July 18, 2026
The first of two weekend stages is a big one and could prove decisive in the final GC come Paris. Starting in Mulhouse in the Upper Rhine river valley, the riders will head West into the heart of the lush green Vosges Mountains. After just 12 km of racing, the fast men will get to battle for the intermediate sprint in Wattwiller before they waive good bye because we will not see them for the rest of the stage. A few kilometers after Wattwiller comes the base of the 21.6 km, 5% Grand Ballon. The climb goes in two steps, with the second being harder at nearly 8% for 6.5 km. The riders actually pass through the finish line in Le Markstein 7 km later before a long descent into Kruth to the foot of the 10 km Col du Page. The Ballon d'Alsace is next for the second time in as many days followed by 25 km of downhill and two successive 3.5 km climbs each at 5%. The hardest climb of the day is the last one, up 11 km of the Col du Haag. The average gradient is 7.2% over the distance but the last 1,500 meters pushes over 10% which could be enough to snap the legs after 4,000 meters of climbing. At the top, only 5.5 flat kilometers remain before arriving back into Le Markstein for the finish. The stage has GC written all over it but the first climb of the Grand Ballon should provide fireworks as climbers try to form a break.
Race Summary
The neutral zone lasted 12 km out of Mulhouse and with 3.5 km from KM0, the rain began to hammer down. At the official start, Alpecin-Premier Tech controlled for the intermediate sprint and not a single attack was even attempted. 5 km from the sprint, the roads were completely dry and the storm was behind them. Alpecin-Premier Tech led with the entire team on the front until 1 km from the sprint when a rush from behind by NSN Cycling caught them off-guard. Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek had filtered into the NSN Cycling train and Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Premier Tech was able to slot in in seventh wheel. The lead out got a little messy but when the sprint opened, it was Philipsen side-by-side with Pedersen. Philipsen has more natural top-end speed and had no problem taking the sprint from Pedersen who just held off Max Kanter of XDS-Astana to take second with Biniam Girmay of NSN Cycling in fourth.
Riders remained cagey through the first kilometer of the climb but EF-Education EasyPost opened things up with Ben Healy. Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious came forward and set a hard pace and a large group of around 25 riders broke free. Movistar put a few riders in the front and were also keen to make some distance back to UAE-XRG who were already riding in the peloton. The camera panned backwards and, somehow, fourth overall Tom Pidcock of Pinarello Q36.5 snuck his way into the move. The leaders, who numbered 30 riders, reached the top of the first step with a gap of 1 minute 35 seconds. Healy attacked again on the flat section with Pablo Castrillo of Movistar and the pair started the second step with 6.5 km to climb and around 10 seconds on the rest of the break.
Healy and Castrillo were pulled back but with three strong riders in the the group, EF-Education EasyPost went to the front and rode the rest of the way up the climb. In the last kilometer, the road was packed tight with fans as Georg Steinhauser led the group up the 8% incline passed sweeping views of the valley below. In the last 150 meters from the top, Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep popped out of the group to go for the KOM points. Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost was on his heels but didn't have the sprint needed and it was Paret-Peintre who took maximum points. The acceleration from the sprint caused reasonably large gaps back to the rest of the group and Carapaz pushed on to build the lead.
From the top towards the finish line in Le Markstein, the crowds were absolutely enormous. It was the section that people could see the riders twice and tens of thousands of people were positioned there to do so. Carapaz and Paret-Peintre were joined by Healy as well as the twins Tobias and Anders Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility and the five went through the finish line with 30 seconds on Castrillo and Einer Rubio of Movistar as well as Thymen Arensman of Netcompany-Ineos with a third larger group at 1 minute and the peloton at 1 minute 30 seconds.
The descent was wet from a recent rain shower which split riders up into disparate groups. It was hard to tell where anyone was but we always had sight of the five leaders who reached the bottom of the descent with 97 km to go with 40 seconds on Arensman, Castrillo, and Rubio, 2 minutes on the peloton, and the rest of the break, including Pidcock, somewhere in between. The leaders reached the Col du Page and were joined by Rubio who bridged up solo with 3.5 km still to climb. Healy continued to push all the way to the top for Carapaz but the Ecuadorian left it too late and could only manage second place again behind Paret-Peintre. Arensman had a bike change further down the climb and was 40 seconds behind with the Pidcock group of 16 riders at 1 minute 45 seconds being pulled by Visma-Lease a Bike for Matteo Jorgenson. The peloton had drifted slightly to 3 minutes with only Nils Politt of UAE-XRG doing the work.
