July 15, 2026
After they slogged through the Massif Central just to stay in the race, the sprinters get their turn to take center stage on what is a flat day of 161 km. The riders will start in Vichy, capital of the French rump state during the Second World War, and follow the Allier river for 55 km North to Moulins, passing the intermediate sprint in Saint Pourcain Sur Sioule and the fourth category Côte de Billonnière along the way. The race crosses over the Allier and turns gently East through the Bourbonnais to the banks of the Loire river. The Côte de Billy-Chavannes is the second and last categorized climb, a category four, which tops out with 38 km to go. The run in to Nevers is pretty straightforward with the last real turn coming about 1,500 meters from the line which is situated nicely on a wide boulevard near the Loire.
Race Summary
For the first time in the race, the atmosphere thickened and there was rain in the area. The neutral zone was damp and heavy clouds were lingering overhead. The wind shield wipers were wagging back and forth on the commissaire's car when the flag dropped at KM0 and there was a big fight right away to make the break. Alpecin-Premier Tech decided to switch tactics from previous sprint stages and they were jumping on every opportunity to get up the road. Soudal Quickstep, XDS-Astana, and Decathlon CMA CGM weren't having any of it however and they marked every move. In the end, four riders chipped off the front including Anthon Charmig of Uno-X Mobility, Julian Alaphilippe of Tudor Pro Cycling, Mathis Le Berre of Total Energies, and Nelson Oliveira of Movistar. Liam Slock of Lotto Intermarché waited to try and come across and ended up in no-mans land. He rode for over 10 km on his own but couldn't make any progress on the four leaders and was forced to sit up.
At the intermediate sprint in Saint Pourcain Sur Sioule, Le Berre sprinted through uncontested for maximum points. Slock was still in the middle and took fifth which meant there was only 10 points for sixth place remaining for the peloton to battle over. The roads were really slick through town and riders were taking things quite cautiously. Lidl-Trek led out for Mads Pedersen but the Green jersey was beaten to the line by Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech and Max Kanter of XDS-Astana. After the sprint, NSN Cycling and XDS-Astana massed at the front to discourage any counter attacking before setting a controlling pace.
The break went up and over the Côte de Billonnière and across the stone arched bridge that spanned the Allier river with a 90 second gap. The roads had dried off making for a safe passage through the crowded streets of Moulins. Out of Moulins, the wind speed was evident by the flags at the road side. It was a gusty tailwind and the leaders were averaging over 53 km/hr for the first 60 km.
The next few hours continued to be lightning quick at over 50 km/hr. XDS-Astana, NSN Cycling, and Soudal Quickstep were holding the break around 1 minute 15 seconds but started to reel them a bit closer as they approached the Côte de Billy-Chavannes. The rain had gone, the roads were completely dry, and the heat returned with temperatures back up in the mid-30'sC. The Côte de Billy-Chavannes was just a rise on the same road the riders were already on but it was too much for Alaphilippe who was dropped halfway up. Charmig rolled through to take the single KOM point 1 minute 5 seconds ahead of the peloton which had Decathlon CMA CGM now contributing to the chase.
With 29 km to go, the gap remained unchanged and both Alpecin-Premier Tech and Picnic-PostNL Raisin threw their hats into the ring by adding a man to the rotation to bring the break away back. 14 km from the finish, the break had just 30 seconds and the catch was going to be inevitable. Le Berre tried to get away but the others were strong enough to latch on and the trio settled back into rolling hard turns. A few kilometers later, the peloton bunched up with teams pushing to get their sprint trains in order and well positioned. The catch was made with 5.5 km remaining on a relatively narrow road the teams at the front could easily block. The speed came down and only the riders directly on the front could actually move as everyone else was packed together like sardines in a can.
The formation remained packed all the way to 2 km to go when Decathlon CMA CGM accelerated hard. They were out-matched by NSN Cycling however who took to the front and stretched the group. The acceleration made space for other teams to get themselves unstuck and push forward, primarily Alpecin-Premier Tech who had hardly done any work all day. A sweeping right then left bend under 1 km to go jumbled up all the trains and with 600 meters to go, everyone was looking around. At 450, Cees Bol of Decathlon CMA CGM thought he was taking his final pull but Jasper Stuyven of Soudal Quickstep let the wheel go and Bol had a gap. Søren Wærenskjold of Uno-X Mobility snuck through on the right side of the peloton and went after Bol. Pascal Ackermann of Jayco AlUla tried to get in Wærenskjold's slip stream but he couldn't reach the Norwegian who was full tilt towards the line. Bol was caught at 250 by Wærenskjold which is when Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech opened his sprint from behind Ackermann with Olav Kooij of Decathlon CMA CGM in his wheel. Philipsen had at least six bike lengths to make up which was just too much distance and time pushing the wind. Philipsen lunged at the line but was short of Wærenskjold who added a cherry on top of what has been a dream Tour de France for the team. Philipsen was pipped for second by Kooij who had the benefit of the slip stream until the last 50 meters. The average speed for the day was 50.91 km/hr, making today the fastest ever stage of the Tour de France, smashing the previous fastest by over .5 km/hr.