Ineos Grenadiers stormed to a chaotic team time trial victory on stage three of Paris-Nice, with Lidl-Trek's Juan Ayuso walking away with the leader's jersey after his team placed second just behind the Brits.
Josh Tarling put in a big turn for Ineos Grenadiers in the final kilometre, with Kévin Vauquelin crossing the line first and the team's GC leader Oscar Onley finishing just behind. The result put them second and third on GC, two and three seconds behind Ayuso.
Decathlon CMA CGM were third, while Jonas Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike team placed fourth at 15 seconds.
Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost), who has led the race for the past two days, lost the jersey today. He dropped 69 places despite a creditable sixth place finish by his team.
The TTT served as an important dress rehearsal for the Tour de France in July, which hosts a team time trial on the first stage in Barcelona.
Today's is the first such win for Ineos Grenadiers in several seasons, and rider turned DS Geraint Thomas did not hide his delight at the result.
"The whole team's been incredible," he said. "We set out at the start of the year and it's been a big goal but to be honest we didn't expect it in Paris-Nice, it's more learning, which we've spoken about a lot. But it's not bad is it!
He added: "The TTT is something that's always been close to my heart personally, and the team - we've always been there or thereabouts. With it being in the Tour this year there's obviously more emphasis on it. The way they rode their race on feel and just adjusted, it was great to see.
Asked whether this was the year the team would come good, Thomas replied: "We've had a rough couple of years but we're on the way back. It's definitely not the end, there's still a long way to go. But we've got a great team of riders, of staff, and everyone's motivated, and pushing forward.
There's no battle between them, you could see the way they rode today, they were willing to put it on the line for each other. It's just amazing to have so many strong GC guys on the team as a whole.
The lead in the event changed a number of times, with Visma-Lease a Bike setting a solid benchmark ahead of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, which numerous teams tried and failed to beat. Decathlon CMA CGM then took over, followed by Juan Ayuso's Lidl-Trek, but it was the ragged charge to the line of Ineos Grenadiers that secured them the winning time, and launched what should be an interesting GC battle over the next few days.
Results to follow...
Results
Paris-Nice stage three, Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire > Pouilly-sur-Loire, 25.5km TTT
1. Ineos Grenadiers, 23.5km in 26:40
2. Lidl-Trek, +2s
3. Decathlon CMA CGM, +11s
4. Visma-Lease a Bike, +15s
5. Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +20s
6. EF Education-EasyPost, +23s
7. Movistar, +28s
8. UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +37s
9. Groupama-FDJ United, +41s
10. Cofidis, +47s
General Classification after stage 3
1. Juan Ayuso (Spa) Lidl-Trek, in 8:37:02
2. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Ineos Grenadiers, +2s
3. Oscar Onley (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, +3s
4. Daan Hoole (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM, +13s
5. Bruno Armirail (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike, +17s
6. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike
7. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, all s.t.
8. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +22s
9. Daniel Martinez (Col) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at s.t.
10. Laurence Pithie (Nzl) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +24s
