Ineos Grenadiers dominate team time trial Paris-Nice, Juan Ayuso takes lead

INEOS Grenadiers won the team time trial at Paris-Nice. The British team covered the 23.5 kilometers faster than Lidl-Trek (second), Decathlon CMA CGM (third), and Visma | Lease a Bike (fourth). Thanks to the bonus seconds he earned on Monday, Juan Ayuso is the new leader in the Race to the Sun. He took over the yellow jersey from Luke Lamperti.

After two glorified bunch sprints, Tuesday featured the first big test for the GC contenders at Paris-Nice. A team time trial was on the program, over flat to gently rolling roads between Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire and Pouilly-sur-Loire. The riders started as a team, but each individual time counted. It was an important test ahead of July, as the 2026 Tour de France will feature a team time trial run in this same format. Could Visma | Lease a Bike live up to the favorites' expectations?

Another Dutch team, Picnic PostNL, kicked things off. However, they were not expected to compete for the win. Among the very first teams, Groupama-FDJ United posted the best time, but UAE Emirates XRG quickly knocked them off the top spot. Or rather, their GC riders Marc Soler and Brandon McNulty, who crossed the line together, did. Then everyone waited for Visma | Lease a Bike.

Hoole fends off Visma | Lease a Bike
The yellow and black squad had already posted a better time than UAE at the intermediate checkpoint and maintained that at the finish. They started the final kilometer with four riders: Victor Campenaerts, Bruno Armirail, Davide Piganzoli, and Jonas Vingegaard. The last rider took the final meters. In the end, Visma | Lease a Bike gained 21 seconds on UAE.

However, many squads were still to come, including Decathlon CMA CGM. The French formation was seven seconds faster than Visma | Lease a Bike on the way. In the second part, they lost several riders until only Daan Hoole remained. The Dutchman had five minutes left riding solo, but he did not slow down. On the contrary, the lone rider held on impressively. At the line, he (and thus Decathlon CMA CGM) still had more than a four-second margin over Visma | Lease a Bike.

Lidl-Trek in the hot seat
At that moment, INEOS Grenadiers, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, and Lidl-Trek were yet to finish. The American team was next up. They dropped Juan Ayuso in the final kilometer, after which the Spaniard unleashed a sprint. It resulted in the top time: eight seconds faster than Decathlon, thirteen seconds faster than Visma. Was Ayuso on his way to a double victory?

He certainly didn't have to worry about Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, who posted the fifth-best time on the road. Meanwhile, INEOS Grenadiers had already lost Carlos Rodríguez, but the remaining men pushed hard. They were twelve seconds faster than Lidl-Trek at the halfway point. In the second part, Oscar Onley, Kévin Vauquelin, and Joshua Tarling remained. Entering the final kilometer, Tarling rode so hard that Onley had to drop back a few meters.

INEOS takes the stage win, Ayuso the yellow jersey
Vauquelin still had more left in the tank and ultimately went solo. He was three seconds faster than Ayuso, which meant INEOS Grenadiers would win the time trial. The yellow jersey, however, went to Ayuso, who had collected four bonus seconds yesterday.

Luke Lamperti started the time trial as leader but couldn't keep up with his EF teammates in the second half of the chrono. Moreover, despite a respectable sixth place, the American team lost too much time overall to the top squads.