As it happened: New overall leader as stage three team time trial shakes up GC at Paris-Nice

Hello and welcome to stage three of Paris-Nice.

Today, it’s time for something that we don’t get to see too often these days in cycling - a team time trial. It’s a unique spectacle in the sport, and one of the most picture-friendly with smooth lines of matching cyclists working perfectly in harmony.

As well as being a spectacle, this team time trial is also set to have a significant impact on the GC. At 28.4km, this route has the capacity to cause potentially pivotal time gaps, especially in a stage race that is only a week long.

For an idea of how big the gaps might be: in last year’s equivalent team time trial stage (which was slightly shorter, at 26.9km), over two minutes separated UAE Team Emirates in first and Intermarché - Wanty in last.

With time trial specialists Edoardo Affini and Victor Campanaerts joining GC leaders Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson, Team Visma-Lease a Bike has a formidable line-up, that could see them take control of the GC race today. Here they were doing a recon of the course earlier.

Visma-Lease a Bike will be the tenth of the 22 teams off the start ramp today. The first will be Tudor Pro Cycling, in about five minutes from now. Here’s a full list of start times. 

And they're off! Tudor Pro Cycling have got this team time trial underway.

Julian Alaphilippe is of course Tudor's star name, although their sprinter Alberto Dainese has delivered the team their best result so far at this Paris-Nice, third place on stage one. 

Next off are Jayco-AlUla, harbouring real GC ambitions for their leader Ben O’Connor. They’ll have to try and post a good time without one of their best time trialists, Luke Durbdige, who crashed out of the race yesterday.

The riders are all setting off from the motor racing circuit of Nevers Magny-Cours, normally the preserve of motor cars but today being raced on by cyclists

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale are the latest team to start. They have some quality time trialists in their line-up, notably Stefan Bissegger and Bruno Armirail, who will be hoping to aid Felix Gall’s GC chances.

Here's Tudor Pro Cycling, the first team to have set off today.

Now Ineos Grenadiers start, who are surely one of the favourites for the win today. In addition to Josh Tarling, they also have Magus Sheffield, Bob Jungels and former world champion Tobias Foss in the engine room, while their leader Thymen Arensman is one of the best time trialists among the GC contenders.

Movistar are off. Their GC leaders are Iván Romeo and Pablo Castrillo, the same combination that have worked well together at the Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana and UAE Tour to seal eighth and fourth overall for the latter.

Tudor are through the first time check, in 16-15. This is the only intermediate check on the route, and is located about halfway through. 

Now it’s Groupama-FDJ’s turn to start. Stefan Küng would have been a favourite for the win were this an individual time trial, but his teammates lack the time trialling quality to back him up in this event.

A big moment now as UAE Team Emirates start. João Almeida is one of the top favourites for GC, and has plenty of firepower to help him today in Ivo Oliveira, Brandon McNulty and Jhonatan Narváez.

Jayco are through the intermediate check 29 seconds quicker than Tudor, while Decathlon have gone 19 seconds quicker than Tudor. 

Ineos are through the check, five seconds slower than Jayco. 

Lidl-Trek are off. This is a big day for their leader Matthias Skjelmose, who doesn’t want to lose too much time today in his GC bid. But it's Julian Bernard who’s getting the cheers from the crowd - this is his home area.

EF Education-EasyPost are net, another team a man down following Kasper Asgreen’s withdrawal. Neilson Powless is their GC leader.

Tudor Pro Cycling have finished their ride, posting a time of 31-32.

It’s worth mentioning that this team time trial is operating under new rules, 

The time each team posts is based on that of their first rider over the line. But in terms of GC times, each rider’s time is based on when they individually cross the line.

NEW FASTEST TIME - JAYCO-ALULA

Jayco-AlUla are the second team through, and they're 51 seconds quicker than Tudor. 

The day’s top favourites are off - Visma-Lease a Bike.They’re aiming to land a real hammer blow to their GC rivals today.

