Tour de la Provence 2026 Stage 3

February 15, 2026 The final stage of the Tour de la Provence might be the longest day of racing so far in 2026. At 205KM, the route starts in Rognac and traverses lumpy terrain until the summit of the Col de Bonnieux with 150KM remaining. Off the top, the riders descend into Ménerbes and continue on flat roads until 72KM to go to the start of the final climb of the day. At 4.6KM, the Col de la Vayede averages just 3.5% and likely won't bother many in the bunch. The rest of the course is completely flat as the race goes near Beaucaire and through the finish in Arles with 33KM to go. The finishing lap is also flat and we should see a full bunch in Arles to close out the 2026 edition of the Tour de la Provence. With the majority of the course running along lower elevations, the temperature in the sunshine was warm enough for the riders to only need a pair of arm warmers throughout the day. Once a break got established, it was a group of nine that including Sam Oomen of Lidl-Trek, Axel Laurance of Ineos, Simon Carr of Cofidis, Victor Loulergue of Groupama-FDJ United, Lorrenzo Manzin of TotalEnergies, Jannis Peter of Unibet Rose Rockets, Maxime Jarnet and Daniel Årnes of Van Rysel Roubaix, and finally Clément Davy of Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur. With 76KM remaining they had a 2 minutes 50 second lead and like day one of the race, EF-Education EasyPost were controlling in the peloton along with St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93. With 67KM to go, the break was 1 minute 50 seconds ahead of the peloton as they started the descent off of the Col de la Vayede, passed a ruined stone fortress and village that was built right into the mountain side. Once on the flat valley roads, EF-Education EasyPost got a bit of help from Decathlon CMA CGM and Polti-VisitMalta. The race crossed the mighty Rhône River on Le Pont Tarascon-Beaucaire with 51KM to go. Just over the other side, Ineos hit the front and tried to split the group as they turned into tail/cross tail wind. The acceleration didn't last long but it did bring the gap down to 90 seconds very quickly. EF-Education EasyPost regained control of the peloton and the gap was at 1 minute with 34KM to go as the break crossed back over the Rhône and entered Arles. The break wasn't moving quick enough for Carr who decided to attack with 25KM to go. None of the other eight riders responded and they dragged the Brit back a few kilometers later. Meanwhile, in the peloton, EF-Education EasyPost seemed to run out of resources and left Decathlon CMA CGM alone to do the work. The gap grew to 1 minute 20 seconds with 20KM to go and the prospect of a sprint was looking less like a sure thing. The front group started to attack themselves with 15KM remaining. Oomen closed a 20M gap on his own which stitched the group back together but the cohesion was gone and the pace was going with it. Davy attacked with 8KM to go and was countered by Årnes. Neither got a gap and the group stalled again. 1KM later, their gap was 45 seconds and some riders were free-wheeling down the line. At this point, half the group was sitting on and watching the others. Årnes attacked a second time and, this time, got a gap. Laurance bridged up and the remaining riders in the break were looking at each other. We didn't get images from the peloton but the time gap at 5KM to go was still 45 seconds. Årnes and Laurance worked seamlessly into the final 1,500M but the chase from the remnants of the original break had organized were within 5 seconds. Through a roundabout at 1,200M, Årnes took the long way around and Laurance spotted an opportunity. He attacked out of the corner and by virtue of the shorter distance, had a gap. Årnes couldn't get back on and was stuck in the middle between Laurance and the chasers. Årnes was caught with 600M to go but the chasers didn't have to legs to claw Laurance back. It was a clever a move that opened the gap and the Frenchman capitalized on good legs to take his first win for Ineos and sixth on the year for the team. Jarnet took the sprint for second with Manzin behind in third. There were no changes in GC today in the top five. Matthew Riccitello of Decathlon CMA CGM took the overall by 4 seconds to Carlos Rodríguez and 20 seconds to Brandon Rivera to give Ineos the bottom two podium steps.