As it happened: GC battle remains tightly poised after key time trial on stage three of the Volta ao Algarve

Hello and welcome to stage three of the Volta ao Algarve!

Today we're in Vilamoura for the race's individual time trial, which could be the defining stage in the GC race.

Yesterday’s stage shaped the GC hierarchy, with the top climbers coming to the fore on what proved to be a very selective final climb. Paul Seixas took the stage win, but there’s nothing to separate him from Juan Ayuso at the top of the GC, both riders being on the same time. Therefore today, every second will count.

Despite their superiority yesterday, the GC is by no means a two horse race. João Almeida lurks menacingly in third overall at just seven seconds, and, as such an accomplished time trialist, will fancy his chances of gaining that today.

The first of the day's 165 riders will sett off in just under 20 minutes. You can find the full list of start times here.

Volta ao Algarve stage 3 time trial start times – Can Juan Ayuso defend his overall lead, or will he be challenged?

The 19.5km route features rolling roads, but no climbs, and has some quite technical sections amid urban roads. There’s scope here for the specialists to put some significant time into the GC rivals less skilled against the clock.

We’re still learning a lot about yesterday's winner Paul Seixas, but the early signs are that the 19-year old's formidable talents also include time trialing. He won not one but two stages against the clock during his overall triumph at the Tour de l’Avenir last year, and at professional level was 3rd in the French national championships, and 16th at the Worlds.

Seixas may have a lot of talent, but will that be enough to defeat the much more accomplished Juan Ayuso? Ayuso is a very good rider against the clock - his last overall stage victory, at the 2025 Tirreno-Adritaico, came off the back of a flat opening time trial in which only Filippo Ganna went faster than him.

The stage is underway, with Francisco Pereira the first rider off the start ramp.

TIME TRIAL BEGINS

For both Ayuso and Seixas, the seven seconds they have might not be enough against as strong a time trialist as João Almeida.

While the Portuguese rider was not able to follow their kick at the top of the climb yesterday, he still looked in great form, and will be able to ride today entirely at his own tempo without having to worry about the explosive sprint that put paid to his chances yesterday.

Neither rain nor wind looks set to be a factor today, in what is a mild, sunny day in the Algarve.

The first couple of riders have gone through the time check, which is positioned half way into the stage. Daniel Dias arrived there in 14:37, 32 seconds quicker than Francisco Pereira.

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Nine riders have gone through the first time check so far - all of them Portuguese. Diogo Narcisco is the fastest of them so far, 12 seconds quicker than Dias.

The three jersey wearers, on the podium yesterday - Ayuso in yellow, Seixas in green and Contte in blue.

Our first rider has arrived at he finish line - Francisco Pereira, in a time of 30 seconds.

He won’t be making his way to the hot seat, however, as Daniel Dias has just arrived in a time 30 seconds quicker.

Laurens De Plus has just rolled off the start ramp. He might have fancied his chances of a strong ride today, and been up there on GC, but endured a crash earlier in the race that has seen him tumble well down the classification.

Diogo Narcisco has just posted the fastest time at the finish, and by some distance - 38 seconds quicker than Dias.

All eyes are on Johan Price-Pejtersen. The Dane is the first real specialist against the clock to start, and is comfortably the fastest at the first time check, 1:20 faster than Narcisco, and 0-47 seconds up on Oded Kogut.

Filippo Ganna is the favourite for the win today. The time to remember is 14:26, about half an hour from now, when he will begin his ride.

As expected, Johan Price-Pejtersen has set the new fastest time at the finish, a whole 1:29 seconds quicker than Oded Kogud, who had only recently beaten Narcisco’s time.

We’ll get a better idea of how that shapes up against the other stage contenders when some of them begin their rides in about half an hour or so.

NEW FASTEST TIME - JOHAN PRICE-PEJTERSEN

Here are the start times of some of the non-GC riders who could be in contention for the stage win today (all GMT).

Jakob Söderqvist: 14:17

Filippo Ganna: 14:26

Ivo Oliveira: 14:32

Stefan Küng: 14:45

Nico Denz has just arrived at the finish with the second fastest time, but is still a whole 46 seconds slower than Price-Pejtersen.

Johan Price-Pejtersen, on his way to setting the fastest time.

Rafael Rais is second quickest at the finish, but posed no threat to Price-Pejtersen, who he fell 42 seconds short of.

Away from the Algarve, the Giro today announced the five teams that will receive a wildcard invitation for the race in May - have a read of our full report on who will be there and who won’t.

Price-Pejtersen has a challenger in Jonathan Vervenne…but he’s fallen short at the finish, by 10 seconds. Still, that’s an eye-catching ride from the 22-year-old Soudal-QuickStep rider.

Luca Giaimi - yet another young talent from the seemingly bottomless pit at UAE Team Emirates - has gone third fastest at the finish, 38 seconds down.

