April 29, 2026
Circuit races will be the name of the game for most days this week and the first is today with laps around Martigny. The first 115 km of the race takes in three full laps of the local Martigny circuit which sits along the banks of the Rhône River. On each lap there are two crossings of the river and a category three climb of La Rasse which is 2.2 km long at 8.8%. The top of the La Rasse comes 11.5 km from the finish line but La Rasse is not the main feature of the day. The riders will exit the circuit with 115 km to go and reach the Ovronnaz, the hardest climb all week. The full ascent is 9 km at 9.8% with the last 2.5 km pushing 11%. The top comes 34 km from the finish with the steep descent and a flat run in, back onto the original circuit, and through to the finish line. There is no La Rasse climb on this final run in so the last 25 km or so are completely flat which will potentially make the finale quite tactical.
Race Summary
The temperature down in the valley in Martigny was over 20C (68F) but at the top of Ovronnaz which sits at 1,400 meters above sea level, it was much colder and there is almost always a threat of rain this time of the year in Romandie. An active start saw seven riders break free including Sam Oomen of Lidl-Trek, Dillon Corkery and Alexy Faure Prost of Picnic-PostNL, Louis Vervaeke of Soudal Quickstep, Patrick Gamper of Jayco AlUla, Roland Thalmann of Tudor Pro Cycling, and Pietro Mattio of Visma-Lease a Bike. Before live coverage, Oscar Onley of Ineos pulled out with illness which was another blow to his early season which has been one to forget. With 77 km to go on the approach to the last passage of La Rasse, they had 2 minutes 50 seconds on the bunch who were being led by UAE-XRG.
Corkery was dispatched from the break on La Rasse as Thalmann led his five remaining companions over the top to start the short, technical descent back into the valley towards Martigny and the finish line. When the break arrived in Martigny with 60.5 km to go, their gap was down sightly to 2 minutes 20 seconds as Ivo Oliveira and Vegard Stake Laengen were driving hard in the bunch.
The rush to reach the bottom of the climb in good position began with 45 km to go. EF-Education EasyPost were challenging UAE-XRG and Ineos with Bahrain Victorious lined up as well. The clouds looked heavy and quite ominous ahead but as the break arrived at the foot of Ovronnaz with 42 km to go, they were still dry as they passed row after row of Fendant and Pinot Noir grapes. The rush from the peloton cut 1 minute off their deficit and were within the same camera shot within 1 km of the start of the climb.
UAE-XRG continued to ride hard on the front until 38 km to go, over a little bridge across a brook, when Tadej Pogačar attacked. Everyone from the break had been caught with Faure Prost being the last one. Pogačar didn't create a gap right away like we usually see. The bunch had been large when he made his move and a handful of riders were able to latch onto the World Champion. Primož Roglič of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe was first to close the gap with Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious close behind. Roglič settled into his rhthym and dropped the wheel a few hundred meters later but Martinez was full of fight and went around to stay tight to Pogačar's wheel. At 3.5 km to the top, Martinez was still hanging on and looking good with a chase group forming behind made up of Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe as well as Jefferson Cepeda of Movistar at around 15 seconds.
Lipowitz and Cepeda were able to bridge up to Pogačar and Martinez with 2.5 km to climb with a larger favorites group coalescing at 35 seconds. At 1,700 meters from the top, Cepeda was dropped and 500 meters later, Lipowitz was losing contact, all under the pressure from Pogačar. At this point, Jørgen Nordhagen of Visma-Lease a Bike had entered the frame as he had caught Cepeda and was closing in on the lead group. Martinez took the mountains points at the top with Pogačar and Lipowitz just behind him and Nordhagen a further 15 seconds behind. Nordhagen sprinted out of every corner on the descent but was still 8 seconds behind the three leaders when they reached the bottom of the descent with 23 km to go.
Three became four when Nordhagen finally joined the front group with 22 km to go. Only Pogačar and Martinez were pulling which allowed Cepeda to close to within 20 seconds as group three with Roglič, Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious, Carlos Rodríguez of Ineos and five others were at 1 minute. With 11 km to go, Cepeda was caught by the chase group which had increased to eleven riders but they were still 45 seconds from the lead group with Nordhagen now pulling with Martinez and Pogačar.
Under 3 km to go, the chase group were working very well together and had the Pogačar group within 25 seconds. Lipowitz was still missing turns which was aggrivating the others in the group and slowing them down. With 1 km remaining, Pogačar was the only one pulling and the chase group were at just 15 seconds but it would be too much for them to close down. Before the final corner at 250 meters to go, Nordhagen sprinted forward to take the turn in first position. Pogačar followed through with Martinez then Lipowitz in fourth wheel. Nordhagen opened up out of the corner but his sprint didn't have much pop and he was passed by Pogačar and Martinez. Pogačar had the most left in his legs and had put a full bike length into the others by the time he crossed the line with raised arm in victory. Lipowitz pipped Martinez for second place with Nordhagen pulling up the rear in fourth. Albert Withen Philipsen of Lidl-Trek won the sprint for fifth place from the chase group of fifteen riders, 21 seconds down on leading quartette.
Pogačar now takes over the race lead by 7 seconds to Lipowitz and 16 seconds to Martinez with Nordhagen in fourth, 23 seconds behind.