July 25, 2026
The organizers have created a route that will push the riders right to the very end of their limits with a brutal twentieth stage that can certainly be classified as the Queen stage of the race. Over 500,000 people were projected to have been on Alpe d'Huez yesterday and they'll get to a chance to see the riders again as the start takes place at the foot of the mountain in Le Bourg d'Oisans. The first 6 km are about the only flat roads on the entire route because the rest of the day is comprised of three HC climbs and one category one culminating in 5,600 meters of elevation gain across the 170 kilometers. First up is the Col de la Croix de Fer, a mammoth 24 km at 5.2%. The subsequent descent into Saint Julien Mont Denis brings the race to the intermediate sprint before climbing the combination Col du Télégraphe and Col du Galibier. At the top of the Galibier is the Souvenir Henri Desgrange with a prize for the first rider across the summit of the highest point in the Tour at 2,642 meters above sea level. A long descent into Mizoën, passed the Lac du Chambon, brings the race to the foot of the Col de Sarenne, a 13 km climb at 7.2%. At the top of the Sarenne, there are a few more inclines along the last 14 km as the riders follow the ridge line around the mountain. They descend down below Huez village to the junction where they meet the same road as yesterday's final 3.5 km to the finish in Alpe d'Huez. The GC riders have been finishing in their GC order which is a sign that they are where they are supposed to be in the hierarchy, but anything could happen on such a difficult stage.
Race Summary
After KM0, the first attack of the day immediately got a gap with Baptiste Veistroffer of Lotto Intermarché, Xabier Azparren of Pinarello Q36.5, Georg Steinhauser of EF-Education EasyPost, Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility, Joris Delbove of TotalEnergies, and Warren Barguil of Picnic-PostNL Raisin. The six leaders had 1 minute as they climbed up the Barrage du Verney to head towards the lower slopes of the Col de la Croix de Fer. Visma-Lease a Bike rode hard for the first few kilometers before they swung off to allow the first real attacks to go.
Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek had a rough day yesterday but came out swinging. He was present at the front for all of the early moves and managed to force a split in the peloton with 14.5 km still to climb. The Abrahamsen group was caught under the pressure and an elite climbing group of 16 broke clear including four from Visma-Lease a Bike. UAE-XRG were pulling the peloton which was already reduced to maybe 25 riders at 13 km from the top.
5 km from the summit, passed the Lac de Grand Maison, Visma-Lease a Bike were still pulling as hard as they could with Bruno Armirail in the break. Behind, UAE-XRG were leading a slightly larger peloton at just 40 seconds including the Green Jersey of Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek who was trying his hardest to be in contention for the sprint at the bottom of the descent. With 3.5 km still to climb, Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost attacked out of the break for KOM points to get a jump on Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep who was also in the group. Carapaz had taken over the lead in that competition after scoring points at the top of Alpe d'Huez yesterday and he set his sights on taking the jersey to Paris. Paret-Peintre reacted but wasn't immediately able to get on the wheel and was losing ground with each passing meter.
At the top, Carapaz took the 20 maximum points and started the descent with 22 seconds on Paret-Peintre, 1 minute 5 seconds on the rest of the break, 1 minute 40 seconds to Pedersen who, unbelievably, attacked out of the favorites group in a bid to bridge up for Sprint points, and 2 minutes 20 seconds to the favorites group. Halfway down the descent, Paret-Peintre caught up with Carapaz and Pedersen made contact with the larger chase group which made scoring points at the intermediate sprint all but guaranteed.
Once in the valley, groups consolidated and Carapaz and Paret-Peintre were caught by the Pedersen chase group. They crossed the Arc River in Saint Jean de Maurienne and a few kilometers later, Pedersen took maximum points which gave the Dane an 82 point lead on Jasper Philipsen which will likely be insurmountable on the final day. The group of fifteen riders had 2 minutes 25 seconds on the peloton. In the group was Carapaz and Ben Healy for EF-Education EasyPost, Paret-Peintre, Pedersen and Ayuso, Armirail and his teammates Matteo Jorgenson, Davide Piganzoli, and Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike, Tobias Foss and Thymen Arensman of Netcompany-Ineos, Jai Hindley of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Clément Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ United, Matthew Riccitello of Decathlon CMA CGM, and Tobias Johannessen of Uno-X Mobility.
The break continued to the base of the Col du Télégraphe under the power of Visma-Lease a Bike. They started climbing with 95 km to go and a lead of 3 minutes 10 seconds back to the peloton. 8.5 km from the top, Paret-Peintre cracked and drifted backwards as his Polka Dot dream was riding up the road. Bahrain Victorious took over from UAE-XRG in the favorites group to keep the leaders in check because the gap had grown an extra minute and Ayuso was threatening the GC spot of Lenny Martinez. Healy rode the last kilometer of the climb and Carapaz took 10 more KOM points to add to his coffers. The gap had dropped 25 seconds but the group still maintained over 4 minutes for the short downhill to the Galibier.
The favorites group continued to trim the gap on the lower slopes of the Galibier so with 12.5 km to go, Carapaz attacked to cut out some of the weaker riders. Kuss was the first to bridge and more came across, but not everyone. With Carapaz and Kuss were Healy, Johannessen, Riccitello, Hindley, Ayuso, and Arensman. Healy went into diesel mode to drag Carapaz as far up the mountain as he could. Bahrain Victorious had given the reigns back to UAE-XRG and, with 9 km to climb, the gap was pushing out to 4 minutes 20 seconds again.
