Favorites stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025 | Final test for the first yellow jersey of the 2025 Tour de France

On day three of Paris-Nice, the A.S.O. has opted for a recipe also used last year: a team time trial, but one in which the individual time counts. From a tactical point of view, this promises to be interesting, just like last year. This can be attributed to the necessary elevation meters, which make good planning and teamwork crucial throughout 28 kilometers. IDLProCycling.com shows you what to expect!

Course stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025

It will be a team time trial, but the individual time will count. How did it go again last year in Auxerre? A strong seven from UAE Emirates won ahead of Jayco AlUla and EF Education-EasyPost. Remco Evenepoel's Soudal Quick-Step finished fourth, Visma | Lease a Bike with overall winner Matteo Jorgenson 'only' sixth, and Primoz Roglic left some of his BORA-Hansgrohe teammates behind early on and ended up in eleventh place.

This just goes to show what a challenge this special event is. We had to arrive with four or five riders in TTTs in the past, but the A.S.O. has now opted for a more modern variant. Proof that this test case has been successful is that the opening stage of the 2026 Tour de France in Barcelona will consist of this format, with a finish on Montjuic, next to the Olympic stadium of the Catalan city.

Anyway, we got sidetracked. The team time trial of Paris-Nice 2025 - starting on the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit - has a similar character. It is 28.4 kilometers long and runs primarily on gently sloping roads, where teamwork and tactics will be key. Four kilometers from the finish line, the Cote de la Pisserotte (1 kilometer at 5.4 percent) can provide a nice launching pad, while the last few hundred meters in Nevers climb slightly.

Times
Start: 8:30 AM EST
Finish: 10:28 AM EST

Weather stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025

Dry, 16 degrees Celsius, and hardly any wind. There's nothing to complain about, I would say.

Favorites stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025

All teams have brought the necessary watts to France so that we can expect a battle at the highest level. UAE Emirates-XRG, for example, will be lining up with fast riders Joao Almeida, Brandon McNulty, Pavel Sivakov, and Nils Politt. However, their work will be cut out to keep last year's second-place finishers behind them again.

The Aussies from Jayco AlUla will be lining up with a turbo time trial team. Max Walscheid, Michael Matthews, Ben O'Connor, Mauro Schmid, Kelland O'Brien, Ben O'Connor, and Michael Hepburn can all ride excellently in a time trial. At the same time, some also bring team pursuit experience from the track. However, the loss of Luke Durbridge is a bitter pill to swallow.

Visma | Lease a Bike is also one of the top favorites. The Dutch team starts with Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson, but Victor Campenaerts and Edoardo Affini are also strong riders. The same goes for INEOS Grenadiers, although they may have even more pure power with Joshua Tarling, Tobias Foss, Thymen Arensman, and Magnus Sheffield.

Read more below the photo!

EF Education-EasyPost (including Neilson Powless but without Kasper Asgreen) also usually performs well in team time trials. At the same time, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe (Aleksandr Vlasov and Matteo Sobrero) and Lidl-Trek (Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose) will also aim for a place in the top five.

Soudal Quick-Step (Max Schachmann and llan Van Wilder), Decathlon AG2R (Stefan Bissegger and Bruno Armirail), and Groupama-FDJ (Stefan Küng and Rémi Cavagna) also have fast riders. At the same time, Movistar with Will Barta, Ivan Romeo, and Lorenzo Milesi could surprise. For the other teams, it seems to be mainly a matter of minimizing damage.

Favorites stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025, according to IDLProCycling.com

Top favorites: Visma | Lease a Bike and INEOS Grenadiers
Outsiders: Jayco AlUla, UAE Emirates-XRG, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
Long shots: EF Education-EasyPost, Soudal Quick-Step, Lidl-Trek, Decathlon AG2R, Movistar and Groupama-FDJ

Read also

Course and results Paris-Nice 2025 | Merlier in yellow for special TTT stage on French circuit

Course and results Tirreno-Adriatico 2025 | Ganna lives up to his role as favorite and wins opening time trial

Merlier unstoppable: Belgian takes advantage of Zingle and Pedersen’s slipstream to hit double in Paris-Nice

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get every week the latest news about CYCLING in your inbox!

Subscribe