The strategy most teams are taking is to burn through riders throughout the course, and be left with just a few at the finish. Alaphilippe and Storer were the only two riders left for Tudor as they approached the line; O’Connor and Michael Matthews for Jayco.

Decathlon are through at the finish, 24 seconds down on Jayco. This looks to have been a very good time by Jayco.

Interestingly, Josh Tarling has already dropped out from the Ineos formation. The plan must have been for the team to burn through their best time trial asset early on - we’ll soon see how well it worked.

Picnic PostNL are off. Without a top GC man in their line-up, the pressure is off them.

Ineos are nearing the finish, with just Sheffield, Foss and GC man Arensman left.

Ineos are through with the 2nd fastest time, a whole 18 seconds slower than Jayco.

Nobody is getting close to Jayco’s time at the intermediate sprint, either. Ineos were the closest there at 5 seconds, while UAE Team Emirates recently went through 11 seconds slower.

Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe set off. They have multiple GC prospects in Aleksandr Vlasov and Florian Lipowitz, and time trialists Ryan Mullen and Matteo Sobrero to aid them today.

Interestingly, Pavel Sivakov has been dropped from the UAE Team Emirates line-up already. He therefore stands to lose lots of time on GC, and won’t be a b-option for the team in that regard.

Movistar finish with the 4th best time, 34 seconds down on Jayco.

EF Education-EasyPost are going well - they’re just one second down on Jayco at the intermediate check.

Cofidis have started, another team that might not go full gas today, lacking a GC candidate. 

Küng and Martin lead Groupama home, with the fourth best time.

New fastest time at the intermediate! And unsurprisingly it's Visma-Lease a Bike. They're 7 seconds up on Jayco. At this rate they stand to make some serious time.

Intermarché - Wanty have started, another team lacking a GC favourite. 

UAE Team Emirates have arrived. It's the fourth best time, but still a distant 28 seconds off Jayco. João Almeida was the first over the line from their team, underlining his status as their GC leader. 

Mattias Skjelmose finishes things off fro Lidl-Trek, all on his own. Despite the lack of company, he sets the 2nd best time, 15 seconds down. 

Red Bull are going well - they've posted the same time as Jayco at the time check, 7 seconds slower than leaders Visma-Lease a Bike.

Visma are nearing the finish, with 4 riders left in their train.

Up ahead EF will arrive first though - and set the 4th best time, 19 seconds down. 

Arkéa - B&B Hotels, Caja Rural and Uno-X are all out on the course as the latest teams to start, though none have an obvious GC candidate to ride for today.

Bart Lemmen's done for Visma, leaving just Campanaerts, Jorgenson and Vingegaard.

Now Campanaerts is finished. Vingegaard and Jorgenson will be the last two riders - but will they cross the line together, or one gain time on the other? And will they set the fastest time?

NEW FASTEST TIME - VISMA- LEASE A BIKE

They have, and by a whole 15 seconds!

Both riders crossed the line together, so will share the same time. They continue to feasibly be co-leaders.

Only five teams left to start now, the first of which is Bahrain-Victorious. They have 2 dangerous men for the GC in Santiago Buitrago and Lenny Martinez - but neither are especially good in time trials.

Here's Visma-Lease a Bike, on their way to setting the fastest time.

TotalEnergies are off, leaving just three more teams left to start.

Picnic PostNL make it to the finish with the dubious honour of being the slowest team so far. They're a whole 31 seconds slower than the next worst team, Tudor Pro Cycling.

Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe will be must faster, as they enter the final kilometre with Vlasov and Lipowitz.

They finish 3rd, 25 seconds down. A good time. 

Alpecin - Deceuninck are underway, another team you might think will take it a little easy today.

Codifis finish, down in 12th place.

XDS Astana Team are the penultimate team to start, leaving just Soudal-QuickStep and their yellow jersey wearer Tim Merlier left.

No team has threatened Visma-Lease a Bike’s time at the first time check, and there are only four more to pass through it. The Dutch squad is looking good for the stage win.

