{"id":747755,"date":"2026-06-19T18:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/747755\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T18:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:02:15","slug":"tour-de-suisse-2026-stage-3-favourites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/747755\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de Suisse 2026 stage 3 favourites"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two grueling days are behind us, but on Friday, the riders\u2014both men and women\u2014will have it a little easier. Around Bad Ragaz, the sprinters seem to have a chance. But, especially among the men, breakaway riders could throw a spanner in the works. IDL Pro Cycling brings you everything you need to know about Tour de Suisse stage 3.<\/p>\n

Tour de Suisse 2026 – Elite Women, stage 3 route\"etappe-3-suisse-dames\"\/<\/p>\n

The course for the women\u2019s race is a bit different from the men\u2019s. It\u2019s an uphill climb right from the start \u2014 3-kilometers at just over 10 percent. After that, there\u2019s only one short (and equally steep) climb on the course, but the rest is flat, flat, flat\u2014and that\u2019s in Switzerland, a country known for its Alps.<\/p>\n

So we can expect a sprint finish. The final stretch is flat and has virtually no turns: the last turn is about seven kilometers from the finish line. Bad Ragaz will therefore really be for the fast women.<\/p>\n

Times
Start: 9:18 a.m CET
Finish: around 12:15 p.m CET<\/p>\n

Tour de Suisse 2026 – Elite Men, stage 3 route\"bad-ragaz\"\/In 2026, the Tour de Suisse will feature the same start and finish locations for the first time ever. Bad Ragaz has been selected to<\/a> host Stage 3. The race last finished there in 2013, when Peter Sagan claimed victory. Just one of the eighteen stages the Slovak has won at this race!<\/p>\n

In 2026, the stage in the eastern part of the Alpine country will look like this: we\u2019ll start almost immediately with the Sankt Luzistieg, a 2-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 10.1 percent. Interestingly, no mountain points are even awarded for that climb.<\/p>\n

That will happen a little later on the two toughest climbs of the day. After 28 kilometers, the riders will tackle the Wildhaus from Gams, a 9.1-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 6.7 percent. Following a short descent, the Schw\u00e4galp adds another layer of difficulty with its 4.0-kilometer climb at an average gradient of 8.5 percent.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"wildhaus\"\/<\/p>\n

The Wildhaus climb, which must be conquered after 30 kilometers.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be at an elevation of 1,303 meters at that point, while the finish line is at 517 meters above sea level. That means the second half of the course is mostly downhill: the final 58 kilometers leading to the finish in Bad Ragaz are completely flat. The final stretch has few turns, but it does wind a bit until the 400-meter marker.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"finish-bad-ragaz\"\/<\/p>\n

This is what the last few kilometers toward Bad Ragaz look like.<\/p>\n

Times
Start: 1:45 p.m CET
Finish: 5:45 p.m CET<\/p>\n

Weather, Stage 3 Tour of Switzerland 2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hot in Europe these days, and eastern Switzerland is no exception. Temperatures there are reaching 29 degrees Celsius, and the wind isn\u2019t going to provide much relief either: it\u2019s blowing at just 3 kilometers per hour in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Tour of Switzerland 2026 – Elite Women, stage 3 favourites<\/p>\n

Since the Tour de Suisse route is mainly dotted with hills and mountains, there aren\u2019t too many pure sprinters at the start. The question is: who will seize her chance in the third stage? For Belgium, Shari Bossuyt is one of the top contenders. The AG Insurance\u2013Soudal rider excels especially in tough finishes, but with a field like this, she could also shine in a flat finish.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s competition. From our own country, we have to watch out for Julie De Wilde (Fenix-Premier Tech), who can really go all out on a good day. Another rider with strong legs is Lily Williams (Human Powered Health). She sprinted behind Elisa Balsamo to take second place in the Giro d\u2019Italia.<\/p>\n

\"franziska-koch-2\"\/<\/p>\n

FDJ-SUEZ will be counting on German champion Franziska Koch. Or will they go with Marie Le Net, or Sofia Bertizzolo? The French team has plenty of trump cards up its sleeve. Canyon\/\/SRAM has Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka, but Zoe B\u00e4ckstedt can also finish strong. Marta Lach will be the sprinter for SD Worx-Protime, while Liv AlUla Jayco has Letizia Paternoster on the team.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether we\u2019ll see sprinters like Sarah van Dam (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Liane Lippert (Movistar). The Spanish team might opt for the young Lucia Ruiz Perez instead.<\/p>\n

IDL Pro cycling top picks for Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour de Suisse<\/p>\n

Top Favorite: Shari Bossuyt (AG Insurance – Soudal)
Dark horses: Marta Lach (SD Worx-Protime), Julie De Wilde (Fenix-Premier Tech), Lily Williams (Human Powered Health), and Franziska Koch (FDJ-SUEZ)
Long shots: Agnieska Skalniak-Sojka, Zoe B\u00e4ckstedt (Canyon\/\/SRAM), Letizia Paternoster (Liv AlUla Jayco), Lucia Ruiz Perez (Movistar), Marie Le Net, Sofia Bertizzolo (FDJ-SUEZ), and Sarah van Dam (Visma | Lease a Bike)<\/p>\n

Tour of Switzerland 2026 – Elite Men, stage 3 favouritesJust like in the women\u2019s race, there aren\u2019t too many top sprinters in the Tour de Suisse: most have opted for the Baloise Belgium Tour. In this field, Kaden Groves<\/a> appears to be the top favorite. The Australian has already won stages in all the major tours, and with Mathieu van der Poel, he may well have the best lead-out man.But there are plenty of fast riders who see this as their chance to snag a major victory. Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL) hasn\u2019t quite found the form he had at the 2025 Giro d\u2019Italia yet, but this could be his moment. Matthew Brennan<\/a> (Visma | Lease a Bike) will also be eager to win in Switzerland. He\u2019ll have to do it without his lead-out man, Owain Doull, though.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"kaden-groves\"\/<\/p>\n

Alberto Dainese hasn\u2019t won yet for his new team, Soudal Quick-Step, but he could make up for it here. Corbin Strong is in better form and has already won the Circuit de Wallonie. On a flat finish, his chances are slightly reduced, but with this field, he could still pull off a win. The same goes for Orluis Aular (Movistar), Pau Miquel (Bahrain Victorious), Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Axel Laurance (Netcompany INEOS).<\/p>\n

EF Education-EasyPost has two riders to watch: Marijn van den Berg and Luke Lamperti. Jayco AlUla will be hoping that Michael Matthews can rejoin the sprint battle after his serious crash in training. The young Felix \u00d8rn-Kristoff might get his chance with Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9; otherwise, they still have Cedric Beullens. For XDS Astana, we expect Yevgeniy Fedorov.<\/p>\n

IDL Pro cycling top picks for Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour de Suisse<\/p>\n

Top Favorites: Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Dark horses: Alberto Dainese (Soudal Quick-Step), Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL), Orluis Aular (Movistar), and Corbin Strong (NSN)
Long shots: Marijn van den Berg, Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost), Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), Axel Laurance (Netcompany INEOS), Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana), Felix \u00d8rn-Kristoff (Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9), Pau Miquel (Bahrain Victorious), and Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two grueling days are behind us, but on Friday, the riders\u2014both men and women\u2014will have it a little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,203141,51216,21615,82,264641,20364],"class_list":["post-747755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-kaden-groves","tag-matthew-brennan","tag-previews","tag-sports","tag-tour-of-switzerland","tag-womens-cycling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}