Anticipation is building as we await the arrival of the big man - Filippo Ganna is set to begin his ride in about five minutes.

Luca Giami, the third fastest rider at the clubhouse as things stand.

Ganna is off and running! We could be about to see a big discrepancy between his time and what everyone else has set so far.

Ahead of Ganna, at the mid-route time check, Jakob Söderqvist is living up the hype as under-23 world champion, and bested Price-Pejtersen's time by 24 seconds. But it won't be too long 'till the Italian gets there...

Ganna is through the intermediate time check with the fastest one so far - but not by much! He's only 5 seconds quicker than Söderqvist.

That’s still a strong advantage over half of a short time trial, but it isn’t a foregone conclusion that he will be moving onto the hotseat once he gets to the finish.

At the finish, Jakob Söderqvist maintained his pace from the first half to set the new fastest time, a whole 46 seconds up on Johan Price-Pejtersen.

NEW FASTEST TIME - JAKOB SODERQVIST

Jakob Söderqvist, resplendent in his Swedish national champion's jersey.

Another big name is off the start ramp - Stefan Küng. The race for the stage win is really starting to kick off!

Ganna's approaching the finish, he's looking good for the fastest time...

He's done it, beating Jakob Söderqvist y 7 seconds to set a new best of 21:53. But will that be enough to win the stage?

NEW FASTEST TIME - FLIPPO GANNA

Yves Lampaert and Kasper Asgreen, who both in their heyday could have competed for victory in a stage like this, have come in fifth and sixth quickest at the time check. We await Kung in a few moments..

Ivo Oliveira has given home fans something to cheer by finishing fifth at the finish. It’s a decent ride, but we’ve seen the Portuguese time trial specialist go better.

Küng is through the time check, and he’s nine seconds down on Ganna. That’s a lot of time to make up in the second half.

The leader Filippo Ganna, looking great in the Italian national champion's jersey.

Küng has finished, and he lost more time to Ganna in the latter half. He'll have to make do with being the third fastest so far, with plenty more strong time trialists to come.

Filippo Ganna has been speaking to the TV interview after his ride:

“I’m pretty happy. Now we see if it’s another or if a song rider can beat me.

“[The route] nice, it’s just there are some corners with some gravel. Maybe I don't want to take many risks. It’s an important race, but obv I have a massive goal in less than one month [Milan-SanRemo].”

That suggests Ganna didn’t quite push 100% - could that mean one of the GC contenders, who might be a bit more committed given they’re chasing the overall victory, might stand more of a chance of challenging his time?

Andrea Vendrame and Ma Poole are going well, 24 and 28 seconds down at the intermediate checkpoint. But they’re too far down to challenge for the stage win.

Max Poole comes home in 6th place. That’s a much improved ride than his performance on yesterday's summit finish, when he dropped well out of GC contention.

And now Vendrame finishes, marginally better than Poole to oust him in 6th place.

Stefan Küng, on his way to setting what remains the third-fastest time.

Lennard Kämna’s going pretty well, posting the 6th best time at the half-way check. That’s an encouraging sign as he continues to rebuild from the horrific injury he spent last season recovering from.

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António Morgado is the latest rider of the start ramp. As the Portuguese time trial champion, he'll want to honour the jersey today with a strong ride, as well as report back to his GC leader João Almeida about the course.

We’re now into the top 20 on GC making their starts. Not long now until we’ll see the likes of Brandon McNulty and Thyman Arensman competing for the stage, and the top GC men battling for the yellow jersey.

Thymen Arensman is off. He might have preferred a longer, harder route, but should still be up there.

Stefan Küng didn’t sound happy in his post-ride interview:

“The result doesn’t make me so happy. At the moment I don’t really know how I lost 27 seconds because I was feeling good. But the watch never lies. It is what it is.”

Paul Seixas isn’t the only teenage talent here in the Algarve - the 19-year-old Héctor Álvarez has just come through the time check with the fourth fastest time.

Disaster for Brandon McNulty! He had to stop for a bike change early on in his ride - any chance of challenging Ganna’s time now seems very unlikely.

10th place on GC, Thomas Gloag, has started. Just ten minutes until João Almeida is off, followed by Paul Seixas and then Juan Ayuso.

Kevin Vauquelin is off. At 39 seconds he might be a bit too far down to challenge for the GC, but he's still a good enough time trialist to be in the mix for the stage win.

The man who's 5th overall, Matthew Riccitello is off. He's only 16 seconds down on Ayuso, but is perhaps too much of a pure climber to stay in GC contention today.

The young duo of Morgado and Álvarez have finished well, placing 6th and 4th respectively.

Here goes Almeida! He'll need a big ride to depose Ayuso as overall leader, but he's capable of it.

Now it’s Seixas’ turn to start. He might not look much like a time trialist with his slightly gangly frame, but he has a good record.

