| F. LIPOWITZ | RED BULL – BORA – HANSGROHE | 08h 47′ 48” | + 00h 00′ 53” | – |
| L. MARTINEZ | BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS | 08h 48′ 04” | + 00h 01′ 09” | – |
| T. JOHANNESSEN | UNO-X MOBILITY | 08h 48′ 06” | + 00h 01′ 11” | – |
| I. VAN WILDER | SOUDAL QUICK-STEP | 08h 48′ 12” | + 00h 01′ 17” | – |
