February 7, 2026
We have had a bit of shadow boxing up to this point but today should be a full GC day. The first 55KM of the 172KM stage from La Nucía to Teulada Moraira is brutal. The riders will ride the final 1.8KM of the Coll des Rates that tops out after just 23KM of racing. A fast plunge into Orba and short uncategorized climb comes before the category one Alto Miserat, a 5.4KM ascent that averages nearly 10%. The next 80KM have some climbs but more for softening up rather than for attacking. The finale will begin 30KM from the finish with the climb to La Fustera, a 2.2KM climb at 8%. There is a Bonus sprint 10KM later in Moraira before the final climb of the day, the 2.3KM, 9.3% Puig de la Llorença. The top comes 12KM from the finish in Teulada Moraira but it isn't all plain sailing. There are a handful of steep ramps in the final few kilometers which could prove decisive for the overall.
Race Summary
It took a while but eight riders got away to make the break of the day but only seven remained as live coverage started with 45KM to go. The riders were on their way to Calpe, the iconic rock of Penyal d'Ifac, and the climb to La Fustera. Danny van der Tuuk of Euskatel Euskadi was present again along with Julien Bernard of Lidl-Trek, Steff Cras of Soudal Quickstep, Fernando Tercero of Polti-VisitMalta, Carlos García Pierna of Burgos-Burpellet BH, Lewis Askey of NSN Cycling, and Jakub Otruba of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. They were being chased down by Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and only around 1 minute 20 seconds remained of their original 3 minute gap.
At the base of La Fustera with around 30KM to go, UAE-XRG started pulling alongside Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe in the peloton as the break shattered on the steep 8-10% ramps. By the top, Bernard and Cras were the only ones left in the break, roughly 35 seconds ahead of the peloton of only 35 riders. They continued through the sprint point in Moraira and started the brutally steep Puig de la Llorença with 15KM to go. Bernard dropped Cras and was fending off the GC group which was reduced to eight riders from the pace set by Giulio Pellizzari. With 500M to the top, Remco Evenepoel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe made his attack and quickly brought Bernard back. Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious was the only one to stick with Evenepoel but that was short lived. Evenepoel accelerated again and put distance between himself and everyone else.
The road descended along the cliffs and coastline but kicked back up again multiple times. Group two formed with Tiberi, Brandon McNulty and João Almeida of UAE-XRG, Magnus Sheffield of Ineos, and Pellizzari who latched on as Evenepoel's backup. Sheffield dropped away after an acceleration by Almeida but they still had around 15 seconds to close on Evenepoel. McNulty yo-yo'ed on and off the back and was burning energy that Almeida needed for assistance because with 3KM to go, they had Evenepoel in their sights at 10 seconds. Even though the chase had been closing, Evenepoel was able to fend off the group and came into the finish alone to take his fourth win of the season on the Queen Stage of the race. The chase languished in the closing kilometers and Almeida led them in for second place at 24 seconds with Pellizzari in third and Tiberi in fourth.
Evenepoel now has a firm grip on the GC with a 31 second advantage on Almeida and 34 seconds on Pellizzari with just one sprint type day to come.