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© Amaury Sport Organisation - www.aso.fr
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SportTranscription
00:00After two days for the sprinters and two wins for our race leader Tim Melia, it's time to kick off the GC battle at this Paris-Nice.
00:09Today is Team Time Trial Day, a collective effort of 28.4km starting at the Nevers-Manucourt race circuit.
00:17It's the third straight year a TTT has featured on Paris-Nice and it remains a unique challenge for the peloton.
00:25It's a special discipline, we don't do it so often anymore.
00:30Obviously not everyone is used to do it a lot, so my role is to get some calm into the team,
00:41take some long turns so the others can recover and try to go as fast as possible.
00:47Wismar-Lisebaeck won the Team Time Trial in 2023 and with their two leaders, Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgensen,
00:55the Dutch squad have big ambitions for this stage.
01:00The TTT is the key day of the week for us.
01:03We practised a lot in January and again on Saturday, so it's an objective.
01:11We want to win the stage but also gain time on the other GC teams.
01:19The Team Time Trial is a very technical discipline and starting on a motor racing circuit won't make it any easier.
01:26It's a fast course but there is a small climb around 4km from the finish with passages at 11%.
01:33The clock stops when a team's first rider crosses the line and each of them will be credited with their actual time on the stage.
01:45The first team to roll down the ramp at 2.30pm local time were Tudor Pro Cycling.
01:50They quickly lost a couple of riders but the rest kept plugging away to put Julian Alaphilippe and Michael Stora in the best possible position.
01:58They set the early benchmark of 31 minutes and 32 seconds.
02:07The intermediate checkpoint at the halfway stage also gave an indication of how different teams were getting on.
02:13Groupama FDJ underway with their TT specialists Stefan Kung and Remi Cavagna.
02:19So too were Jacob Alula.
02:21The Australians always go well in the TTT but they lost a key man yesterday in Luke Durbridge.
02:27Even in his absence they set an excellent time.
02:30Michael Matthews leading in Ben O'Connor in 30 minutes and 41 seconds.
02:34Almost a minute quicker than Tudor.
02:37I don't think we could have gone faster.
02:40It sucked to lose Luke yesterday. He's a huge engine.
02:44Some parts there where I think one extra guy would have helped.
02:50But that's how it was and I think we did a great ride.
02:53The INEOS Grenadiers could only manage 5th place despite the presence of Josh Tarling and Tobias Voss
02:59while Stefan Bissiger and Decathlon AG2R came in 7th.
03:04And it was a disappointing day for Groupama FDJ as they finished outside of the top 10.
03:09Kung leading in Guillaume Martin-Guillenet.
03:15Well even some of the biggest GC teams were unable to unseat Jacob Alula.
03:20UAE Team Emirates XRG won the TTT last year with Brandon McNulty taking yellow.
03:26But this time around the American came in 27 seconds down alongside Joao Almeida and Jonathan Narvaez.
03:41All eyes were now on Vismalisa Bike with the big engines like Eduardo Affini and Victor Campenaerts supporting Jorgensen and Vingegaard.
03:50They were 8 seconds faster than Jacob Alula at the first split and they kept increasing the gap.
03:57The two leaders powering into Nevers and vaulting their way to the top of the leaderboard.
04:04What's it going to be? They're coming up to the finish line.
04:07Vismalisa Bike stopped the clock with 30 minutes and 26 seconds. 14 seconds to the good of Jacob Alula.
04:14Well Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe were one of the few GC teams to start after Vismalisa Bike with a solid line-up.
04:21And the last out on course was Soudal Quick-Step with the yellow jersey, Tim Mollier.
04:27Alexander Vlasov and Florian Lipovic grabbing third place for Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe.
04:34And it didn't look like Mollier and co. would be causing an upset.
04:37Despite the best efforts of riders like Yves Lampart, they were already 30 seconds down at the intermediate checkpoint.
04:44And Mollier actually dropped before the finish, saving his energy for future battles.
04:49Their GC riders Max Schachmann and Ilan van Wilde finishing together.
04:54Schachmann crosses the line. 31 minutes and 17 seconds. That's enough for 10th place.
04:59But Vismalisa Bike is still in the lead.
05:02Vismalisa Bike spent a lot of time preparing for this team time trial.
05:05And their hard work paid off as they propelled their two leaders into 1st and 2nd overall.
05:11Tomorrow, Jorgensen will get a chance to ride in the yellow jersey he only snaffled on the final day last year.
05:16And he believes the team can keep it until Sunday.
05:19I feel really good and also just happy to be here with Jonas. He's a really nice guy.
05:24He's a really good rider. He's a really good rider.
05:28I feel really good and also just happy to be here with Jonas. He's a really nice guy.
05:32And we just get along super well, so I think it's going to be super nice next few days.
05:36And I'm very confident we can defend it all the way back home.
05:42Vismalisa Bike taking it by 15 seconds from Jake Hualula, but it might have been a different story with Durbridge.
05:48Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, Lidl Trek and Ineos round out the top five.
05:53Jorgensen now leads Paris-Nice by six seconds from Vingegaard, thanks to the various bonuses he's picked up.
05:58O'Connor 21 seconds back, with Vlasov at 31 seconds.
06:05Melilla may have lost the yellow jersey, but he still holds the green jersey as the leader of the points classification,
06:11ahead of Arnaud Demare and Axel Zingle.
06:13There were no mountains points today, so Alexandre de Letra is still in the polka dots.
06:19But we've had another change of white jersey.
06:21Florian Lippovitz, now the best young rider, by just five seconds from Matthias Schjelmozer.
06:27Tomorrow's fourth stage features a summit finish on the Lodge de Garde,
06:31where Tadej Pogacar got the better of David Godou two years ago.
06:34It should be a cracker, so join us again on Wednesday.
06:37And thanks for watching.
06:48You