July 14, 2026
With a few non-GC days and a rest day behind them, the contenders for the overall will have to be ready to come out and fight in today's tenth stage from Aurillac to Le Lioran. The 165 km parcours is very difficult with seven categorized climbs including two category one climbs and one category two. The first 60 km are reasonably straightforward as the riders will pass through the small villages of the Cantal on their way to the intermediate sprint in Lacapelle del Fraisse after 26 km of racing. Once in Jou-sous-Monjou, the proceeding 100 km consist of relentless climbing through the Cantal range of the Massif Central. There are four smaller climbs on route before the first category one of the day, the Puy Mary - Pas de Peyrol which is nearly 8 km at 6% with the last 2 km averaging 9%. A 12 km descent leads straight into the Col du Pertus which is where we should see some GC movement. The Pertus is 4 km at over 8% and tops out just 15 km from the finish. One more official climb is on route, the 3.5 km, 5% Col du Font de Cère, before a short downhill and final rise to the line in Le Lioran after nearly 3,800 meters of climbing. This stage should demonstrate that the high mountains of the Alps and Pyrenees are not the only places where time gaps can be taken.
Race Summary
The start in Aurillac was packed with fans on Bastille Day and French spirit was evident with Romain Grégoire getting the call up to the front row as French National Champion. Temperatures had moderated slightly but were still forecasted to reach 32C (90F) at the finish in Le Lioran which is more than warm enough to need to continue all of the heat mitigation techniques the riders have used over the last week. When the flag was dropped, there were a number of attacks but the only one to get any distance from the bunch was Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla who dangled off the front for about 5 km before being reeled back in.
10.5 km from the intermediate sprint, Lidl-Trek put the pressure on over a 1 km roller to trim off the rest of the sprinters to give Mads Pedersen the best chance at taking more points for the Green jersey. Gaps formed making at least three distinct groups with the Maillot Jaune of Tadej Pogačar and second overall Jonas Vingegaard stuck in the second group chasing Paul Seixas, Remco Evenepoel, and Florian Lipowitz who were attentively in the front split. Pogačar jumped across the gap on his own leaving Vingegaard in group two with roughly 15 seconds to close. Fortunately for Visma-Lease a Bike, they were able to close the gap after a few kilometers and saved what could have been a GC disaster.
Even with all of the action, every contender for the Green jersey was present for the intermediate sprint with the exception of Tim Merlier of Soudal Quickstep who was in a small grupetto at 1 minute behind. In the sprint, Pedersen and Max Kanter of XDS-Astana jumped at the exact same time and it was Kanter who took the early lead. The run to the line had a gentle left and right which Kanter straight-lined but the road gradually went up and the longer sprint endurance of Pedersen did the trick as the Dane came level to the German and pipped him on the line with the bike throw.
Through the sprint, the battle for the break continued and with 137 km to go, Netcompany-Ineos hit out with a three-man lead out that split the front group. Tobias Foss, Josh Tarling, and Michał Kwiatkowski ripped a group away that also included Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost, George Bennett of NSN Cycling, Alex Aranburu of Cofidis, Ewen Costiou of Groupama-FDJ United, Joris Delbove of TotalEnergies, and a Movistar trio of Pablo Castrillo, Nelson Oliveira, and Michel Hessmann. The move was nullified 6 km later and the race was reset.
With 118 km to go, a huge group of over 30 riders got away and UAE-XRG went to the front of the peloton to set a pace to keep the front group in-check. The leaders arrived at the first climb of the Côte de Pailherols with a 1 minute lead and had just 10 seconds more as Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep led over the top to take maximum points at the KOM. The riders stayed up high at around 1,000 meters of elevation on an exposed plateau and the cohesion completely broke down. Javier Romo of Movistar went away with Harold Tejada of XDS-Astana and with 86 km to go, they had nearly 40 seconds on Ben Healy of EF-Education EasyPost, Sergio Higuita of XDS-Astana, and Louis Vervaeke of Soudal Quickstep who were trying to come across.
