Paul Seixas has not only survived two weeks of racing at the most anticipated Tour de France debut in recent memory, but thrived, as he sits well in the race for the podium in fourth overall, 6:23 behind yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar, but just 25 seconds away from Isaac del Toro in third place.

On stage 15, Seixas unsuccessfully defended the white jersey against the young Mexican star on Plateau de Solaison, but nonetheless reaffirmed that the he has the capacity to compete in a Grand Tour, as he valiantly rode to limit his losses on Sunday.

Seixas was harsh with himself after being joined by his family atop the climb, admitting that he "hesitated too much" when the duo of UAE Team Emirates-XRG leaders started to kick off the action on the 11.3km ascent with Pogačar upping the pace in domestique mode.

By the time they reached the summit, the 19-year-old had lost 58 seconds, but only to Pogačar, Del Toro, and winner Remco Evenepoel. Considering this is the longest race he's ever done in his career, and that he is the youngest starter in the Tour for 89 years, it's his strive for perfection that shone through when he spoke at the finish.

"It was very hard. It opened up from very far out. I wanted to manage my effort, so I did the climb at my rhythm," said Seixas to the army of microphones that surrounded him, only able to part the scrum when he asked if his parents could come through for an embrace.

"I maybe could have pushed a bit harder at certain moments. I hesitated too much. In the end, I still finished strongly. It was still a good climb and I’m still in the mix for the GC, so it’s OK."

Seixas mania has been exploding into life every day he's lived up to the massive expectation following him around France these past two weeks, but he's coming to the business end of the race in the third week, where a time trial and two days to Alpe d'Huez could make or break his debut.

“Overall, I’m happy. I did a good performance, I think. For sure it wasn’t ideal with the puncture at the start. I used up some bullets there – it’s some precious seconds that I could have saved," said Seixas.

"It’s a shame, but that’s how it is; we see the positives. I’ve succeeded in staying solid for now; I’ve recovered well. I hope that it will be just as good in the third week.

"I did what I could. I hope for a better result, but that’s life. Sometimes there are stronger guys, and they were stronger today, so chapeau to them."

Seixas has a chance to strike back on Tuesday's stage 16 in the 26.1km race against the clock to Thonon-les-Bains, where – despite likely not being on the level of Evenepoel or Pogačar in an ITT – his pedigree as a former junior world champion in the discipline could see him take time on Del Toro and move closer to third overall.

The Frenchman has only raced twice against the clock on his own this season, at the Volta ao Algarve, where he finished fourth in a stacked field, and at Itzulia Basque Country, where he won the opening stage to take yellow, beating the likes of current fifth place on GC at the Tour, Florian Lipowitz, by 33 seconds.

Even if Seixas finds the third week too tough and drops in the standings, what he's shown up to this point at such a young age confirms why the super teams of the peloton are after his long-term signature. But if he continues on his current trajectory and does find his way into that top three, that interest, and indeed his price tag, will only skyrocket further.

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Now that Jonas Vingegaard has crashed out of the Tour de France and Tadej Pogačar is five minutes ahead of second-placed Remco Evenepoel, you might be thinking the race is over. Absolutely not! There are plenty of reasons to keep watching during the third and final week of the 2026 edition.

Most notably, the final two podium spots are still very much up for grabs, with four riders within two minutes of each other and three major mountain finishes on the horizon.

The final six days begin on Tuesday with the 26.1-kilometre stage 16 individual time trial followed by a transitional stage from Chambéry to Voiron. Then the triple whammy in the Alps culminating with the back-to-back finishes on Alpe d'Huez. Even the final stage in Paris has room for drama with the triple climbs of Montmartre.

This Tour de France has been solidly in Pogačar's hands since his raid over the Col du Tourmalet on stage 6. There was hope that Vingegaard could stage a third-week comeback, but those were tragically dashed when he fell in a roundabout and broke his collarbone on Sunday.

Pogačar is by no means assured the overall victory in Paris yet. After starting amid a brutal heat wave in Spain and the Pyrenees, the weather is about to change for the Tour, with much cooler temperatures and maybe even rain in store. It's difficult to predict what a major change in conditions will do to riders, especially in the third week of a Grand Tour.

Even if the yellow jersey seems to have found a home for a fifth time on Pogačar's shoulders, there are still quite open contests for the two podium spots and the points, mountains and best young riders' classifications. These and the six remaining battles for a stage win are top reasons to keep watching the Tour de France.

Only nine of the race's 23 teams have won a stage, so every day will be a massive fight to make the breakaway. That kind of chaos can be difficult for one team to control, and with Visma-Lease a Bike now joining the list of stage-hunting squads, it will only be harder for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

It's almost shocking that Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) has not succeeded in winning a stage yet for all of his aggression. After making a 57-rider breakaway on stage 13 and moving up to fourth place overall, Pidcock went on the attack again on both stages over the weekend but wasn't able to translate that into a stage win. Alpe d'Huez might be another chance for the Briton.

Teams without a serious contender in the fight for the GC or other jersey competitions will undoubtedly contribute to the action, so look for aggression from Education-EasyPost, XDS-Astana, Netcompany Ineos and Movistar, in particular.

There are definitely more reasons to keep watching the Tour de France, too.

Paul Seixas vs. Isaac del Toro for the white jersey

The young French hope Paul Seixas has been the centre of attention for the home crowds, but he has been lying fairly low so far in his Tour de France debut. The Decathlon CMA CGM team's stage win by Olav Kooij took the pressure off, and Seixas' more conservative approach has kept him in podium contention heading into the final week.

For now, his fight is mainly with Isaac del Toro for the white jersey - Seixas is currently 25 seconds behind the Mexican in both regards and heading into his favoured terrain. A Paul Seixas victory on Alpe d'Huez would be a dream scenario for the Tour de France fans and organisers alike.

The contest between the two incredibly talented young riders this year could be a taste of things to come a few seasons down the road, so it will be a fascinating study.

