August 24, 2026
There is almost zero downhill along the 174 km route from Gruissan to Font Romeu with a hockey stick profile straight out of the UAE Tour. For the first 75 kilometers, the riders will have the Mediterranean over their left shoulders as they follow the semi-circular Golfe du Lion around to Rivesaltes on the outskirts of Perpignan. Before they reach the great city, the route turns inland and follows La Têt River upstream on the D66 for the remainder of the stage. There is an intermediate sprint in Villefranche-de-Conflent at 45 km to go as the road continues to gradually rise all the way to the summit of the 19 km, 5% climb of Mont Louis. There is a Bonus Sprint on top before a short descent and a 10 km drag at 5% to the finish line at nearly 2,000 meters above sea level. Tactically, the stage could not be more straightforward as there are basically no turns in the last 100 km. If this stage came later in the race, it would be a good break away day but there is not a lot of separation in the GC yet so we should see a reduced group come to the line together with a puncheur or GC rider taking the day.
Race Summary
A short neutral got the riders rolling on a much cooler day than the previous two. A group of six broke clear including Ethan Hayter of Soudal Quickstep, Magnus Cort of Uno-X Mobility, Timo Roosen of Picnic-PostNL Raisin, Olivier Le Gac of Groupama-FDJ United, Mats Wenzel of Equipo Kern Pharma, and Asbjørn Hellemose of Jayco Alula and with 106 km remaining, their lead was 2 minutes 20 seconds.
When the riders left Rivesaltes, the land became much more exposed with hardly a tree or hill to break up the breeze sweeping across the brown landscape. Without any real intention, the peloton split in half and those at the back were struggling to rejoin. Out of the small town of Baixas a few kilometers later, UAE-XRG decided to take advantage of the conditions and ripped it on the front. About one-third of the peloton was spit out the back and immediately formed a full echelon across the road in hopes of making it back to the bunch. In almost no time, the gap was down to 35 seconds to the break. Those fighting to get back into the peloton found an oasis through the town of Pézilla-la-Rivière. The buildings sheltered the riders from the wind and the interest to drive the pace on ebbed. The gap went back out to 1 minute 45 seconds and all dropped riders made their way back into the safety of the bunch.
The race settled into a more normal holding pattern with the gap steady at 1 minute 40 seconds as they passed the Lac de Vinça with the peaks of the Pyrenees looming ahead. Also on the horizon were dark, ominous clouds that looked to be hammering the hills above with rain. Everything was stable as Hayter rolled through the intermediate sprint in Villefranche-de-Conflent to take maximum points with 44.5 km to go.
As the kilometers passed by, the break gained altitude and they officially started the Mont Louis at 35.5 km to go with a lead of 90 seconds. The valley narrowed and the road hugged the right bank following La Têt River upstream. UAE-XRG continued to drive the pace gradually harder and had the gap down to 40 seconds with 28.5 km to go. Hellemose wanted to push on and brought Cort and Wenzel with him. They were able to stave off the peloton for a little while but UAE-XRG was starting to burn through riders as the speed slowly ramped up. Rain began to fall, cooling the riders, but the effort intensified as Wenzel wound up his effort and dropped Hellemose then Cort to go off solo with 7.5 km still to climb.
Coverage was cut as heavy weather rolled in that included thunder, lightning, and hail. When coverage resumed, Lorenzo Fortunato of XDS-Astana had attacked out of the peloton and joined Wenzel at the front of the race. The race motor bikes had their lights on and it looked as though twilight had set in with black storm clouds blocking the sun above. Only about 700 meters remained of the climb and Wenzel was fighting to stay in contact for KOM points. Fortunato was also up for the points but the feed glitched as they crossed the line and only later did we learn that Wenzel took the prize. The bunch came through the same point 25 seconds later but that's when the race changed. Many riders in the main field pulled off the road and had taken refuge under the roofs of buildings at the top due to the pounding hail stones. The temperature had fallen significantly and the peloton self-neutralized.
After around 15 minutes, the organization officially called off the stage and there would be no winner. The intermediate sprint and KOM points were all annulled and the riders gathered with their team to orchestrate transfers to the finish in Font Romeu by bus.