The riders descended into a fertile valley with a few farms dotting the hillsides but otherwise devoid of human settlement. At the start of the Col de la Griffouls with 75 km to go, Tejada and Romo had 20 seconds on the Healy chase group, 45 seconds on the remnants of the original break, and 1 minute 25 seconds on the peloton being ominously towed along by UAE-XRG. XDS-Astana went from having two men in the first two groups to none when both Tejada and Higuita blew up at almost the same time early on the climb. Romo was stomping up the Griffouls and had built 45 seconds on a larger chase group which contained Tejada, Healy, Vervaeke, Paret-Peintre, Alex Baudin of EF-Education EasyPost, Clément Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ United, and Ramses Debruyne of Alpecin-Premier Tech. Near the top, Baudin accelerated to go for the remaining KOM points but had Paret-Peintre and Debruyne right on his case. They did not sprint and it was Paret-Peintre who took second behind Romo who was still 35 seconds ahead with the peloton of only 45 riders closing in just 30 seconds down on the Paret-Peintre group.
Up and over the short Col de Prat de Bouc, Baudin, Debruyne, and Paret-Peintre were caught by the peloton on the descent with 56 km to go leaving Romo as the sole leader with a gap of 55 seconds. Romo defended well on the wide highway climb of the Côte de Murat by maintaining 45 seconds at the top even with Tim Wellens working hard in the chase. The catch was made early on the Puy Mary - Pas de Peyrol with 38 km to go and the GC guys were preparing for the speed to ramp up for the finale.
Almost immediately after Romo was caught, Richard Carapaz went on the attack. Carapaz set his jaw and pounded his legs like pistons. He entered the treeless heights in the final kilometer of the Puy Mary with 35 seconds and took the KOM points at the top. UAE-XRG had burned off everyone but Adam Yates and Isaac del Toro for Pogačar and it was Decathlon CMA CGM who led the reduced peloton of only 20 riders over the top just 20 seconds after Carapaz.
The descent looked very similar to a Pyrenean descent. The road was technically two lanes but no modern car would fit on one side. Pinarello Q36.5 had both Tom Pidcock and Chris Harper come down as did Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike and only Pidcock was able to get back to the favorites group before the bottom. Meanwhile up front, Carapaz descended very well and he started the Col de Pertus with a bit over 1 minute on the favorites group.
Decathlon CMA CGM was still leading and wanted to take the pace on the Col de Pertus but UAE-XRG had their game plan and muscled the French off the front. Yates had immediate impact when he reached his climbing velocity but seemed to knock it off a bit after the first kilometer. The group bubbled up towards Yates until around 2 km to go when he was dropped, leaving Pogačar with just del Toro in the group. A few hundred meters later, Visma-Lease a Bike put Davide Piganzoli up to ride which increased the speed and sent riders out the back. 1,200 meters from the top, Pogačar came out from behind Vingegaard and sent a blistering attack that no one even tried to respond to. Pogačar crossed 40 seconds in about 1 km and went passed Carapaz like he was standing still. The Slovenian went over the top with 14.5 km to go with about 5 seconds on Carapaz and 20 seconds on the group containing Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek, and Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM. Del Toro was a further 12 seconds down the mountain desperately chasing with Pidcock and Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious.
At the bottom, Pogačar had 15 seconds on Carapaz who was about to be caught by the workman-like Vingegaard group. The next 3 km were up a dragging valley road to the base of the Col du Font de Cère. Pogačar still only had 20 seconds to the Vingegaard which had dropped Carapaz and saw Evenepoel dangling at the back. Vingegaard rode on the front the whole way up the climb and never asked for help from the others. When Pogačar crested the top with 2.8 km to go, he had edged his advantage up to 36 seconds to start an exceptionally narrow, twisting 1,500 meter downhill. He entered the final uphill kilometer and kept the power full all the way to the line to avenge his loss to Vingegaard the last time the Tour de France arrived in Le Lioran in 2024. Behind, Evenepoel caught a second wind and blasted through the last 400 meters to take second at 32 seconds with Seixas nipping Lipowitz for third at 34 seconds. The Lidl-Trek duo of Ayuso and Skjelmose was next in at 38 seconds with a seemingly defeated Vingegaard in seventh at 44 seconds.
After just 10 days, the race for Yellow seems to be gone. Pogačar now leads Vingegaard by 3 minutes 36 seconds, his largest lead after 10 days of racing in any Grand Tour. Del Toro had a rough day and dropped down to seventh place at over 5 minutes which moved Evenepoel into third at 4 minutes 6 seconds. Ayuso, Seixas, Lipowitz, del Toro, and Skjelmose are still well in the fight for second place.