March 28, 2026
The last day in the high mountains is accompanied with 4,000 meters of elevation across 158 km with two category one climbs and an HC climb along the way. Leaving from Berga, the course generally goes uphill for the first 63 kilometers of the stage but most of that distance is covered on long valley roads and only reaches 600 meters above sea level as the highest point. A similar style descent follows before the start of the hardest climb all week. The Coll de Pradell is 14.6 kilometers long at 6.9% but the last 5.5 kilometers averages 11% and should significantly reduce the group. The top comes 60 km from the finish with the intermediate sprint point at the bottom in Pedraforca 10 kilometers later. The riders will start the 5 km, 8% Collada de Sant Isidre with 32 km to go. There are a few short bumps after the descent that lead to the foot of the final climb to Queralt. The last 6 km are all uphill at an average of 7%. Jonas Vingegaard owns the GC lead by a commanding margin but there are 13 riders within 1 minute of second overall, making today's stage very interesting in the race for the podium.
Race Summary
Before the flag dropped to get the race officially underway, a crash in the neutral roll out saw Michel Hessmann of Movistar come down after hitting a curb and unfortunately he was unable to continue in the race. When the race did get started, a large group got away of 15 riders. The only riders within 10 minutes of Jonas Vingegaard in the GC were Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost, Andrea Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility, Rudy Molard of Groupama-FDJ United, Byron Munton of Modern Adventure, and Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek but there was no real threat since Visma-Lease a Bike had them at under 2 minutes with 80 km to go.
The bunch hit the base of the mighty Coll de Pradell 2 minutes after the break. The gradients weren't fierce at the bottom and nearly the full peloton was able to sit in the slip stream for the first half of the climb. The first moves in the break came from Marc Soler of UAE-XRG at 8.5 km from the top. Munton followed and the pair quickly got a gap on the rest. The toil of the climb showed itself with 5 km still to the top and the trap door was open at the back of the break and the peloton. Ciccone, Carapaz, and Embret Svestad-Bårdseng of Ineos went in pursuit of Soler and Munton with 4 km to climb. Munton dropped off Soler's wheel and was collected by the Ciccone group but the South African couldn't stay with the advancing group however when the gradients ramped up to over 15%. Soler was caught 1,300 meters from the top and Ciccone kept the pressure on in hopes of gathering the mountains points at the top. When the line was in sight, Ciccone went to the front thinking that the points would be his but Soler got a jump on the Italian and hit the line first with a frustrated Ciccone in second. The only action from the peloton was at the back with riders constantly being dropped. By the top, the gap was just 1 minute 5 seconds and the peloton was reduced to 25 riders, all under the pressure from Visma-Lease a Bike.
The descent was very narrow with piles of snow flanking either side. The melt was running across the road at times making it tricky to send the corners at speed. Ciccone scorched the descent which pushed the others to the limit. When the gradients eased at the bottom, the four leaders had built a gap of 1 minute 40 seconds on the peloton who had taken the descent at a more reasonable pace.
The gap remained remarkably stable at 90 seconds over the next 15 km to the base of the penultimate climb of the Collada de Sant Isidre at 31.5 km to go. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe took over the pace making in the bunch and most riders who got back in on the descent were immediately dispatched. The gap was coming down to under 1 minute and Ciccone attacked the lead group 3.5 km from the top. Carapaz went with him but Soler and Svestad-Bårdseng dug in and tried to haul them back. Ciccone wasn't hanging around and dropped Carapaz 1 km later. Fortunately for Ciccone, he had enough of a gap to make it to the top to collect the mountains points which gave him a decent buffer on Soler. Ciccone went over the top 40 seconds ahead of the favorites group.
The first attacks in the peloton came from Oscar Onley of Ineos who was in search of redemption after a difficult day yesterday. A reaction came a few moments later from Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe with most of the favorites in tow. Onley was brought back and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe returned to the front with Remco Evenepoel. Evenepoel set the pace with 1,500 meters to climb and had reduced the group to around a dozen riders by the top.
The descent was highly technical with blind corners, chicanes through small villages, and countless sweeping bends. Evenepoel seemingly took the descent with no breaks which split the group in half. At the bottom with 18 km to go, the favorites group was down to Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Vingegaard, Afonso Eulálio and Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious, and Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep. Svestad-Bårdseng, Soler, Carapaz, and Ciccone were all brought back 1 km later. With rivals of Martinez dropped on the descent, Eulálio went to the front to help pull the group away from the likes of Mattias Skjelmose and Felix Gall on the next 10 km of undulating road to the base of Queralt.
By the base of Queralt, Gall and Skjelmose had lost a full minute under the pressure of Evenepoel and Eulálio. The bottom of the climb was steep as it rose out of town passed terraced walls draped with Catalan flags. Evenepoel carried on his work until 2.5 km from the top when Vingegaard went to the front and lifted the pace. Only Lipowitz and Martinez could follow but, through a steep left corner, Vingegaard accelerated and was clear with 2 km to go. The crowd grew thicker as Vingegaard neared the finish. The motorbike cleared his path until the Dane reached the barriers at 300 meters to go. No one was behind Vingegaard to spoil the photo as he crossed the line for another win, all but sealing the GC for the week. Martinez beat Lipowitz in the sprint for second, 10 seconds down, with Paret-Peintre in fourth at 16 seconds and Evenepoel in fifth at 27 seconds.
Vingegaard now leads Martinez by 1 minute 22 seconds and Lipowitz by 1 minute 30 seconds. Gall dropped from second overall to sixth at 3 minutes 17 seconds, all due to the technical descent and the great teamwork by Evenepoel and Eulálio.