Arensman finished, and it's a very good time - he takes third place away from Stefan Küng.

And now finally, Juan Ayuso gets going. That's every rider now off the start ramp - we'll know the outcome of the stage in little more than 20 minutes.

AYUSO STARTS

Florian Lipowitz has finished with what for now is the 6th fastest time. That's pretty good, but he fell to 41 seconds adrfit of the top of GC after yesterday's summit finish.

Vauquelin and Dani Martinez are 13 and 17 seconds down on Ganna at the first check. Not bad, but Ganna's time is looking safer and safer, with not many riders left to challenge.

Onley is much further down, at 34 seconds. He stands to fall down on GC.

Coming up next is Almeida. Can he challenge Ganna?

It’s not looking like Almeida can! He’s quite a bit down at the check - the 7th fastest, at 20 seconds.

Paul Seixas is through the check...and he's flying! Only Ganna has gone quicker, and there's only four seconds in it.

Even after his superb ride yesterday, that feels like a surprise. Can he maintain that pace all the way to the finish?

At the finish, Kévin Vauquelin has set a searing time, the fourth best so far. That’s another great ride from an Ineos rider, who now occupy three of the top four places.

Juan Ayuso is going to have to go very well to match Seixas's time at the check. We'll find out what he's done in a few moments...

Ayuso's gone even quicker! He's faster even than Ganna, by one second, and 5 seconds up on Seixas.

This promises to be a thrilling second half of the time trial. Not only is the stage up for grabs, the GC could swing either way between Ayuso and Seixas.

At the first check, the timings are as follows:

1 Ayuso in 12:30

2 Ganna at 0-01

3 Seixas at 0-05

4 Söderqvist at 0-06

5 Arensman at 0-09

That means the virtual GC based on those times sees Ayuso lead Seixas by 5 seconds, and Almeida by 28 seconds.

Onley finishes, and he's well down in 20th at 34 seconds.

Here comes Almeida. Has he done one of his trademark negative splits?

It seems not. Almeida arrives home in 8th place, 42 seconds down.

Ayuso is going very hard. He’s taking risks on the corners, and is reaping the rewards so far.

Here come Seixas...and he's slowed down a little. It's still good enough for 3rd at the finish, but how will Ayuso compare?

Seixas finished 12 seconds down on Ganna, having been just 4 seconds slower at the halfway point.

Ayuso comes home, it's going to be close for the stage win...

Ayuso falls short, by five seconds. The stage goes to Ganna!

GANNA WINS

It does mean that Ayuso defends the yellow jersey, and extends his lead of Seixas. But it’s still very close!

A very impressive showing from Lidl-Trek today, who placed second and third, and Ineos Grenadiers, who had riders 5th and 6th as well as winning the stage with Ganna.

As for Ganna, that’s his first victory of 2026, and his first since winning the time trial stage of the Vuelta last September. His nemesis Remco Evenepoel wasn’t here, but that’s proof that he remains as formidable a time trialist as ever, and is looking in good shape ahead of his first major goal of the season - Milan-Sanremo.

Here’s what the GC now looks like in light of the time trial results:

1 Juan Ayuso

2 Paul Seixas at 0-07

3 João Almeida at 0-44

4 Kévin Vauquelin at 0-57

5 Thymen Arensman at 1-01

6 Daniel Martínez at 1-12

7 Oscar Onley at 1-17

8 Florian Lipowitz at 1-17

9 Matthew Riccitello at 1-28

10 Yannis Voisard at 1-46

The GC race does now look like a two horse race between Ayuso and Seixas, with the onus on Seixas to attack and gain the seven seconds he needs to overturn. There aren’t many possibilities to do so, however - tomorrow is an undulating stage not quite tough enough to draw out the GC contenders, and though the finish of stage five is steep, it’s short to make a difference on.

Still, seven seconds is a slender margin, and we could see a real fight between them.

It will also be interesting to see how Ineos Grenadiers approach the rest of the race. They now have riders in 4th and 5th respectively on GC in Vauquelin and Arensman - might they try and use these two cards to attack the riders above them and put their teams under pressure? There is hilly terrain coming up, especially on stage five, where ambushes could be launched.

As for João Almeida, 44 seconds is a lot of ground to make up. He’ll need to ride ambitiously rather than defensively if he’s to still challenge for overall victory.

Have a read of our full report of how the stage played out today.

Thanks for joining us today, on another exciting day’s racing of what’s proving to be a thrilling Volta ao Algarve. Filippo Ganna just about held on for the stage, while the GC remains very much in play between the two young prodigies Juan Ayuso and Paul Seixas.

Tomorrow looks like a day for the sprinters, with stage one winner Paul Magnier again coming to the fore, but how many will still be in contention after the early climbs? And will the peloton be able to control the race on such undulating terrain, or will the breakaway succeed? It promises to be a far from straightforward day.