Another storm passed overhead as the race twisted down the narrow descent heading towards the Ballon d'Alsace. The roads looked exceptionally slippery and a large clap of tunder could be heard on the motor bike's effects microphone. In the peloton, gaps formed with Tadej Pogačar and Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG and Florian Lipowitz and Remco Evenepoel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe making the front while everyone else was forced to chase but Lidl-Trek stitched it back together by the start of Ballon d'Alsace with 70 km remaining.
There was almost no action on the Ballon d'Alsace but the complexion of the race was changing. The road was completely dry as Paret-Peintre added more points to his KOM collection at the top but with a reduced lead of 2 minutes. UAE-XRG had accelerated in the peloton and they had the Pidcock group within 5 seconds by the top. The connection was made on the downhill and UAE-XRG brought the peloton, which was reduced to about 35 riders, the bottom of the uncategorized Col du Hundsruck with 39 km to go at 1 minute 50 seconds behind the six leaders.
Healy sacrificed himself for Carapaz on the Col du Hundsruck which worked well because the remaining five still had 90 seconds on the favorites group who were not hanging around. The break rode cohesively through the towns of Bitschwiller-lès-Thann and Moosh on about the only flat roads all day. They made the right turn with 17 km to go onto the Col du Haag still with 90 seconds but there was a battle for supremacy brewing behind. Decathlon CMA CGM, UAE-XRG, and Lidl-Trek were all using their elbows to take the front and it was Decathlon CMA CGM who took up the pace on the steep lower slopes. Pidcock was the first GC rider to drop with 9.5 km still to climb but the rest were holding strong as Decathlon CMA CGM gave way to Sepp Kuss and Visma-Lease a Bike 1 km later.
7 km from the top, the road flattened through a little village and we could take stock of where everyone was. In the front, Carapaz was 15 seconds clear of Tobias Johannessen with the favorites group at 1 minute. The favorites group was down to just Kuss, Vingegaard, Pogačar, del Toro, Lipowitz, Evenepoel, Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM, Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious, and the Lidl-Trek duo of Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose.
Shortly after the road tipped back up, the riders turned onto the second half of the climb which was a two lane bike path. The crowds were enormous but thankfully were respectful, giving the favorites plenty of space to maneuver. Lipowitz was the first to move, followed by Seixas, but Kuss put in his last effort and hauled the pair back with 5.5 km to go. Vingegaard decided that he would set his pace and make the others try to follow. The strategy distanced Skjelmose and Martinez then Evenepoel 1 km later. 3 km from the top, Carapaz was joined by Johannessen but their gap was just 20 seconds as Vingegaard continued his time trial effort up the mountain. The two leaders were caught 600 meters later still under the pace put on by Vingegaard. Less than 1 km later, the path got steeper and Pogačar went on the attack. No one reacted and Vingegaard stayed seated, still towing the group as if nothing had happened.
Pogačar reached a clearing at the top and there were more people there than I have ever seen at the Tour before, it was truly outstanding. The Slovenian had 20 seconds on Vingegaard who had Seixas for company with del Toro just 5 seconds back and about to latch on. Another 25 seconds down the mountain was the White jersey of Ayuso along with Lipowitz and Evenepoel who had recovered a bit. Pogačar powered along the plateau and continued to put time into everyone. He came into the last few hundred meters without letting off the gas at all. Every second was precious and only when he crossed the line did he ease the effort and allow for a celebration of his 25th stage win at the Tour. 38 seconds later, del Toro won the sprint for second ahead of Seixas with a gap of 6 seconds back to Vingegaard in fourth. Evenepoel, Ayuso, and Lipowitz worked well and came in just 50 seconds down on Pogačar.
Pogačar has extended his GC lead out to 4 minutes 30 seconds on Vingegaard and 5 minutes 3 seconds on Evenepoel who still owns the final podium spot. Pidcock dropped down to ninth after the day's difficult finale which moved Seixas up to fourth ahead of Ayuso, Lipowitz, and del Toro who are all within 31 seconds of each other.