July 23, 2026
The final push for the 2026 Tour de France begins today in Voiron. The riders will have 25 flat kilometers to get the engine warmed up as they leave Voiron along the Isère river towards Grenoble and the Côte d'Engins. Once in Sassenage, the road climbs 11.5 km at an average gradient of 5.5% up the Côte d'Engins but there is no immediate descent. The course stays high on the Vercors Massif for another 16 km of uphill before the proper descent back into the valley on the South side of Grenoble. The next 84 km follow the Drac river South and East, across the 10 km Côte de Monteynard, Côte des Terrases, the intermediate sprint in Corps, and roads that constantly rise and fall. The finale should start 25 km from the finish at the base of the Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèze, a 2.5 km, 6.7% rise. The climb itself is not particularly hard but it brings the race to the bottom of the final climb to Orcières Merlette. The last 10 km are uphill but the official climb is 7.1 km at 6.7%. It's a difficult day to call. A strong rider with good climbing legs will be in contention but the question is whether a break can form and build a gap big enough to hold off the GC group when they hit the final few kilometers.
Race Summary
A perfect Summer's day had developed by the time the flag dropped at KM0 a few minutes before 1 in the afternoon. The first 10 km were full of twists, turns, and traffic furniture. A group of five forced their way off the front including Lewis Askey of NSN Cycling, Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility, Nicolas Vinokurov and Aaron Gate of XDS-Astana, and Mathis Le Berre of TotalEnergies. The gap grew to 40 seconds when EF-Education EasyPost came to the front to control the gap until the slopes of the Côte d'Engins. The gap remained unchanged at 40 seconds when the leaders reached the bottom with 160 km to go but it came down fast as the speed ramped up from the pressure of those wanting to make the break.
The peloton was a bit cagey to begin with but attacks finally started with 8 km to climb. The leaders were swept up 1,500 meters into the climb as the narrow snaking front of the peloton reached their rear wheel and slithered passed. Ben Healy of EF-Education EasyPost went clear and was followed moments later by his teammate Richard Carapaz, Damiano Caruso of Bahrain Victorious, Egan Bernal of Netcompany-Ineos, and KOM jersey Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep. The move looked promising to many which brought the entire peloton up to the group and the race was reset 3.5 km from the top.
200 meters from the top, Paret-Peintre popped out of the bunch with Carapaz on wheel but the French rider has shown his sprint ability at the top of climbs and, once again, took maximum points ahead of Carapaz. Another group got a gap with Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek, Tobias Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility, Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike, Felix Engelhardt of Jayco AlUla, Pablo Castrillo of Movistar, Thymen Arensman of Netcompany-Ineos, and Nicolas Breuillard of TotalEnergies. EF-Education EasyPost missed the move and tried on numerous occasions to form a chase group. Healy, Carapaz, and Sean Quinn all tried but nothing had stuck by the time they started the downhill run into the valley to Seyssins with 132 km to go.
Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ United chipped off the front of the peloton on the descent and got within 15 seconds of the break by the bottom after starting over 40 seconds behind. The French Champion made contact with the leaders at 119 km remaining to make eight in the front with the peloton still active behind. Healy was relentless in his attacking and pulled away Jan Tratnik of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek, Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla, and Raúl García Pierna of Movistar. UAE-XRG came to the front of the peloton to calm the situation but more attacks were flying all the time.
Paret-Peintre was towed out of the bunch by teammates Jasper Stuyven and Louis Vervaeke with Carapaz along for the ride. They bridged to the Healy group with 105 km to go and 2 km down the road at the base of the Côte de Monteynard, they were 1 minute behind the lead group. Another chase group had formed behind with Egan Bernal of Netcompany-Ineos at 1 minute 20 seconds from the leaders with peloton at 2 minutes. 1 km from the top of the Côte de Monteynard, the leading group was joined by Paret-Peintre, Carapaz, Vacek, Schmid, García Pierna, and Bernal. They had 1 minute 20 seconds on an incompitable chase group and 3 minutes 40 seconds on the peloton. As KOM leader, Paret-Peintre went to the front with Carapaz as his shadow. A burst of power 100 meters from the top saw Paret-Peintre take maximum points with Carapaz a few bike lengths back for second. Pedersen was still surviving in the front group and looking good but there was still hard terrain before the intermediate sprint.
The leaders crossed La Bonne, a tributary of the Drac, to start the Côte des Terrases with 76 km to go. The group was mostly together when Paret-Peintre rolled over the top for maximum points and they still had around 1 minute on the languishing chase. They rolled nicely over the top and 20 km later, Pedersen took 25 uncontested points for the Green jersey at the intermediate sprint in Corps. He now has a 32 point buffer on Philipsen with Paris being the only other chance remaining to gain points.
Passed the Lac du Sautet, cohesion in the front group began to break down. Schmid, Jorgenson, Johannessen, and García Pierna went away together and were joined a few kilometers later by Carapaz and Paret-Peintre to make six at the front of the race. Big wide roads and a strong tail wind brought the leaders near the penultimate climb of the Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèze but not everyone was content. Jorgenson attacked with 24 km to go with Johannessen quick to respond. They pulled out a narrow advantage but Schmid hauled the duo back just a few hundred meters before the climb and all but García Pierna arrived at the base all together.
García Pierna found his legs and managed to claw his way back to the other five 500 meters before the top. Paret-Peintre took maximum KOM points once again, bringing him within 5 points of Tadej Pogačar for sole ownership of that jersey. After the descent, the leaders turned back onto a wide dragging valley rode and they knew the win would be contested between them. The closest group on the road lost 40 seconds on the Côte de Saint-Léger-les-Mélèze and were sitting 2 minutes 30 seconds back and firmly out of contention.
As the kilometers passed, the valley became more narrow with the mountain peaks looming higher overhead. A constant 4-5% gradient dragged upwards until the riders made the left turn at 7.1 km to go in the village of Orcières where incline rose another few percent. Tension rose in the group until 4.5 km to go when Jorgenson made the first acceleration. Carapaz had the answer and brought the rest back to the wheel of the American. 600 meters later, through a steep hairpin, Carapaz made an all-in effort for the win. Paret-Peintre followed and the pair quickly had a sizeable lead on the rest. Paret-Peintre couldn't or wouldn't pull which allowed Schmid and Jorgenson to return. Carapaz almost came to a stand-still which baited the others into taking a breath of their own. The Ecuadorian attacked hard again when they weren't expecting it and this time he was alone with 3.4 km left to the summit. 10 seconds became 20 seconds in no time and he powered his way into the final kilometer with a race winning margin of 35 seconds. Carapaz checked over his shoulder for the first time with 300 meters to go to see no one there. The crowds in Orcières Merlette cheered the man in pink home for his second career Tour de France stage win. In the race for second, Schmid led Jorgenson into the last few hundred meters and it was no contest when he opened his sprint. Multiple bike lengths separated the two as Schmid took second place two days running, one in a reduced sprint and the other in the mountains.
There were no moves in the GC group with everyone coming home together at 4 minutes 35 seconds. Courtesy of being in the successful break, Carapaz gained over 4 minutes and moved up two spots and into tenth overall.