August 25, 2026
Short and sweet is the name of the game, a classic Vuelta stage is set for the fourth stage in Andorra. The organization will be hoping for calmer skies after yesterday's cancelled stage because today is billed as the first big GC showdown that will create the hierarchy going forward. The 105 km stage takes place entirely within Andorra and covers just over 3,000 meters of altitude gain across the day. The first 50 km are an out and back, from the start just to the East of Andorra La Vella out to the summit of the 23 km, 5% Port de Envalira up to 2,400 meters above sea level and back again. A few kilometers before returning the start line, the riders will turn off in Encamp to take on the 6.5 km, 8.6% Collada de Beixalis. There is an intermediate sprint at the bottom of the descent in Ordino which is where the penultimate climb of the day begins of the Coll d'Ordino, a 10 km climb at 7%. A 15 km descent leads into the short but difficult Alto de la Comella with the Bonus Sprint at the summit. From the the top, only 4 short kilometers remain for what should be action from start to finish.
Race Summary
Meteorlogical conditions were far better today with bright sunshine and temperatures around 22C (72F). The riders were climbing already through the neutral and many were aware of the difficulty of the day making for a cagey start. Attacks eventually did come and it was Visma-Lease a Bike who were active and split a group of around 35 riders off the front of the peloton on the wide highway climb. UAE-XRG set their pace in the peloton and with the lead group being so large, they were disorganized and were caught with 16 km still to climb. A new, smaller, group split off but more riders wanted to be represented and fired themselves across the gap. 9 km from the top, the break was more solidified with 16 riders present and a 45 second advantage back to the UAE-XRG and Netcompany-Ineos led peloton.
Visma-Lease a Bike stacked four riders in the front group including Ben Tulett, Wout van Aert, Matthew Brennan, and Bruno Armirail. Other notable climbers included Paul Double of Jayco AlUla, Finn Fisher-Black of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Eddie Dunbar of Pinarello Q36.5, Lorenzo Fortunato of XDS-Astana, Pablo Castrillo of Movistar, and Georg Steinhauser of EF-Education EasyPost. 6 km from the top, Decathlon CMA CGM took over the pace setting in the peloton and ramped it up a notch. Van Aert and Brennan emptied the tank for Tulett and had the front group down to nine riders at 3 km from the top.
Decathlon CMA CGM kept a brutal pace on and with just 1 km to the top, the gap was less than 20 seconds. Double accelerated towards the top, through the barren rocky landscape and up into the thin air. Double attacked early however and had Fortunato patiently sitting on his wheel. The Italian waited and came around 50 meters from the line to take maximum KOM points atop the Port de Envalira, the highest paved road in the Pyrenees, and started the looping descent back down.
The remnants of the break entered a tunnel heading towards the second part of the descent with just a few seconds advantage on a reduced peloton of only around 50 riders. When the cameras picked up the race on the other side of the tunnel, the break was caught and Decathlon CMA CGM were still driving hard on the descent. As they descended to lower, more hospitable elevations, evergreens became more prevalent and grass along the road side was a bit greener and more lush.
Nearly back in Andorra La Vella, the riders turned right off the main road with 52.5 km to go and found themselves on the much more narrow Collada de Beixalis. UAE-XRG retook control of the pace but it wasn't long before Decathlon CMA CGM put their nose in the wind once gain to light up the front. Riders were getting dropped left and right and only around 30 remained with 5 km to climb. Moments later, race leader Tadej Pogačar of UAE-XRG accelerated passed the Decathlon CMA CGM train and blew it to pieces. Felix Gall tried to latch on as the Slovenian went up the road but it was no use and he slid backwards.
Behind Gall, a group of around ten riders joined together but with 49 km to go, they were already 45 seconds behind Pogačar with Gall in sight ahead. Gall was caught by the chase group 1 km later, 2.5 km from the top, led by EF-Education EasyPost for Richard Carapaz. The group had swelled to around 15 riders with all of the pre-race GC favorites still present. At the top, the gap was out to 1 minute 25 seconds and only growing. More riders had made their way into the group including teammates of Gall to make around 20 riders in the chase.
Netcompany-Ineos put a man on the front to chase on the descent but as Pogačar went through the intermediate sprint in Ordino with 36 km to go, he had extended his advantage to 1 minute 50 seconds. Decathlon CMA CGM had two men with Gall and set a really quick pace on the Coll d'Ordino. Gregor Mühlberger did most of the damage and quickly had the group down to just Gall, Carapaz, Sepp Kuss of Visma-Lease a Bike, Enric Mas of Movistar, Primož Roglič of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Oscar Onley of Netcompany-Ineos, Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek, and Jarno Widar of Lotto Intermarché.
7 km from the top, Gall and Onley went away from the others just like they did in the recent Vuelta a Burgos. The rest of the chasers were losing time on Gall and Onley and attacks came, first by Roglič who bridged up impressively quickly. Mas and Kuss were the next to go and they joined up to make five in the first chase group about 1 km later. Five riders was more of a crowd than a party and the work rate in the group was not strong. Mas accelerated as Carapaz was dragging Widar, Mühlberger, and Skjelmose in to sight. Over the next few kilometers, the Carapaz group drifted a bit were nearly 30 seconds behind as they approached the summit.
We almost forgot about him, but Pogačar went up and over the Coll d'Ordino with a 2 minutes 55 second lead and just 26 km left to ride out on his own before the finish. The Gall group crested with 25 seconds on Widar, Carapaz, Skjelmose, and Mühlberger. On the descent, the two groups joined together to make an incohesive group of nine.
The chasing group started the final ascent of the Alto de la Comella with 9 km to go at 3 minutes 10 seconds behind Pogačar. Just like the other climbs, Mühlberger went to the front to set a hard pace and was able to distance Skjelmose in the process. Mühlberger pulled off for good this time leaving Gall to his own devices. Roglič made an acceleration near the top which distanced Carapaz but the power was put on by Onley who stretched the group and went over the top to take 4 bonus seconds with Gall in third for 2 bonus seconds. The move burned the legs of the others at the back but no separation was made and the group of six started the descent into the finish together.
Pogačar completed his 50 km solo attack with two hands in the air as he crossed the line in one of the most emphatic Grand Tour stage wins in recent memory. A few minutes later, Mas led the chase group into the finish straight, hugging the left side of the road and looking backwards to see who would open the sprint. The answer came when Gall jumped, followed by Widar. Gall's sprint was strong but he went long and Widar was able to come around for second place to take 6 bonus seconds on the line. Gall held on for third to take the final 4 seconds available but those were immaterial compared to the 2 minutes 39 seconds the group lost to Pogačar on the road.
Pogačar extended his GC lead to 3 minutes 21 seconds back to Roglič in second and 3 minutes 32 seconds to Mas in third.