June 12, 2026
Baroudeurs and Sprinters have had their fun but it's time for the riders looking for the overall win to shine. Starting in Saint-Vulbas, site of the monumental 35th Tour de France stage win for Mark Cavendish, the riders will head South into the Parc naturel régional de Chartreuse. There they will find two categorized climbs. The first is Côte de Chatelard a 4.8km ascent at 5.1% directly followed by the 8.1 km, 5.6% Col du Granier. A slight turn to the North and East will bring the riders into the Combe de Savoie along the Isère River for over 50 km of flat valley roads. The finale will begin in Ugine with 21 km at the base of the Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine, an 11.6 km climb at 4.9%. Only about 3 km of downhill follows before the 6 km rise to the finish line in Crest-Voland. The climb is very regular with average around 7.5% which will suit the riders who prefer a steadier climb. The last 400 meters flattens out to the line which could produce a reduced GC sprint for stage honors if they have not been separated by this point.
Race Summary
The weather was sublime again for racing and boy did they race. 52 km was covered in the first hour and an enormous 55 rider group split off from the peloton and went away. Best placed on GC was Luke Tuckwell of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe at a little over 1 minute behind but there were no big GC names who managed to sneak into the group. On paper, the best climbers in the group were Georg Steinhauser of EF-Education EasyPost, Yannis Voisard of Tudor Pro Cycling, Guillaume Martin of Groupama-FDJ United, Tobias Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility, and Tuckwell's teammate Maxim Van Gils. The race was way ahead of schedule and by the time live coverage began, only 58 km remained and the break was absolutely flying up the valley road towards Ugine. They had 3 minutes 20 seconds on the peloton led by Decathlon CMA CGM who were the sole chasers.
With 50 km to go, the gap had crept up to 4 minutes which put pressure of EF-Education EasyPost to chase as race leaders. They had three men up the road but decided to commit resources to keeping the break closer together nonetheless. The added firepower helped to stabilize the gap around 4 minutes but Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, XDS-Astana, Lotto Intermarché, and TotalEnergies were keen to keep the break ahead as far as possible and had resources to do so. EF-Education EasyPost called back one man from the break but they couldn't make a dent in their disadvantage.
The mountains grew larger and started to surround the riders as they neared the Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine. Riders in the break jettisoned bottles and any unnecessary weight before starting the dragging slopes of Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine. By the bottom with 21 km remaining, they had built a lead of 4 minutes 40 seconds. Loads of riders pulled the pin but a large group was still together on the climb and continued to expand their gap.
When the peloton reached the bottom of the climb, Netcompany-Ineos went to the front to set the rhythm. They had Lidl-Trek for company in the chase but still could make no difference in the time gap. Part way up the climb, it felt as if the peloton had given up hope of pulling the front group back before the finish and they started to look at each other. Around 4 km from the top, Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep went on the attack out of the peloton to liven up the pace. Carlos Rodríguez of Netcompany-Ineos bridged up which forced Decathlon CMA CGM to chase. Paret-Peintre joined up with two of his teammates from the early move who dropped back to pull the Frenchman away from the peloton.
In the break, Clément Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ United took the KOM points at the top of the Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine with 9 km remaining. The peloton was still struggling to gain ground at 4 minutes 35 seconds as the Paret-Peintre group was languishing just 15 seconds ahead. Down the descent near the bottom of the final rise to Crest-Voland, Paret-Peintre and Rodríguez were caught by the peloton as the first attacks were launching 4 minutes ahead in the break away.
Steinhauser made the first move but Tuckwell still had Van Gils there to set a hard pace on the lower slopes, leading the group which numbered just less than 20 riders. Van Gils caught and dropped Steinhauser and blew the group apart in the process, including dropping Tuckwell. Johannessen bridged up along with Pablo Torres of UAE-XRG to make three in the lead. Halfway up the climb, Tuckwell was able to come across to make four and immediately took on the pace to drive the group. With 1 km to go, Torres was distanced, leaving Johannessen in a Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe sandwich. The barriers came in with 550 meters to go and Van Gils looked primed to pounce but the Belgian was clever and waited. Johannessen went long with 250 meters to go and got a good jump but Van Gils was ready. He sat in the slipstream until 150 meters from the line at which point he accelerated passed. He had enough of a gap to spread his arms wide, announcing his return to form after a difficult Spring full of injury. Johannessen pounded his front wheel into the pavement out of frustration but it was hard to see a different outcome given the sprint qualities of the two riders. Tuckwell time trialed his way to the line for third place, 6 seconds down, and the clock began ticking to see how much of a lead the young Aussie would have in GC.
In the peloton, it was reported that a Netcompany-Ineos rider had crashed on the descent but it look a long time to get an ID of who it was. Later we found out that it was Oscar Onley. He finished the stage but was well down and out of the GC, continuing the Scot's woeful 2026. Decathlon CMA CGM burned off the rest of their riders and Paul Seixas decided to go to the front to set a pace he was comfortable with. In no time at all, only a handful of riders were able to stay with the French phenom. Remaining in the GC group was Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG, Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike, and Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek. Ayuso and Skjelmose were the first two dropped leaving just two riders able to handle the speed. Just inside 3 km to go, Jorgenson let the wheel go but del Toro was steadfast in his will to hold on.
2 km from the line, Seixas looked back and waived del Toro through. The Mexican Champion obliged and started to pull. The pair swapped turns the whole way to the line, likely realizing that they gave a huge advantage to Tuckwell and could not afford to waste more time by playing games. Del Toro led Seixas across the line, 3 minutes 15 seconds after Van Gils to finish 20th and 21st on the stage. Just behind, Jorgenson finished at 3 minutes 28 seconds with the Lidl-Trek duo saving their GC hopes by coming home just 9 seconds after the American.
After everyone had finished, it was established that Tuckwell owned the GC by 1 minute 12 seconds to Bruno Armirail and 2 minutes to Guillaume Martin, both of which were also in the break. More importantly, Matteo Jorgenson sits at 2 minutes 34 seconds, Paul Seixas is 7th at 3 minutes 6 seconds, and Isaac del Toro is 10th, 3 minutes 22 seconds down. There is plenty of hard terrain coming but taking multiple minutes off a man in form will be a difficult task.