Today's Edition
Les Angles (AFP)
Reigning champion Tadej Pogacar won the third stage of the Tour de France on Monday to snatch the "special" leader's yellow jersey from rival Jonas Vingegaard.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider and Vingegaard are dead level on time but Pogacar took over the race lead by virtue of his better finishing positions in the opening three stages.
It was Pogacar's 22nd Tour stage victory and his 10th in the Pyrenees.
The 27-year-old Slovenian finished two seconds ahead of the Dane and also earned four more bonus seconds than Vingegaard to wipe out his 6-second deficit from the start of the day.
"Of course, to take the yellow jersey is the dream for any cyclist of any age," said Pogacar. "For me it's, I don't know which time already, but every time I can get it again on my shoulders, it feels really special."
Former Giro d'Italia winner Richard Carapaz came past French teenage prodigy Paul Seixas to take third in the same time as Vingegaard at the end of a 196km stage which started in Granollers, Spain, and finished in Les Angles in the French Pyrenees.
Despite a plea from organisers for fans to stay away because of raging wildfires just 70 kilometres away from the finish, there were plenty of people by the side of the roads in France.
Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel was eighth at 4sec and remains third overall but fell to 23sec off the lead.
Sunday's Stage 2 winner Isaac Del Toro is fourth overall at 24sec after finishing eighth, with Spaniard Juan Ayuso (27sec) and Seixas (48sec) rounding out the top six.
After Pogacar let his team-mate Del Toro take the victory on Sunday's finish on the Montjuic hill in Barcelona, this time it was the Mexican who led out his team leader for a decisive sprint to the line.
Pogacar left no doubt that he had his eyes on both the stage victory and the yellow jersey with a dominant win. "It's because of Isaac today (that) I got some extra power in the final," he said. "He committed more than 100% in the final climb and all the team actually.
"In the middle of the stage we decided that it's possible to go for the stage win and I'm really, really happy that we started the Tour like this."