Evenepoel and Lipowitz could get tactical

Everyone loves a little intra-team drama at the Tour de France. While it has been played down by the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, there's no ignoring the lack of cooperation between Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz this year.

Unlike Pogačar and Del Toro, who took turns helping each other to stage wins in the first week, there has been no such sacrifice within Red Bull. It's been a contest of legs over strategy.

With Evenepoel now second overall and 1:48 ahead of the German, there is a chance for the team to do something audacious and tactically brilliant, like send Lipowitz up the road and let Evenepoel follow the wheels.

Even teams like Lidl-Trek with Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose both in the top 10 have a chance to make their GC rivals worry. With UAE Team Emirates-XRG already expending a lot of effort in defending the maillot jaune for ten straight stages, there is still room to break the race wide open.

Green jersey not decided

Points classification leader Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) didn't consider Wednesday's stage to Voiron to be one for the sprinters, but with the intermediate sprint coming with 27.2km to go and no categorised climbs in the second half of the 174.7km stage, it could well become a sprint battle royale.

Pedersen leads Jasper Philipsen by just 31 points, while Biniam Girmay (NSN) is third, 56 points down. On stage 17, the win is worth 50 points and the intermediate sprint 75, so the jersey is by no means decided.

Philipsen already went into the breakaway on Friday's stage with multiple teammates and made Pedersen expend a lot of energy to get across to the move before the intermediate sprint.

A similar scenario could play out on Wednesday. With four climbs in the first 55km, it will be an epic battle to make the early breakaway and - if the green jersey competitors don't make it - a massive effort to chase it down.

Mountains classification still wide open

Much like the points jersey, the polka dots are also very much up for grabs. Thanks to his stage wins and first place over the Tourmalet, Pogačar leads the mountains classification with 67 points. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) is second with 45, while Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) is third with 39, just five ahead of Seixas.

There is still a maximum of 148 points available towards the polka dot jersey, with Saturday's stage to Alpe d'Huez via the Col de Sarenne offering nearly half of that, thanks to the hors categorie Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Galibier and Sarenne each worth 20 for the first man over the top the same day.

It will be worth watching the final week for no other reason than to see how this contest plays out.

Who will be the Lanterne Rouge?

The Tour de France can seem one-dimensional when you only focus on the leaders, but well behind the television camera motorbikes, riders are fighting just to make the finish every day.

On Saturday, it was poor Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) who was dropped on the first climb and fought alone to the finish, only to miss the time cut by 17 minutes. The day before winning stage 11, Søren Wærenskjold was the one fighting off the broom wagon.

There is a badge of honour for being the last-placed rider in the GC standings - the 'lanterne rouge' - surviving the Tour de France is a massive accomplishment for most riders. Currently, three riders are within 30 seconds of each other for the title - Kamil Gradek (Bahrain Victorious) is four hours, 32 minutes and 29 seconds behind Pogačar. Just ahead are Lewis Askey (NSN) and Cees Bol (Decathlon).

From the front of the race to the autobus, there is still plenty of racing left, so keep watching the Tour de France.

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The road has decided Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's team leadership for the Tour de France; Florian Lipowitz has confirmed that he will now ride to help Remco Evenepoel finish on the podium in Paris.

There will be no need for Evenepoel to speak out about Lipowitz not working for him or demand a team meeting; the German rider has publicly committed to riding for Evenepoel.

"The main goal is to have Remco on the podium in Paris," Lipowitz said clearly during a video call with the media during the rest day in the French Alps.

"The main goal will be for sure to get on the podium with Remco. Maybe it's for second place, and it will be super hard last week, but I think we showed that we have a super strong team here and for sure we will fight until Paris."

Team Ralph Denk said before the start of the Tour that Evenepoel and Lipowitz were joint team leaders but admitted that one of them will eventually emerge as the team's protected rider as they "fight it out between themselves on the road."

There was some tension in the first week, with Evenepoel letting out his frustration that Lipowitz did not lead him out in the sprint to the line on stage 6 to Gavarnie-Gèdre in the Pyrenees.

However, Evenepoel slowly gained seconds on Lipowitz in the first half of the Tour and gained a significant 1:08 by winning stage 15 to Plateau de Solaison. Evenepoel is second overall, 5:00 down on Tadej Pogačar, but leads Lipowitz, who lies fifth overall, by 1:48, who is fifth overall.

Evenepoel is the favourite to win Tuesday's rolling 26.1km time trial near Lake Geneva and so should gain even more time on his teammate and so further strengthen his protected leadership role.

"With tomorrow's time trial, he will have the best chance for that," Lipowitz said, accepting that Red Bull will now race for one leader, with little thought of a second podium or top-five place.

"We will see during the last week, but I think the main role is to have one guy on the podium. Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas are super strong, and Juan Ayuso is not far off. I was suffering most of them yesterday, so I know. Tadej could also influence the fight for the podium because he seems to be trying to help Del Toro.

"In the end, we are teammates, so we support each other. We will fight together, and we will have to fight until Paris. We are teammates, we will support each other, and we will do our best."

Lipowitz suggested that he is as strong, if not stronger, than in the 2025 Tour de France when he emerged to finish third behind Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, but his rivals and Evenepoel are a little better.

"I think my performance so far is a bit better than last year. Yesterday I did one of my best 30-minute efforts, so I think I'm on a good level. But I think just the whole level of the bunch has increased. I'm quite happy with the performance so far," Lipowitz said.

"Remco did a really impressive performance. We were super happy to have a stage victory here at the Tour. The whole team knew that he was in really good shape; there was no doubt about that.

"It's the best way to go into the second rest day. For sure, we will have a chat later this evening, and we will plan the upcoming week."

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In a course distance not coincidentally called 'The Abyss', Chase Wark (Lunchbox Racing) and Maddy Nutt (Lauf Cycles) claimed victories in the new 330km trial at The Rift Gravel Race in Iceland, which the British rider outlined in no uncertain terms was 'not fun' but 'suffering'.