Intermarché - Wanty finish with the new slowest time, a whole 22 seconds down on the previous slowest set by Picnic-PostNL. This isn’t a stage they’re fussed about.

Soudal-QuickStep are off! Their main aim will be to defend the yellow jersey for Tim Merlier. He has a fourteen second buffer on Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson, who appears to be the man he would lose it to.

Bahrain-Victorious are losing time, 40 seconds down at the time check. That’s bad news for Buitrago and Martinez.

Arkéa - B&B Hotels finsh, as the 13th fastest time so far.

The riders might look like smooth, well-oiled machines from afar during team time trials, but up close you can see the pain etched on their faces.

Caja-Rural have finished down in 16th - the slowest time so far. They finished with four riders still together, a sign they weren’t going hard.

Not many teams left on the road have GC ambitions - apart from Bahrain-Victorious. After Uno-X Mobility, they will the next to finish.

Uno-X Mobility finish, with the 12-best time.

Here come Bahrain-Victorious, and they've lost a lot of time. Buitrago and Martinez arrive together with a time 1-02 slower than Visma-Lease a Bike - that's a lot of time for them to make up over the rest of the week.

Soudal-QuickStep are at the first time check...and are 30 seconds down.

The yellow jersey looks like it'll be passing from Soudal's Tim Merlier to Visma's Matteo Jorgenson. 

Jorgenson knows it, too. He's wearing a big smile as he waits with his teammates in the hot seat.

Total Energies finish, in 13th.

Now Alpecin-Deceuninck finish their ride, which is the 16th quickest of the day so far.

Merlier swings out of Soudal-QuickStep, 5km before the finish. He’s opted not to put up a fight for what would be a very unlikely defence of his yellow jersey.

Max Schachmann and Ilan Van Wilder are the only two riders left for Soudal. They must have an eye on GC (remember that Schachmann is a two-time winner of Paris-Nice).

12th place for Astana. That leaves Soudal-QuickStep as the only team left to finish.

Here's Merlier, on what will be his last outing in yellow. 

Soudal finish, and post the 10th best finish, 50 seconds down on Visma.

VISMA-LEASE A BIKE WIN STAGE THREE

That's it then, every team has finished, and Visma-Lease a Bike are victorious!

Merlier now reaches the finish, with three Soudal-QuickStep teammate with him. He rolls over the line in start contrast to the speedy sprints of the past two days. 

So what does all this mean for the GC? The big winners are of course the Visma-Lease a Bike duo of Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard, who will now move to first and second respectively on GC.

Those two will be hard to beat, but Jayco’s Ben O’Connor is well-poised, having only lost 14 seconds to them today. He’s jumped up to 4th place today on GC, and must be delighted with how well his new team performed today.

After O’Connor (and his teammate Matthews) at 21 seconds on GC, the next best riders are Aleksandr Vlasov and Florian Lipowitz in 5th and 6th at 31 seconds. They’re two dangerous riders, and could work well as a pair to try to put Visma-Lease a Bike under pressure.

After them, the likes of Matthias Skjelmose (9th at 0-36), Thymen Arensman (13th at 0-40) and Felix Gall (19th at 0-48) stand out, but all already have a significant amount of time to make up, especially considering that we haven’t even had a climbing stage yet.

One rider who won’t be happy with how this team time trial played out is João Almeida. He finds himself down in 18th at 48 seconds after an underwhelming 8th place finish for his UAE Team Emirates team today. Considering how strong they’ve been in practically every race so far this season, that’s a disappointing position to be in.

Today's winning team Visma-Lease a Bike, celebrating on the podium

And here's Matteo Jorgenson, adorned in his new yellow jersey. Despite winning GC last year, he never actually got to race in yellow, as he only took the jersey after the very last stage.

Thanks for joining us today! We'll be back tomorrow for what will be the first summit finish of the race, and another exciting shake-up in the GC that will again change the picture in the race for the yellow jersey after today’s developments.