Paris-Nice stage 3 live – First test for Evenepoel and Roglic in team time trial

There will, of course, be plenty of eyes on Visma-Lease A Bike when they roll down the start ramp at 16.00. Their teammates at Tirreno-Adriatico, after all, were showcasing a rather outlandish time trial helmet on Monday afternoon.

The start times for today’s team time trial are here, with the first team off at 14.40 CET and teams setting out at 4-minute intervals thereafter. Egan Bernal and Ineos set off at 15.32, Evenepoel and Soudal Quick-Step begin at 15.48 and and Primoz Roglic’s Bora-Hansgrohe squad are third-last to start at 15.56. The last team to go are Groupama-FDJ at 16.04.

New Zealander Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ), who already won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Race and then so impressed on Opening Weekend, is in the yellow jersey after yesterday’s stage. “This season just keeps getting better. I definitely surprised myself. It’s really high level here, and I take each stage as a new experience,” Pithie said. “It’s great learning for the future.” Simone Giuliani has more here.

After a curiously sedate stage 2 of Paris-Nice, the race looks set to ignite on Tuesday with the 26.9km time trial around Auxerre. Like last year’s Paris-Nice TTT, the final times are taken individually, and so the GC men will have to think carefully about whether and when to discard their supporting cast in the closing kilometres.