The 200km elite challenge, now in a seventh season, was also a big test with 2,600 metres of elevation gain, rather than the 4,600 metres of the longer test, and many riders facing race-ruining mechanicals. Anton Stensby (FARA) prevailed to win the elite men's race in 6:16:51 while Haley Smith (Factor Racing) fought back after a crash to claim the elite women's race in 7:25:50.

Both courses were mostly gravel, and crossed rough volcanic plains, exposed ridgelines and remote rocky roads, with lava fields and multiple river crossings plus a climb on the Hekla volcano. The Abyss then threw riders even deeper into what organisers described as Iceland's 'raw interior'. Plus, it all started in the dark with the race setting off at midnight.

The scale of the challenge was certainly felt by women's winner Nutt, who also claimed the Traka 560 on debut this year and was second at the 350-mile Unbound XL. She also noted she had to cope with a less-than-ideal equipment scenario.

"Bit grumpy after riding a rocking saddle for 240km," said Nutt in an Instagram story. "Tried a new seatpost rather than my Lauf one and it was a bad move, as the seat clamp couldn't handle the bumps. Had to ride mostly out of the saddle or very carefully on the saddle and keep whacking it into position.

"I did cry, and I did almost quit multiple times, but I was winning the race and thought that despite the discomfort and annoyance I should do my best to get to the finish."

Nutt crossed the line after 17:08:03, 20 minutes ahead of Anuchi Gago (Factor Racing) and more than one hour and 20 minutes ahead of Kae Takeshita (Lauf).

The men's long-range course was likened to the landscape of the moon by USA's Wark, who raced for 14:06:26 to claim victory in Hvolsvöllur. He won with a gap of nearly 10 minutes to second-placed Mathieu Bélanger-Barrette (The Unscented Company\Cannon). Nils Correvon was third, more than an hour back.

Numbers were limited for the brutal 330km race, though it was a talent-packed field for the 200km event, with riders including retired mountain biker Nino Schurter, who came 10th, to road pro turned gravel racer Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ), the European and Italian gravel champion.

It was a tight battle for the top three spots in the men's elite race with Stensby finishing in 6:16:51 and Rasmus Bøgh Wallin (PAS Racing) just 20 seconds back in second. It was just another 19 seconds to third-placed Adne Koster (Seka Gravel). Andrew L'Esperance (Forward Racing) out-sprinted Julien Gagne (Lunchbox Racing) for fourth, 4:35 back.

In the women's race, Smith fought back after a heavy crash before coming over the line to claim victory after 7:25:50, with Magnaldi one minute and one second behind. It was then Morgan Aguirre (PAS Racing) who was less than five minutes back in third.

The Canadian winner, who crashed twice, described The Rift as "the toughest experience of my life. It was absolutely brutal", and referred to her second crash as "one of the hardest crashes I’ve had in 15 years".

"Had to fix a few resulting mechanical issues, and then settled into a steady grind of a chase. Finally linked up with Morgan Aguirre and Erica Magnaldi 4 hours in, and we caught a crash-beleaguered Rosa Klöser an hour later," she wrote on Instagram.

"Then it became a battle of 3. I used the descents and technical to my advantage and went clear with 40km to go. What a relief to cross the finish line."

After the trio passed Klöser (Canyon-SRAM), she would post a DNF and not be able to defend her victory from last year.

Despite becoming the frontrunner to challenge Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France after moving into second place, and the yellow jersey admitting that he will be "a pain in the ass" in the final week, Remco Evenepoel has said he believes Pogačar "doesn't need to worry about anyone."

For Evenepoel, he too isn't focusing his mind on his competitors, vowing to direct all his efforts to defending his spot on GC and only doing that, as he spoke to international media over a video call on Monday's rest day.

Fresh off the back of the biggest mountain victory of his career, where Evenepoel defeated UAE Team Emirates-XRG duo Pogačar and Isaac del Toro atop Plateau de Solaison, the Belgian is exactly five minutes behind the Slovenian. With Jonas Vingegaard crashing out before the final climb on Sunday, Evenepoel is now Pogačar's closest threat.

"I'm not sure. Maybe he means for Del Toro's podium spot, but I have no idea what he actually means," said Evenepoel when asked about Pogačar's "pain in the ass" description on Monday.

"I don't think Tadej needs to worry about anyone. I'm just going to try to ride the third week of my life."

Though he is approaching his favourite terrain on stage 16 of the race – the individual time trial to Thonon-les-Bains – and took a huge step forward climbing-wise on Sunday, so has cause to be confident for the brutal Alpine stages coming next weekend, not getting carried away is going to be essential. It's no secret that the yellow jersey is a career goal, but he isn't allowing himself to think of that yet.

"For the moment, all good, but I mean I don't have to start to fly; I have to keep focused, feet on the ground, and work for my spot, defend it with everything I have in me," said Evenepoel.

"That's the main objective for the last week: just keep my spot, and it would be an amazing result for me to finish second behind one of the best, if not the best rider ever.

"First there is tomorrow, a very important stage for me. Then I have to try to get through two days as economically as possible. I’m not starting to dream of winning the Tour; if everything continues to go normally, that is very far out of reach."

Evenepoel, despite his prowess as a three-time and current time trial world champion, won't be taking five minutes out of Pogačar across Tuesday's 26.1km race against the clock, but it would not be surprising to gain at least a minute on all of his GC rivals and those challenging him for the podium.

He admitted before the race how much weight he had lost, nearly 4kg in the hope of improving his abilities on the longer climbs, which hadn't been visible until Sunday's 15th stage. Even with the significant drop in weight, though, Evenepoel isn't expecting it to be a major hindrance to his TT abilities, and may even help him with the course starting with a 9.7km climb that averages 4.3%.

"A real difference can be made on the climb. It's going to be special with many split times. It's also the day after the rest day, and some react differently to that than others. We could well see some surprising things," he said.

"The first ten kilometres are uphill, so my weight isn't necessarily a disadvantage. I remember from the 2023 Vuelta that my time trial was good, so I'm confident it should be fine. It definitely takes away power, but it should be balanced.

