The race climbed into the mountains for the first time on Stage 3, a 132.7 km route from Marmaris to a summit finish at Kıran. With the sprinters dropped, the GC men came to the fore and the Colombian climber Iván Sosa (Equipo Kern Pharma) was the strongest on the final ascent, attacking clear to win the stage. Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) limited his loss to 13 seconds in second, with Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies) third at 21 seconds and the rest of the GC group splintering behind. Sosa's win and bonus seconds lifted him into the turquoise jersey, setting up a Sosa-versus-Berwick duel for the overall.

Sosa moved into the overall lead on the back of the stage win, with Berwick the nearest challenger a handful of seconds back and the other climbers — Breuillard, Bonneu, Fancellu — strung out behind. Sosa also took over the mountains lead, while Crabbe kept the points jersey. With two summit days down (Kıran) and the queen stage to Feslikan still to come, the Sosa-Berwick gap was small enough that the race remained wide open.