June 8, 2026
A brutal day is on tap for the second stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The riders will have a whopping 234 km to cover and over 3,600 meters of elevation between Saint-Martin-Le-Vinoux and the finish in Le Puy-en-Velay for what will be the longest stage in over 20 years. The race starts just North of Grenoble and generally runs parallel with the Isère River Westward to the Rhône, crossing the mighty river in Tournon-sur-Rhône after 90 km. The next 45 km are all uphill to the top of the Col du Rouvey. The bunch will lose about 600 meters of altitude across the subsequent 60 km but there are plenty of lumps and bumps along the way. With 30 km remaining, the riders will hit the Côte des Baraques, a 4 km climb at 6.6%. There is no real descent from the top, but rather 25 km of difficult undulating roads along La Bourne River Gorge with the last 5 km downhill and then flat to the finish in Le Puy-en-Velay. This would be a classic third week transition stage in Le Tour but coming after just one day of racing, the dynamics will be much different. It's a long day to control for a finale that isn't hard enough to split the GC riders. A break won't be allowed a huge gap though because there are still over 30 riders within 2 minutes of the overall.
Race Summary
Another beautiful day in the Isère department saw the riders set off for an 11 km neutral before the flag dropped. As the day wore on, the clouds thickened and when live coverage began with 79 km remaining, light rain was falling and a mist had descended over the peloton. A break of ten riders got away and were 6 minutes ahead of the peloton as they continued their trek towards the village of Rosières and the finale. The lead group was composed of Anthon Charmig of Uno-X Mobility, Jordan Jegat of TotalEnergies, Baptiste Veistroffer of Lotto Intermarché, Vlad Van Mechelen of Bahrain Victorious, Raúl García Pierna of Movistar, Benjamin Thomas of Cofidis, Alex Díaz of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Nadav Raisberg of NSN Cycling, Clément Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ United, and Henri-François Renard-Haquin of Picnic-PostNL. Race leaders EF-Education EasyPost had control of the peloton and were holding the break within a safe distance to maintain the GC lead for Alex Baudin.
A bit of sun came back as the riders moved into the Haute-Loire through very rural areas with even distribution of wooded and agricultural land and seemingly as many cows as people. The race continued in a holding pattern through the pristine town of Yssingeaux with EF-Education EasyPost still in firm control and slowly bringing the gap down below 5 minutes. The first action came from the break when Veistroffer went on the attack on a gradual rise with 47 km to go. Braz Afonso went with him and they had built 15 seconds on the rest of the break in no time.
The chasers worked well together, rolling in a double pace line, but the two leaders had 20 seconds when they crossed the river in Lavoûte-sur-Loire to start the Côte des Baraques. After about 1 km of climbing, the lighter body of Braz Afonso distanced Veistroffer who was soon to be joined by Van Mechelen and García Pierna. At the top with 31 km to go, Braz Afonso took maximum KOM points and still had 20 seconds on Van Mechelen and García Pierna. The third group containing Charmig, Jegat, Thomas, and Renard-Haquin were another 8 seconds back with Veistroffer further down the hill and out of the game. The peloton had effectively called a truce to this point and had drifted back out to 5 minutes 30 seconds which meant the break would take the stage for the second day running.
Braz Afonso was joined by Van Mechelen and García Pierna with 27 km remaining and they had 10 seconds on the four chasers. Three became seven at the front of the race with 20 km to go with only one real launch pad remaining, the Côte de Saint-Vidal, a 2 km rise at 6.8% just a few kilometers up the road. Thomas tried to sneak away on a short downhill coming into the Côte de Saint-Vidal but the group was more or less together as the road gradually went up. Charmig went full from the bottom and only had Braz Afonso and García Pierna with him 500 meters into the climb as they went passed the 12th century Château de Saint-Vidal. Van Mechelen was working hard and almost made it up to the three leaders but Charmig put in another dig 400 meters from the top and accelerated away. When the Dane took the KOM points at the top with 12 km to go, Braz Afonso was closest at 6 seconds with García Pierna fighting to stay in contention a further 2 seconds behind.
Charmig's raw watts on the rolling roads to the finish were too great for Braz Afonso and García Pierna to match. With 4.5 km to go, the two chasers were joined by Renard-Haquin and Van Mechelen but they had lost 25 seconds and the gap was expanding. By the time Charmig was saluting the crowd in the finish straight, he had put 40 seconds into the chase. The win marked his first in over four years and only the second of his career. Renard-Haquin won the sprint for second place ahead of Van Mechelen, a close call for a Picnic-PostNL squad desperate for something good to go their way. There were a few skirmishes in the GC group but everyone stayed together and rolled into the finish over 3 minutes after Charmig.
EF-Education EasyPost successfully defended the GC lead for Alex Baudin on a high energy output day. There were some changes in the top 10 but only because of countback on stage finishes as everyone finished on the same time as their competitors.