"[It's] a beautiful course, very fast and technical, and at times even a bit dangerous. The finale isn't easy, but I'm going to give it my all and try to win the stage."

Tuesday's stage will prove hugely important to his hopes of finishing second, with a duo of brutal stages to Alpe d'Huez at the weekend set to see him defend against the likes of Del Toro, Paul Seixas and Juan Ayuso. Given what we saw last weekend, though, Evenepoel will be the favourite to finish as runner-up.

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The Tour de France continues on Tuesday with an individual time trial for stage 16, the first and only individual time trial of the 2026 race after the opening team time trial.

Starting in Évian-les-Bains, the TT is 26.1km in length, with the first 10km all uphill up the Côte de Larringes (9.6km at an average 4.2% gradient). From there, the road goes back down again, and then it's a flat run-in to the finish line in Thonon-les-Bains.

Given the amount of climbing, the TT will probably turn out in favour of the GC riders who are good at time trialling, rather than the pure TT specialists who will have good power but will suffer on the climb.

The time trial is very important because it offers up another chance for the GC standings to be shaken up. Even though Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) leads by five minutes, the places below him are all up for grabs with plenty of riders within reach of the podium in this final week.

World champion Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is likely the stage favourite. It could stand to win not only the stage – which would be back-to-back wins after stage 15 – but also cut into Pogačar's lead, although realistically only by a fraction.

The action kicks off at 13:00 local time CEST (12:00 BST / 7:00 ET / 21:00 AEST) with last-placed Kamil Gradek (Bahrain Victorious) the first to start. As usual, all riders go in reverse GC order, with the top-placed riders last. Riders go every 90 seconds at first, then there are two-minute gaps for the top 15.

Outside of the GC riders, names to look out for include Josh Tarling (13:25:30 CEST), Edoardo Affini (13:37:30), Daan Hoole (13:43:30), Filippo Ganna (13:58:30), Tobias Foss (16:06:00), Antonio Tiberi (16:16:30) and Brandon McNulty (16:40:30).

The top 10 starts at 16:57 with Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), with Evenepoel set to start at 17:13 before Pogačar gets his effort underway at 17:15.

Tour de France stage 16 TT start times

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The International Testing Agency (ITA) has confirmed they carried out the nighttime anti-doping tests on Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France and has defended the need to disrupt riders' sleep and recovery to carry out "effective testing".

The ITA claimed in a statement sent to Cyclingnews and other media that the tests were done with "consideration for riders' welfare, equity and fundamental rights."

"The ITA is conscious that night-time testing may be disruptive to riders' rest and recovery. Due consideration has therefore been given to minimise as much as possible the impact testing activities have on riders," the ITA said in the statement.

"However, the ITA, on behalf of the UCI, has the responsibility to ensure the effectiveness of the cycling anti-doping program and the integrity of cycling races. As such, effective testing must, in limited and justified circumstances, be capable to occur outside standard daytime hours.

"All testing activities conducted at the Tour de France and at any other international events, including decisions as to the specific timing of such tests, are carried out in accordance with the ITA’s testing strategy and subject to the safeguards established under the World Anti-Doping Code, the UCI Anti-Doping Rules and French law, with due consideration for riders’ welfare, equity and fundamental rights."

The ITA is a not-for-profit organisation, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a mission to manage anti-doping programmes, independently for international federations and event organisers. Cycling's anti-doping programme is funded by the different stakeholders, including the UCI, riders and teams.

Pogačar and several other riders were critical of the night-time testing, with the Tour leader going as far as suggesting that Vingegaard's lack of sleep after his 2am anti-doping test could have been one of the reasons for his crash and fractured collarbone.

Both Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike team played down the idea that the nighttime anti-doping test was a factor.

Pogačar was tested at 5am before stage 15. He revealed he has also faced other early morning tests during the Spring Classics and the Tour de France.

"It's a little bit strange, but I accept it if this is necessary to still prove we are riding clean, then if this is necessary then I totally accept it and I commit to this. But it's a bit shit when you sleep for four hours in one day in the middle of a three week Tour," Pogačar said.

Pascal Chanteur, president of the French UNCP rider association suggested that the riders were being harassed, while Remco Evenepoel called on the CPA rider's association to act.

"It is inhuman to wake us up, we had a long transfer, and to wake them up like that is pretty disrespectful," the Belgian said.

However the UCI anti-doping rules are clear regarding nighttime testing between 11pm and 6am.

"The UCI may require any Rider over whom it has Testing authority, who has not retired, including Riders serving a period of Ineligibility, to provide a Sample at any time and at any place," rule 5.2.2 explains, but goes on to clarify that "Unless the rider has identified a sixty minute testing window between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., or has otherwise consented to testing during that period, the UCI will not test a rider during that period unless it has a serious and specific suspicion that the Rider may be engaged in doping."

The ITA did not answer a specific question from Cyclingnews about any suspicions of doping in this case, saying its testing strategies remain confidential.

UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike have both been approached for comment.

Our view

Why test at odd hours?

While professional cycling has not seen a major doping scandal for a decade, it is theoretically possible that athletes could benefit from overnight micro-dosing of blood boosting EPO or recovery products, with any traces of the doping disappearing before daytime testing is carried out.

Before the Tour de France began in Barcelona, the ITA explained that its anti-doping strategy is "based on an adaptive risk assessment approach that integrates various dynamic factors, such as rider performance trends, to ensure strategic testing throughout the event. Insights from the ABP (Athlete Biological Passport), including the endocrine module, as well as information gathered by the ITA’s dedicated cycling team within its Intelligence & Investigations (I&I) department, inform these efforts."

ITA claimed it carried out over 360 out of competition tests in the month before the Tour de France, with 600 tests expected during the race. Samples will be kept for 10-years for potential re-analysis.

"Testing during the Tour de France will be targeted and may occur at any point during the three-week race, not just at stage finishes," ITA made clear on July 1 in a statement.

