Neuville snatched the rally lead from eight-time world champion Ogier after winning the fourth and final test of the morning loop.
The Belgian became the third leader across the four stages, following a bright start from newly-crowned world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who won the opening two tests.
Rovanpera ended the the loop in third, 4.2s adrift, while Ott Tanak was fourth, a further 1.8s in arrears, but ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
The top 10 was completed by Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, followed by the M-Sport contingent of Craig Breen, the returning Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith.
Overnight rain presented damp stages to kick off the the morning loop that began with two brand new tests.
The damp conditions coupled with the cuts ensured road conditions would become increasingly worse as mud was dragged onto the sinuous asphalt roads.
That handed the advantage to new champion Rovanpera as he made the most of his road position to win the first stage by 1.2s from Neuville.
Rovanpera admitted it was not a “perfect stage” from himself but it was enough to take the win as his rivals battled the worsening road conditions.
Tanak was third-fastest, 0.3s behind his teammate Neuville, but the Estonian was struggling for rhythm.
Ogier was only a tenth back in fourth ahead of Evans, Sordo and Breen, who led the quintet of M-Sport Ford Pumas.
Rovanpera struck again in Stage 2, held in similar conditions. The Finn marched to another stage win as he pipped Neuville by 2.1s, with Evans, 0.9s further back. Ogier remained in contention just a tenth adrift of Evans.
However, Tanak lost 7.3s in the test after suffering a problem with the hybrid unit on his i20 N.
The dirtier roads and later road position hampered the M-Sport runners as Breen, Loubet, Greensmith and Fourmaux dropped away from the lead group.
Rovanpera’s perfect start came to end on the drier Stage 3 when an inspired Ogier clocked the fastest time to not only win the stage - the longest of the morning - but move into the rally lead overall.
The Frenchman was 3.3s quicker than Neuville, who moved to second overall, while Rovanpera battled understeer and dropped to third overall after setting the fourth-quickest time, some 8.2s adrift of the pace.
"This one was a bit trickier compared to the first two,” said Rovanpera. “I felt I didn't have so much grip in the beginning and at the end I was having some understeer.
“I think in the middle we did okay, but we were definitely losing a bit at the beginning and the end."
Rovanpera wasn’t the only driver struggling as Breen lamented his pacenotes made during recce as he dropped another 22.9s.
"I may as well have stayed at home in there,” said Breen. “My notes are so, so slow. I've never done this rally in the dry. I've just made [my pacenotes] so slow and we're paying the price.”
M-Sport teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet also lost valuable time when his front left tyre came adrift from the Puma’s rim, which cost the Frenchman 49.4s, dropping him from ninth to 11th overall.
The rally lead changed for a third time on the final stage of the loop when Neuville pipped Tanak by 1.8s to win Stage 4. Ogier could only manage a time 2.4s slower than Neuville which was enough to relinquish his short-lived lead.
There was some drama for the lead Hyundai duo though as Tanak’s car appeared to suffer from an alternator issue that necessitated a stop on the road section for a repair, while Neuville’s i20 N was dropping oil.
Behind, there was further problems for Loubet, who managed to complete the stage, but was forced to stop to put out a small fire in his Puma’s engine bay.
Crews will repeat the morning loop of stages this afternoon.
