Tour de France 2026: Tadej Pogacar takes yellow on sweltering stage three
Defending Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar took victory on stage three of the Tour de France with a late acceleration to the line following a 195.9km route from Granollers to Les Angles.
The Slovenian also acquired the overall lead and yellow jersey after the stage winner's bonus points took him level on time with Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike, who had been in yellow since Saturday's opening stage.
Pogacar took control with around half a kilometre to go, taking Vingegaard and French darling Paul Seixas of Decathlon-CMA CGM by surprise with a blistering attack.
Pogacar was led up the final category three climb by Sunday's stage winner and UAE Team Emirates-XRG team-mate Isaac del Toro of Mexico, who Pogacar had shepherded over the line the previous day while very clearly holding back his own pace.
On a sweltering hot day in the Pyrenees on the border between northern Spain and southern France, fans had been told to stay away from the area around Les Angles at the finish because of wildfires.
Temperatures could once again reach 40C in south-west France this week and have already exceeded 40C in parts of Portugal and Spain.
Pogacar, 27, is trying to claim his fifth Tour title to become the joint-most successful rider in Tour history, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
"I got some extra power in the final [thanks to Del Toro] because he committed more than 100% in the final climb," said Pogacar.
"All [of the] team in the middle of the stage said it is possible to go for the stage win and I'm really happy we started the Tour with this incredible finish today.
"To take yellow is a dream for any cyclist of any age, so for me any time I can get it on my shoulders, it feels special."
Ecuador's Richard Carapaz of EF Education Easypost finished third just ahead of Seixas, both two seconds down on Vinegaard.
The best-placed Briton on the day was Tom Pidcock of Pinarello-Q36.5 in 16th, 18 seconds down, alongside Colombia's Egan Bernal of British 'super team' Netcompnay Ineos Cycling.
Pidcock sits in 11th in the general classification, one minute 22 seconds down, with the highest-place Netcompany Ineos rider Thymen Arensman of the Netherlands in 16th, two minutes 19 seconds behind yellow.
EF Education-Easypost's Alex Baudin of France took the King of the Mountains jersey after spending much of the day at the front of the race before being caught by the peloton late on
Fresh as a sunflower: Pogacar claimed the yellow and green points jersey for the day after cleaning himself up for the podium
It was a painful day at the back of the peloton for Belgium rider Arnaud de Lie and his Lotto-Intermarche team.
The 24-year-old sprint star abandoned the race after losing more than 30 minutes to the peloton during the stage.
De Lie came into the Tour trying to recover from a illness which appears to have compromised his performance.
While it was expected he would struggle to keep pace alongside the other sprint stars such as Eritrea's Biniam Girmay before the sprinting gets under way on stage five, De Lie was so slow he was in danger of finishing the stage outside of the 17% time deficit limit to the winner.
It is a bitter pill for De Lie, who also had to abandon May's Giro d'Italia with sickness thought to have been caused by cow manure on the side of the road being splashed onto riders during wet conditions.
Lotto - who are a cross-Belgian merger of Girmay's former team Intermarche-Wanty and Lotto - also lost their head of performance Aike Visbeek just days before the start of the Tour.
7. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) "
8. Isaac del Toro (Mex/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) "