"We remain committed to protecting the integrity of the race and ensuring that all riders compete under the same rules and conditions," said ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen.

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

Eva van Agt soloed to victory for FDJ United-SUEZ in Saturday's La Périgord Ladies, marking the Dutch rider's first professional victory.

As well as Van Agt's win, the race was a special occasion for FDJ as it was the first race for their newest signing, US national champion Kate Courtney, who joined the team with immediate effect last Monday.

The multidisciplinary star got her first taste of success with the WorldTour's most successful team of 2026 so far, helping Van Agt to the win and finishing 15th herself – FDJ's best finisher behind the winner.

"The first rodeo," Courtney wrote on Instagram. "I made a lot of mistakes out there. But I know one thing is for sure – I’m in the right place with the right people to learn and stay on the attack.

The hilly race between Rouffiac and Boulazac in southwestern France split apart in the difficult finale, with Van Agt going solo 2.2km from the finish to claim not only her first win of 2026 since signing for FDJ, but indeed her first-ever win as a professional since transitioning from college-level hockey.

A group of seven riders sprinted for second place behind her, with Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) grabbing the runner-up spot ahead of Liv AlUla Jayco's Mackenzie Coupland.

Courtney came in in a group three minutes down on the winner, sprinting for 15th.

The next day, FDJ took on another race in the south of France, La Picto en Nouvelle-Aquitaine, where Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal) took the win but Courtney took the French team's best result, sprinting to 13th in the lead group to cap off a successful debut weekend for the team.

"What a special feeling racing as a real team for the first time in my career. Two days of battling in the bunch, learning from the best and celebrating Eva van Agt taking her first pro win!" she said.

In an Instagram video posted by FDJ United-Suez, Courtney says to Van Agt after La Picto, "What an amazing pull, thank you so much."

"It was so fun racing with you, I learned a lot," she goes on to say, before Van Agt replies, "Oh yeah, she is strong."

Though this weekend was Courtney's first time racing for her new team, it was not her first taste of road race success in Europe, with the 30-year-old taking a stage win at the Tour de Féminin with the US national team in May.

Her debut road season with FDJ will continue at August's Tour of Britain Women, with the rest of her racing schedule still to be confirmed.

"Lots of motivation for the next few weeks of training," she signed off her post. Thank you for giving me so much to fight for FDJ-Suez."

Nele Laing (Germany / Canyon DTSwiss ATR) and Jonas Lindberg (WILLING ABLE Racing) crossed the line in Winterberg to claim victory in the elite races at 3Rides Gravel.

Laing took the elite women's win with a time of 4:35:44, finishing the second German round of the UCI Gravel World Series this month three minutes ahead of Elena Hartmann (Domat/Ems) while Nicole Frain (Factor Racing RCC) took third.

In the elite men's race, Lindberg covered the 129km route in 3:55:00, with Kevin Panhuyzen (Tessenderlo) taking second place and Hannes Riegger (Radwelt Main-Tauber Racing Team) third.

The race, which is in its fifth year, introduced a new format for 2026, delivering three days of racing in the highlands of Sauerland.

That started with a time trial on Friday – won by Frain and Kevin Kuhn (Team Heizomat-Cube) – and then moved on to a gravel race Saturday, where Laing and Toby Perry (Girona) took the wins.

Sunday then concluded proceedings with a UCI Gravel World Series-ranked race, which contributed to the overall standings but also stood alone as a UCI event. Laing's wins on Saturday and Sunday secured her the overall victory, whilst in the men's field, though Lindberg took the UCI victory, it was Kuhn who secured the overall title.

The top 25% of the field on Sunday have qualified for the UCI Gravel World Championships on October 10-11 in Nannup, Western Australia.

Results

The 1984 Tour de France had 191km of time trialling, while the 2026 Tour de France includes just 46km. That is a 76% reduction of time trial distance in just over 40 years. Of course, not all changes are bad – Tour riders used to smoke and race without helmets, for example – but this shift caught my eye.

We've seen a dramatic shift in the focus and importance of time trialling in professional cycling, and in this piece, I set out to explore why. The further back you go, the crazier things get. So let's start as far back as the 1930s when Gino Bartali won his first Tour de France.

How much time trials have changed

In the 1938 Tour de France, there were only 69km of time trialling, not too dissimilar from what we see in modern cycling. But there were also much longer stages throughout the Tour, including a 279km finale on stage 21 which Antonin Magne won in a time of eight hours, 54 minutes and 50 seconds. While the TT kilometres seem sparse, things change when you start to zoom in.

Stage 20b of the 1938 Tour was a 42km individual time trial. It was the kind of stage that you wouldn't be shocked to see in a Grand Tour once every few years. But take a closer look at the stage name: 20b. This 42km ITT was one of three stages ridden that day. On July 30, 1938, the Tour de France peloton raced 48km on stage 20a, then 42km on stage 20b, and finally 107km on stage 20c. By the way, there wasn't even a rest day between stage 20a, b, and c and the nine-hour finale to Paris for stage 21.

Professional cycling was a different sport back then, that much is clear. But things began to evolve as the sport modernised and became one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

By the 1960s, race organisers began running shorter time trials. Instead of hour-long slogs, time trials became short, explosive efforts. Some were only eight kilometres long, and then came the introduction of the prologue: ultra-short time trials were often given at the beginning of a Grand Tour. But that didn't take away from other time trial stages.

The 1970 Tour de France included not one, not two, but six time trials over the course of three weeks. That is unfathomable in this day and age. Most Grand Tours only include two time trials, with the rare edition including three. Something needed to change... and change they did.

By the 1980s, race organisers had fallen in love with the idea of long time trials. These weren't 20, 30, or even 40-minute efforts. These were 60 to 90-minute individual time trials in the middle of the Tour de France. The 1984 Tour began with a 5km prologue, followed by a 51km team time trial on stage 3, and a 67km individual time trial on stage 7. That is a total of 123km of time trialling in the first week of the Tour.

