August 5, 2026
Of the three GC days, today is definitely the lightest on paper. The terrain is quite similar to yesterday's opening stage with consistently rolling roads, although there are a few more steadier climbs on route that accumulate to 2,300 meters of elevation by the end of the day. Starting just South of Burgos in Arcos de la Llana, the riders will take on a zig-zagging course that gradually takes them further East throughout the day. There are endless rollers but the first climb of note comes after 150 km of the 178 km stage. The Alto de Valmala is almost 4 km in length and averages a hair over 5%. There is no real descent as the race stays on a plateau for the Bonus Sprint at the reservoir in Arlanzón. Once in Pineda de la Sierra, the road will rise to the finish line in Valle del Sol. The climb is not long at just 3.4 km but it does average 7.7% and may be hard enough to separate the wheat from the chaff in the first GC test.
Race Summary
Another sunny but not overly warm day saw the riders head out of Arcos. A group of five riders broke clear early on including Diego Uriarte of Equipo Kern Pharma, Rayan Boulahoite of TotalEnergies, Javier Ibáñez of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Rodrigo Álvarez of Burgos-Burpellet BH, and Yago Aguirre of Euskatel-Euskadi. With 71 km to go, their gap was just 1 minute 15 seconds as the indefatigable Steven Kruijswijk of Visma-Lease a Bike was pulling the peloton along with his teammate Owain Doull.
The race continued in a holding pattern until 56 km to go when shots were fired from the break on the first KOM up the Alto de la Yesera. Ibáñez attacked and went for the line at least 300 meters out but it was way too far to hold the speed. Álvarez and Aguirre came over the top and lunged for the line and it was Aguirre who took maximum points. The acceleration extended their gap out to 1 minute 40 seconds as they descended into Belorado and passed the Medieval cave hermitages of San Felices.
Over the next 15 km, the open plains transitioned to deeper, more narrow valley's with hills rising higher on either side of the road. The front of the peloton got busy for positioning with a few small villages ahead as well for the Alto de Valmala. Tudor Pro Cycling, Bahrain Victorious, Netcompany-Ineos, and UAE-XRG were all crowded together but still biding their time before committing too much effort to the pace.
When the break reached the Alto de Valmala with 27 km to go, Uriarte accelerated which only distanced Aguirre. The gap was down to under 1 minute and disappearing quickly as Tudor Pro Cycling took full control of the peloton and increased the pace. 1,500 meters from the top, Uriarte and Boulahoite went clear together and it was Boulahoite who rolled over the top to take maximum points but the peloton was just 25 seconds behind. Uriarte and Boulahoite were able to hold their advantage as they crossed over the Uzquiza reservoir and towards the Bonus Sprint. Over the next few kilometers, the peloton really slowed down and were wide across the road. By the time Boulahoite rolled through to take the Bonus Sprint at 13.5 km to go, they had bumped their advantage back out to 40 seconds.
The road started to drag up the Arlanzón River gorge that connected the Uzquiza and Arlanzón resevoirs and the distance between the two groups crumbled. Boulahoite went away from Uriarte and was solo but the peloton was 15 seconds behind at 10 km to go. The bunch was still wide across the road but they were moving much quicker as they raced for position into the bottom of the climb. Boulahoite was finally caught 5.5 km from the finish and it was his team of TotalEnergies that took control over the next 2 km to the base of the final climb.
Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe put their entire team on the front on the lower slopes up to Valle del Sol. The Austrian squad burned through everyone but Luke Tuckwell and Giulio Pellizzari before handing the reigns over to Netcompany-Ineos with 2 km to go. The group was still at least 45 riders as the flamme rouge approached. Jay Vine of UAE-XRG was the first to accelerate but there was no separation and he backed off. Tuckwell went to the front for Pellizzari until 500 meters to go when Mario Aparicio of Burgos-Burpellet BH put in a big attack. The move stretched the front group and made a selection of around 15 riders. Aparicio continued until around 250 meters to go when Jarno Widar of Lotto Intermarché countered who had Oscar Onley of Netcompany-Ineos and Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek with him. Widar began to feel the effort and had no response when Onley and Ciccone went for the line. The pair were side by side in a synchronized sprint but Onley had just a bit more in the tank to get his front wheel across the line first to take the victory. Ciccone was second on the same time with Enric Mas of Movistar doing a patient but strong ride to take third at 2 seconds, 1 second ahead of Widar in fourth.
Onley now owns the race lead by 4 seconds to Bjorn Koerdt of Picnic-PostNL Raisin who has been very consistent with a fifth on day one and tenth today. Ciccone sits third on the same time as Koerdt with Ben Tulett of Visma-Lease a Bike in fourth at just 5 seconds.