Place Name: Boulevard Camille Pelletan
Address: 109 Boulevard Camille Pelletan, 84400 Apt, France
Details: March 13, 2026
With the GC locked up and Jonas Vingegaard's strength on full display yesterday, tactics might change and a break might be allowed to go up the road to contest the win. The course of today's stage from Barbentane, site of the confluence of the Rhône and Durance, to Apt also lends itself to attacking racing. There are five climbs on course in the Luberon range, four of which are categorized. The first two should be inconsequential as they both come before 75KM left of the 179KM stage. The third climb of the day is the 7KM, 4% climb of the Col de l'Aire dei Masco and crests with 35KM to go. The penultimate climb is uncategorized but there are bonus seconds available at the top in Saint-Martin-de-Castellon after 2.7KM at 5.3%. The final climb is the Côte de Saignon, a 4KM climb at 5% with the last kilometer at 7%. There are just 4.5KM from the top to the finish in Apt and it would be the logical launch pad for a late attack. As mentioned, the question becomes, who will want to control all day? Visma-Lease a Bike have a strangle hold on the race and can ride conservatively. Will another of the GC teams ride just to get beaten by Vingegaard? The next best option would be to get out ahead and try for a break.
No rain, no arm warmers, just beautifully warm Provençal sun. After the riders left Barbentane, four riders escaped the peloton for a day in the break. It was a big fight but sprint teams like Cofidis and NSN Cycling were vigilant to not allow a large move off the front. The group consisted of Josh Tarling of Ineos, Igor Arrieta of UAE-XRG, Arthur Kluckers of Tudor Pro Cycling, and Steff Cras of Soudal Quickstep and, with 64KM to go, they had 90 seconds on the peloton who were being led by Cofidis. The speed up to this point was over 47KM/HR and had not relented all day. The call went out to everyone in the bunch at the same time to move up and a swell came from behind as teams brought their leaders forward with 46KM in anticipation of narrow roads leading into the Col de l'Aire dei Masco.
Halfway up the climb, the gap was down to 1 minute 15 seconds and Søren Kragh Andersen of Lidl-Trek went on the attack from the peloton. By the top, he was 34 seconds behind the break but the peloton were just a further 25 seconds down the mountain. Cras was dropped from the break on the descent and it wasn't long before Kragh Andersen had caught the Belgian. The peloton took the twisting descent more cautiously than the break and, by the bottom, the three remaining leaders had 90 seconds with 23KM to go. Kragh Andersen was stuck in chasse potate and languishing in the middle, and eventually he gave up and went back to the peloton.
On the Saint-Martin-de-Castellon, the bunch seemed to call off any chase and were wide across the road. Halfway up, Lidl-Trek started riding with Kragh Andersen on the front with thoughts of Mathias Vacek going for the sprint. Lidl-Trek cut 30 seconds off the gap by the top and ripped the descent. Gaps formed and the bunch were in pieces when they hit the valley road. Lidl-Trek continued driving the group hard and when they swung on to the final climb of the Côte de Saignon, the gap to the three leaders was just 30 seconds.
Kluckers was dropped immediately but Arrieta and Tarling powered on. Lidl-Trek started the day with just four riders and looked to be running out of resources on the climb. Only Lennard Kämna remained for Lidl-Trek ahead of Vacek but the German wasn't able to make a dent in the gap had he dropped away. Visma-Lease a Bike went to the front and most of the sprinters that were left in the group were dispatched, including their own in Axel Zingle, who was visibly frustrated with the tactic. Tarling and Arrieta were caught as Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious attacked at 600M from the top. All of the GC riders were present and correct and when Martinez recognized that he hadn't made a gap he sat up. The moment of pause allowed for counter attacks and Harold Tejada of XDS-Astana took the opportunity. Only a dozen riders were left in the chase at 4KM to go as Tejada started the descent with a marginal lead.
A handful of riders made it back to the chase group including Lewis Askey of NSN Cycling, Laurence Pithie of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, and Dorian Godon of Ineos. With 1,500M to go, Tejada had about 6 seconds and there was no organized chase. Tejada railed the last few corners and had plenty of time to celebrate the biggest win of his career. Arms were spread wide as he crossed the line with the chase group in full sprint behind. Godon opened up first with 200M to go after a lead out by Kévin Vauquelin and the French Champion sprinted in for second place with Askey behind in third.
The GC top 10 was effectively unchanged with just two more stages coming on the weekend.
Tags: Paris-Nice, 2026, Paris-Nice 2026, Stage 6, March, Barbentane, Apt, Josh Tarling, Igor Arrieta, Arthur Kluckers, Steff Cras, Søren Kragh Andersen, Lenny Martinez, Harold Tejada, Lewis Askey, Dorian Godon