If that wasn't enough, there was a 22km mountain TT on stage 16, and a 51km TT on the penultimate day of the race. If you were the best time triallist in the race, you could afford to lose a minute on every mountain stage and still win the yellow jersey.

The monster-length TT trend continued into the 2000s, and in the first Tour of the 21st century, there were 145km of time trialling spread across two ITTs and one TTT. While the opening TTT of the 2026 Tour was certainly exciting, it was only 20 kilometres long. Yet, there were still significant time gaps. The TTT in the 2000 Tour de France was 70km in length, which ONCE won in a time of just under one hour and 26 minutes. It's difficult to imagine what this kind of time trial would look like in modern cycling, but as we ponder the question, answers emerge as to why race organisers might be doing this.

Why are race organisers shortening time trials?

The tide began to turn in the early 2000s, and by 2010, time trialling kilometres in Grand Tours had been cut by more than 60%, according to ProCyclingStats.

We've even seen a few Tours de France where the total number of time trial kilometres was less than 1% of the total length of the race: the 2023 Tour included only 22.4km of time trials, which was 0.7% of the overall race length.

Professional cycling has seen a number of positive advancements over the years, including the introduction of a number of safety and rider-tracking measures. But shifting the focus away from time trials is hotly debated.

Time trialling is at the core of the sport: may the fastest rider win. But in 2026, it also rewards the big-budget teams with access to wind tunnel testing, 3D-printed aero bars, and a number of other equipment upgrades. Time trials don't necessarily reward the strongest rider in the race – they reward the fastest rider. And that can be about a lot more than just strength.

In a 40km time trial, you could have one rider holding 350w while another is holding 400w. But if the first rider is significantly more aerodynamic, they could beat the second rider by more than a minute. This seems just if the rider has worked hard to improve their aero position, but what if the differences are entirely mechanical? If one rider's team can afford a faster time trial set-up, is that fair to both riders?

This discussion gets even bigger when you talk about measuring up the lower budget teams with the big-budget super teams. Reducing time trial kilometres is one of many ways that race organisers can close the gap, especially by using fewer team time trials. The TTT is becoming a lost art, but it has certainly shortened the GC gaps in Grand Tours.

Reducing TT kilometres also changes the GC picture entirely. Imagine that the 2027 Tour de France included 191 kilometres of time trialling like the 1984 edition. How many minutes could Remco Evenepoel gain on his GC rivals with that much time on the TT rig? We are talking about five to 10-minute gaps, maybe even more depending on the TT profiles. It would change the race, for better or worse, depending on what kind of rider you want to see win the Tour de France.

A final point that race organizers must consider is the viewer experience. It's no secret that time trials can be boring to spectate. Even for the avid cycling viewer, it's hard to sit down and watch an individual time trial for two to three hours. Throw in a few mountains or a breakaway stage at the Tour, and the viewer's experience changes completely. The opening TTT in Barcelona was thrilling, and that could be the blueprint for keeping time trials in Grand Tours.

Where do we go from here?

Love them or hate them, time trials are an integral part of cycling's history. They have changed quite dramatically over the years, but so has the sport as a whole. The future of time trials is uncertain, but it's difficult to imagine them being phased out completely. Many of us have pondered whether we want to see more or less time trialling in Grand Tours.

What it really comes down to is what we want to see as the future of cycling. Do we want to see time trial specialists rewarded with multi-minute advantages in Grand Tours? Or do we want the climbers and best all-rounders to have the best chance at winning the race? I'm not sure there is a correct answer here, but there is one more factor to consider.

Outside of the WorldTour, cycling is a massive sport. In fact, it is not only a sport, but indeed a way of life for millions of people around the world. The Tour de France means more than just the yellow jersey – it inspires the next generation of cyclists to explore this beautiful sport.

The brute fact is that time trial bikes are not accessible for the majority of cyclists around the world. TT bikes and gear are incredibly expensive, even more so at the professional level. We are talking about tens of thousands of Euros being spent on a TT rig that gets used a few times per year. Not only is the gap between the low and high-budget WorldTour teams widening, so is the gap between professional cycling and the rest of the world.

My idea? I will say it straight up: time trials in stage races should be ridden on road bikes. We can save the TT rigs for Worlds and National Championships where the time trial specialists are rewarded for their aero-focused efforts. But in stage races and Grand Tours, we would solve many problems by having TTs done on road bikes.

It makes more sense to the casual viewer, it rewards the fastest rider of the day, and it makes cycling more accessible for millions of people around the world. While I don't think we need to go back to 80km ITTs in the Tour, I do think we need to hold onto bike racing in its purest form: save the time trial.

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) claimed the overall title at the Baloise Ladies Tour for the second year in a row while Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprinted to her third stage victory on stage 4 in Mechelen.

Veenhoven timed her sprint perfectly, overtaking Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) to take the win by half a wheel. Charlotte Kool (Fenix-PremierTech) was second, and Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM) was third.

Bäckstedt made her mark in the time trial stages, winning the prologue and then the 8.4km TT on stage 3a, where she retook the leader’s jersey. By virtue of the time bonus seconds at the finish line, Veenhoven moved up to second overall, as Felicity Wilson-Haffendel (Lidl-Trek) finished third.

"We’ve been on the podium every stage, some victories for me and some pretty good results for Maike in the sprints as well. Honestly, this week has been really good," Bäckstedt said.

"We had the leader’s jersey and we had a really strong team. I feel that we had to be in control and we really played it well every day."

For its final stage, the race moved back to the centre of Belgium, stage 4 starting and finishing in Mechelen. Consisting of six local laps totalling 111.4km, the race included five passages of the cobbled Keizerstraat, and was almost completely flat.

With the flag dropped, a group quickly got away: Sterre Vervloet (Lotto-Intermarché), Maaike Boogaard (VolkerWessels), Yonna van Dam (Citymesh-Customm), April Tacey (Hitec-Fluid Control), Aileen Schweikart (REMBE-rad net) and, briefly, Emmy Pordon (KDM-Pack), who dropped later on as she could not stay with the pace.

Though the five built up a maximum lead of 2:20, they were kept on a tight leash of around 1:30 by riders from the sprinters’ teams Visma-Lease a Bike and Fenix-Premier Tech along with Bäckstedt’s Canyon-SRAM. The gap was down to one minute with two laps to go.

Just as the break was about to be reeled in with 17 kilometres to go, Schweikart accelerated to continue on solo as leadout trains organised at the front to finally catch the German rider after another 15 kilometres.

Teams battled for control until SD Worx-ProTime took the front under the red kite, but were overtaken by other teams.

Kopecky launched her sprint with 150 metres to go but Veenhoven overtook her to take her third stage win.

Results

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In a tumultuous day for the general classification, Remco Evenepoel won stage 15 of the Tour de France on Sunday, sprinting clear from a trio of the world’s best, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider taking the win at Plateau de Solaison.

In what was the Belgian’s first road win at the Tour, he out-sprinted overall race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), beating him into second place, with the Slovenian’s teammate, Isaac del Toro, third, a handful of seconds behind.

The group had formed at the bottom of the final climb, Pogačar upping the pace and dropping everyone else. With the yellow jersey leading all the way, the trio swept up what remained of the day’s breakaway, the final rider caught around 5km from the line.

Pogačar kept the pressure on leading into the final kilometre, before Del Toro attacked with 900m to go. The Mexican champion was unable to drop Evenepoel, though, and a second move with 400m to go had the same result.

Evenepoel then held off Pogačar to take a third Tour de France stage win and move into second place overall.

The race was shaken by the abandon of Jonas Vingegaard, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider injured in a crash around 20km from the finish. Vingegaard had started the day second on GC, and his absence contributed to a raft of changes at the top of the standings.

Though he was unable to take the stage, Del Toro moved into third place overall, and while many of the top 10 riders are in similar places to those they started the day with, the gap between second place and 10th has grown from under four minutes to 14.

For Evenepoel, the win was a huge one; not only was it his first road stage win at the Tour, it was confirmation of the talent many have thought he had, but had sometimes doubted.

“It’s amazing, I’m literally trembling from emotion,” he said. “It’s been a hell of a day, a pretty hard start, I was actually feeling really bad in the beginning. I really got better and better during the day.

“You have to understand I’m racing with the best guy ever,” he said of Pogačar. “He has been doing a hell of a climb to try to win the stage with Isaac, and for me it’s a big step forward that I can follow this pace, I always get so many critics about 'he cannot stand steep climbs, this and that', and it feels amazing, just towards myself, everybody around me, it means a lot.

“I was not really expecting any attacks from Isaac anymore, but he went on the last steep part, it was a pretty hard attack, and then he went again 400 to go, which was for me the perfect way to make a sprint. Then I tried to keep my momentum, tried to go as hard as possible to the finish line.

“I’ve been doing efforts on this climb maybe 20 times when I was here on training camp in Combloux, it’s amazing to get this victory and to go into the rest day with this feeling.”

As world time trial champion, Evenepoel will start Tuesday’s 26.1km time trial as a favourite, adding: “Now we have good rest day and then a beautiful day on Tuesday when I will try and go again for a stage.”

How it unfolded

The final stage before the second rest day saw the race move from the Vosges Mountains to the Jura, starting in Champagnole and heading south, by-passing Geneva, before heading into the Alps for a finish at Plateau de Solaison.

Another tough day in the mountains, the stage covered four classified climbs, with the finish at the top of an hors catégorie ascent, making for a total of 3,900m of vertical ascent.

As on Saturday, the day’s intermediate sprint came early, after just 17.3km, but unlike stage 14 it was an uphill sprint, this though made no difference to Jasper Philipsen, who once again repaid the work of his Alpecin-Premier Tech team by taking maximum points, further eroding Mads Pedersen’s lead in the points classification, though the Lidl-Trek rider was second across the line.

Attacks started immediately after the sprint, with former polka-dot jersey winner, Warren Barguil (Picnic-PostNL) the first to move. His team were clearly keen to get up the road, with teammate and fellow old-stager, John Degenkolb also trying his luck, but the fight continued over the Côte des Rousses and beyond the ensuing descent.

Though Xabier Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) got a gap, the chase persisted, with EF Education-EasyPost particularly active. Every time this pressure brought the leaders back and the fight would start again.

Finally, half way through the stage, on one of the unclassified climbs before the first category Cole de la Croissette, a group of 23 managed to get away. This included Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Adam Yates, Bruno Amirail and Victor Campenaerts (both Visma-Lease a Bike), as well as Egan Bernal and Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany-Ineos). The EF Education-EasyPost pair of Ben Healey and Alex Baudin along with stage 13 winner Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) also made it into the move.

Also present was Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), who began the day in ninth place overall, and with the peloton not wanting to repeat the mistake of Friday’s stage 13 they set to work holding him fairly close, UAE and Visma allowing a lead of around 2.20.

However, as the leaders reached the Col de la Croissette, and with Pidcock’s teammate Brent van Moer on the front, that gap increased and, as he did on Friday, the British rider moved into virtual fourth place on GC, displacing Paul Seixas (Decathlon-GMA CGM).

The Croissette is a beast though, averaging 11% over its 4.6km, and no sooner did they hit the lower slopes than the group began to fall apart, US champion Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) attacking and leading Pidcock, Yates, Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling) over the top.

Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United) and Schmid both rejoined the leading group on the Côte du Mont, the latter attacking on the descent and building a slender advantage. But, with Visma-Lease a Bike boosted by Campenaerts and Amirail, the peloton began to bring the gap down ahead of the final climb.

However, with 20km too go the shape of the entire race changed, Vingegaard crashing out of the race, causing some hesitation in the chase, until Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe took up the pursuit to limit Pidcock’s advantage. Even then the breakaway hit the climb with their lead still over two minutes.

The Plateau de Solaison is another brutal climb, averaging 9% over its 11.3km, and with even steeper ramps to challenge the riders, the leading group feel apart once again, Simmons making a move, with Pidcock, Yates and Voisard chasing behind.