Healy took his final pull on the front and swung off for good at 6.5 km from the top of the Galibier. Carapaz took over and set his sights towards the KOM points on the summit. As the riders heaved their bodies higher into the altitude, the landscape became very rugged with less and less green along the road side. The pavement laid out before them weaved left and right and back on itself like a carefully placed string and, with the fans lining every meter, the helicopter shots were something to behold. 5 km from the top, Ayuso accelerated but he was countered by Carapaz who did real damage. Kuss, Hindley, and Riccitello formed the first chase with Ayuso desperately trying to catch on. 2 km later, Carapaz was reeled back in by Kuss, Hindley, and Riccitello but there was no Ayuso who was struggling to get on top of the gear. The four leaders worked together to the top, through loads of screaming fans with signs and flags, where Carapaz led over the line to take the Souvenir Henri Desgrange and mathematically seal the Polka-Dot jersey. Behind, Ayuso had recovered well and was less than 10 seconds behind.
In the favorites group, Felix Großschartner of UAE-XRG did the vast majority of pace making up the Galibier but he could not take the group to the top which left Tadej Pogačar no real choice but to ride for Isaac del Toro in defense of the White Jersey. Pogačar slowly ramped up the pace until it was only he, del Toro, Remco Evenepoel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, and Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM left. Del Toro looked to be having difficulty with the pace so Pogačar let off the gas which allowed Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious to rejoin. Pogačar continued over the top as a super domestique for del Toro, leading the group of five across the summit at 4 minutes 40 seconds from the front group.
The Carapaz group swung off the Galibier descent and on to the Lautaret with more gentle downhill gradients. Ayuso made it into the group but Riccitello had trouble on the technical descent and buffeting winds at the top and was chasing behind. The descent flattened out with 38 km to go and it was Kuss, Ayuso, Hindley, and Carapaz leading with Riccitello at 35 seconds. Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek, Nicolas Prodhomme of Decathlon CMA CGM, and Maxim Van Gils rejoined the favorites group but it was still Pogačar setting the pace.
Shortly after passing the Lac du Chambon, the lead group arrived at the base of the Col de Sarenne and hit the first steep ramps of over 10%. Just outside of 10 km to the top, Hindley made his first attack but was dragged back by Kuss with Carapaz in the wheel but Ayuso was distanced and dropped for good. Kuss took a pull which put Carapaz into difficulty then Hindley was popped. At 9 km from the top, Kuss was alone but Pogačar was still towing the favorites group and had closed to 2 minutes 35 seconds. Kuss entered the nature reserve with 7 km to climb and was in complete silence. Spectators were not allowed in these kilometers due to the sensitivity of the area which provided a stark contrast to yesterday on the other side of the mountain. Hindley and Carapaz had gathered themselves and caught the American as they went under 5 km from the summit. They rode together for another 2 km until Kuss went again but Carapaz was absolutely determined that the stage was still possible. Kuss had another gear however and went over the top with 18 seconds on the Ecuadorian.
In the GC group, Prodhomme took over from Pogačar with around 7 km to climb to try and unseat del Toro's White Jersey. Seixas needed just 24 seconds on the Mexican to become the best young rider and take a spot on the podium and he was going to give it his best effort. They caught Riccitello who slotted into second wheel and waited to take his turn. Prodhomme and Riccitello finished their pulls and left Seixas to finish the job with about 4 km still to climb. Seixas set his pace but he didn't have enough left in the tank and had to drop back through the group. Del Toro saw the weakness creeping through and made an acceleration which distanced Seixas. Only del Toro, Pogačar, Evenepoel, and Martinez were left in the group as a result. Pogačar led the favorites group over the Sarenne 2 minutes behind Kuss and 35 seconds ahead of Seixas who had Skjelmose for company.
Onto the penultimate rise passed the Alpe d'Huez Altiport, the fans were allowed to return and they greeted Kuss with a roar. Carapaz was still fighting at 15 seconds however and seemed to really be spurred on by the added energy of the cheers and whistles. On the descent through the village, Kuss slid out on a dusty left corner but he bounced right back up and was riding again. By the time Kuss had gotten back to top speed, Carapaz had him in his sights and took a one final gel in preparation for the last 3.5 km uphill to the finish. Kuss was rattled and came down once more on a right bend and this time Carapaz flew passed and into the lead.
Carapaz took the fast right corner off the descent and immediately started the final rise up to the finish. Kuss followed at 8 seconds and the favorites group was inching closer at just over 1 minute. Inside the final kilometer, Kuss had drifted to 25 seconds and his second place on the stage was under threat from Evenepoel who had dropped del Toro and was just 35 seconds behind Carapaz. With such a large buffer to Evenepoel in the GC, Pogačar stayed with his teammate to pace him to the finish. All of that was secondary however because the top step of the day went to Carapaz who capped off an incredible third week with two stage wins and the KOM classification to go with it. Evenepoel sprinted passed Kuss in the finish straight to take second place with the American sorely disappointed in third. Pogačar and del Toro came to the line side by side, congratulating each other on a successful three weeks with multiple stage wins and the Maillots Blanc and Jaune.
The GC positions stayed exactly as they were at the beginning of the day and will remain as such through tomorrow and the end of Tour de France. Pogačar will take the Maillot Jaune into Paris for the fifth time. Evenepoel will take the second step on the podium ahead of del Toro who solidified the final podium spot with his acceleration on the slopes of the Col de Sarenne.