February 20, 2026
On paper, today is the second easiest stage of the week but all the profiles have been pretty similar so it's hard to know what's going to happen. The riders head out for 180KM from the olive capital of the world in Jaén, to the small town of Lopera with only a few thousand inhabitants. There are six defined climbs on course but only two are classified, the second of which tops out with 68KM to go. None of the climbs are particularly hard with gradients around 4% for 3-5KM but we have seen the first two days blow apart on similar terrain. The last meaningful uphill comes with 12KM to go to the town of Porcuna after 2.5KM on roads averaging 3.5%. A short downhill brings the riders into Lopera and a drag up to the finish line.
Race Summary
It was a beautiful early Spring day in Andalusia with only some riders opting for arm warmers. A break of four got away relatively early including Giosuè Epis of Petrolike, Nicolás Alustiza of Euskatel-Euskadi, Josh Burnett of Burgos-Burpellet BH, and Samuel Flórez of Modern Adventure. They built a maximum lead of 3 minutes 30 seconds and had that margin still with 71KM to go as they approached the Alto de Peñallana, the second categorized climb of the day. Visma-Lease a Bike and Uno-X Mobility were setting the pace in the peloton and, given the subdued nature of the peloton, the bunch looked content to ride in for a bunch sprint.
Cofidis added a man to the chase but not for fear of the break staying away. With 47KM to go, the gap was well in hand at 1 minute 30 seconds as the riders continued through the rural agricultural areas and small towns of Northern Andalusia. The pattern remained unchanged through Arjona with 23KM to go. Arjona looked like a spectacular place. The town is situated on an exposed plateau, completely surrounded by a sea of olive groves, and with views of far off peaks of the Sierra de Andújar.
The race formation changed with 15KM to go as teams started to jostle for position. Alustiza attacked from the break when the gap was down to 15 seconds and he was the last of the break to be caught as they started the descent out of Porcuna with 11KM to go. Visma-Lease a Bike took control and lined up six of their riders at the front of the peloton. UAE-XRG, Pinarello Q36.5, and Uno-X Mobility were all battling for the front but it was Visma-Lease a Bike leading through 1KM to go.
A small hill just inside 1KM to go offered a launch pad and Jan Christen of UAE-XRG hit it with full force. He was quickly marked and Visma-Lease a Bike went back to the front. The last 500M were very narrow and twisting which made it impossible to move forward if you were too far back. On the last rise with 100M to go, Christophe Laporte of Visma-Lease a Bike was a dead heat with Milan Fretin of Cofidis, and Paul Penhoët of Groupama-FDJ. The three converged on the line and nearly collided as they threw their bikes forward. It was close but we could see right away that Fretin was the first to cross the line to give Cofidis their second win of the season. A closer review was required for the podium spots which showed that Penhoët just edged ahead of Laporte for second place, pushing Laporte to third.
The GC remained largely unchanged. Laporte was sitting at 54 seconds at the start of the day like most of the peloton so with 4 bonus seconds, he moves into sole ownership of third overall but it is still Iván Romeo of Movistar leading by 7 seconds to Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility.