August 7, 2026
When the riders set out from Opale this morning, they will have 218 long kilometers to formulate and refine their strategy to win the day. The journey South and West is predominately flat for the first 180 km with the exception of the 2 km, 5.7 km climb of Gora święty Anny 40 kilometers into the stage. There are bonus sprints at 160, 52, and 39 km to go, the last of which will trigger the beginning of the finale. Once through the bonus sprint, the riders will start the Przelecz Przegibek, a 4 km rise at just under 6%. A descent then a false flat uphill valley through Lekawica brings the race to the final climb up to the Kocierz Resort and the finish line. The climb starts 10 km from the finish but the categorized part is just 1.5 km at 11.5%. The road continues over the top for about 1 km to the finish at lesser gradients but still gradually climbing. The finish is very punchy and it will suit those who are patient on the steep gradients.
Race Summary
As a result of yesterday's crash, João Almeida of UAE-XRG did not start the race along with teammates Benoît Cosnefroy and Juan Sebastián Molano. Rudy Molard of Groupama-FDJ United and Jardi Van Der Lee of EF-Education EasyPost were also non-starters. When the race got underway, there was a big fight to get in the break as many saw the day as a potential one for the break. With 195 km to go, five riders snapped the elastic and formed a gap including Dries De Bondt of Jayco AlUla, Brady Gilmore of NSN Cycling, Filip Maciejuk of Movistar, Paul Magnier of T-Rex Quickstep, and Tim Naberman of Picnic-PostNL Raisin. They built 20 seconds but the peloton was not content and the attacking continued. By the start of the climb, Gilmore had backed out of the break and only Taco van der Hoorn of Lotto Intermarché had gotten away from the peloton before it shut down. Van der Hoorn made contact with 180 km remaining to make five leaders with a gap of nearly 2 minutes to the peloton.
Visma-Lease a Bike took responsibility as race leaders to start the chase and moderated the gap when it reached 2 minutes 45 seconds. XDS-Astana and Netcompany-Ineos had belief in Christian Scaroni and Axel Laurance respectively so they each put a man in the rotation to keep the break within a safe distance. De Bondt led the break up and over the climb, securing maximum points and all but guaranteeing him the jersey at the end of the week.
All of the work in the peloton brought the gap down to around 90 seconds which is where it hung for a long time. Perhaps due to boredom, we finally saw some action with 117 km to go. T-Rex Quickstep and Groupama-FDJ United each attacked but Netcompany-Ineos and XDS-Astana quickly shut it down but more attacks were coming. Ethan Hayter of T-Rex Quickstep tried to get away but it was Rémi Cavagna of Groupama-FDJ United who got a gap with Patrick Gamper of Jayco AlUla on his wheel. Cavagna and Gamper bridged up to the leaders with 103 km to go and the group immediately picked up their effort.
The gap got as high as 2 minutes but was trimmed slightly to 1 minute 45 seconds when De Bondt rolled through the bonus sprint in Pisarzowice at 52.5 km to go. The cohesion in the front was really smooth as they increased their effort through the last bonus sprint in Bielsko-Biała with 39 km to go. The peloton also changed complexion and were massed across the road in a race for position looking forward to the base of Przelecz.
With the rush for position and pace put on by Netcompany-Ineos, the gap was just 1 minute at 32 km from the line and 3 km still to climb. De Bondt took the break over the top, with the exception of Maciejuk who flatted earlier and did not rejoin, with 37 seconds but the peloton seemed to be holding back a little given that it was nearly entirely intact. Down through the tree-covered descent, the break arrived in a beautifully green, lush valley dotted with wooden houses and meadows surrounding Żywiec lake.
The peloton got into color order and teams were riding shoulder to shoulder but no one wanted to spend the energy to close the gap down for good. With 15 km to go, the gap was 55 seconds but there was no worry showing in the bunch. Positioning for the approach to the climb slashed the gap and when De Bondt emptied the tank and swung off with 9 km to go, the remnants of the break had just 23 seconds. From 6 km to 4 km to go, the peloton were in full lead out mode to the bottom of the climb. The break was caught 4 km out like they were standing still as Lidl-Trek, UAE-XRG, and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were fighting for the front.
The road narrowed and got steeper at 3 km and it was Netcompany-Ineos putting on the pace with local hero Michał Kwiatkowski. Gradients pitched up to 14% and Neilson Powless of EF-Education EasyPost was the first to make an acceleration. Pavement turned into rutted concrete for better grip in Winter and riders were weaving left and right just keep moving forward. Powless had everyone in single file with Aleksandr Vlasov of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Jan Christen of UAE-XRG, and Alexey Lutsenko of NSN Cycling directly behind him.
It was status-quo until 2 km to go when Christen launched. Race leader Bart Lemmen of Visma-Lease a Bike made his way to the front to try and respond but he quickly looked to the left and to the right in hopes of finding an ally. Christen had 10 seconds as he crested the steepest section but there was a chase on behind. Juan Guillermo Martinez of Picnic-PostNL Raisin was closing in with Marco Brenner of Tudor Pro Cycling for company and Lemmen in a group of six or seven others just behind. Christen's lead was halved through 750 meters by Brenner who shook off Martinez and was solo. Brenner was another second closer at 500 meters and he made it to the back wheel of Christen at 300 meters. Brenner went to the front and opened his sprint early but it was a long way to go with the road still dragging uphill. Christen got into the slip stream and came past Brenner at 100 meters and held the speed to the line to take his first victory since becoming the Swiss Champion in June. Brenner rolled across in second with his head hung low in disappointment but crucially on the same time as Christen. Louis Barré of Visma-Lease a Bike was third on the day at 4 seconds with the rest of the GC contenders in a group at 5 seconds.
The top three in GC remain the same albeit closer on time with Lemmen leading by 6 seconds to Christian Scaroni and 15 seconds to Brenner. Christen moved to fourth at 18 seconds and Visma-Lease a Bike have another card to play with Barré in fifth at 23 seconds.