With a gap of 22 seconds established, Simmons held his place off the front, though he reckoned without Pogačar. The yellow jersey upped the pace the moment he hit the climb and very soon only Del Toro and Evenepoel were left in his wheel. With 6km to go Simmons’ realised his effort was in vain, Pogačar having closed to within 40 seconds, and the American was caught shortly afterwards.

Results

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The first- and second-placed riders in the Tour de France were both woken for anti-doping tests on Saturday night. Race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was woken at 5 a.m., while Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was tested three hours earlier.

The UCI has engaged the International Testing Agency (ITA) to conduct its anti-doping activities, and it seems the testers were out in force after stage 14 to Le Markstein, which was won by Pogačar.

It's understood he and Vingegaard were staying in separate hotels, with Visma-Lease a Bike in the town of Besançon.

"I guess the ITA didn't allow me to sleep very much" Vingegaard told Eurosport before Sunday's stage. "I was sleeping very well, and somebody knocked on my door at 2 a.m. - a big surprise to me. Of course it's good that they test, but when it's affecting performance and your sleep, I don't think that it's so good.

"I think it took me about 40 minutes before I was back in my room, so it was not the best night, I still feel OK. I cannot change it but that's a part of it. Hopefully, I'm not the only one because it has to be equal for everyone."

He wasn't the only one. Some three hours after Vingegaard was awoken, Pogačar got the knock.

"I got four hours of sleep," the yellow jersey told Eurosport. "I always go to sleep late, so it was a big shock for me, but I had a very cool, long morning. I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I was chilling listening to some old Eminem hits and making coffee, so I'm caffeinated and ready to start the day but it was definitely not nice to get woken up in the middle of sweet dreams."

Cycling has a dark past with doping, and anti-doping is an essential part of preventing a return to what might be called the bad old days. At races, stage winners, overall leader and a selection of riders are chosen for testing each day, with the latter group chosen either randomly or deliberately targeted based on intelligence.

While being awoken in the middle of the night is certainly detrimental to recovery, especially 14 stages into the Tour de France, it could be argued as a necessary evil, especially to prevent what is known as micro-dosing, where small amounts of prohibited substances could be flushed from the system before the morning.

"They come randomly in the mornings through the Tour and today chose nighttime," added Pogačar. "I feel sorry for the guys that are controlling because I can imagine that some guys get upset and angry with them, but it's not their fault; they're just doing their jobs."

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Results

Tour de France stage 15 report and results: Remco Evenepoel outwits Tadej Pogačar to win atop Plateau de Solaison as Jonas Vingegaard abandons after crash

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Salut and welcome to Cyclingnews' live updates of stage 15 at the Tour de France 2026!

Week two is coming to a close with a bang as the riders take on the second of the mountainous double headers to bring the curtain down on this week of racing. Here is the profile of the day.

Dive deeper into the day with our preview...

>>> Tour de France 2026 stage 15 preview - Will the breakaway be allowed their heads or is Tadej Pogačar hungry for yet more success?

The neutralised start is in around 10 minutes from Champagnole.

With the team presentation well underway in Champagnole we get to see a new name in the polka dot jersey. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) jumped up three places in the KOM standings yesterday to slot just nine points behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), so the Frenchman wears the jersey on the race leader's behalf.

Neutral start

Just 3.9km of neutral today.

The first task of the day is the intermediate sprint at Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux. And with the green jersey standings so finely balanced, this will be well fought for.

Just 36 points split Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) with 50 points splitting Pedersen and Biniam Girmay (NSN). Just 90 points split the top four with Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) not out of it yet.

Here are the jerseys after stage 14

183.9km to go

Racing begins and immediately Alpecin-Premier Tech immediately take things up to try and set Jasper Philipsen up for the intermediate sprint in Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux.

Just 14km to the intermediate sprint. We have some uphill riding to do beforehand, though.

The peloton is strung out in one long line as Alpecin-Premier Tech pushes hard.

Silvan Dillier leads the way with Philipsen sits in third wheel.

For now, no-one is challenging Alpecin-Premier Tech on the front of the bunch.

10km to go to the intermediate sprint.

Alpecin-Premier Tech continue to lead as NSN move Girmay up as well as Lidl-Trek for Pedersen.

Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek) tried an attack to take as many points away from Philipsen etc as possible but he was quickly dragged back.

2km to the intermediate sprint as multiple riders are now looking very twitchy as they will look to launch immediately after the intermediate sprint.

1.5km to the sprint and Lidl-Trek now come up alongside Alpecin-Premier Tech with NSN waiting alongside XDS-Astana as they work for Max Kanter.

The top 15 all take points with 25 the max ahead of 20, 16, 14, 12, 10 and then all the way down to 1 from there.

500 metres to go.

Jasper Philipsen wins the intermediate sprint in Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux after launching off the wheel of Mads Pedersen. That is another 5 points back for the Belgian making it just 31 points between them.

Kanter took third.

Attack

Julius van den Berg (Picnic-PostNL)

Unfortunately for him, he has Olav Kooij (Decathlon-CMA CGM) with him who looks to be there for a laugh. More moves, though.

Attack

Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)
Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost)
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)

Nothing getting away yet.

Mechanical issue for Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and has changed his bike.

Attack

Warren Barguil (Picnic-PostNL)

It would've been fair to assume he had left the race as he has been anonymous but is on the move now with more riders coming across to him.

Intermediate sprint (Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux)

1. Philipsen(APT) 25 pts
2. Pedersen (LTK) 20 pts
3. Kanter (XAT) 16 pts
4. Girmay (NSN) 14 pts
5. Stewart (NSN) 12 pts
6. Rubio (MOV) 10 pts
7. Simmons (LTK) 9 pts
8. Planckaert (APT) 8 pts
9. Ballerini (XAT) 7 pts
10. Armirail (TVL) 6 pts
11. Rickaert (APT) 5 pts
12. Cepeda (MOV) 4 pts
13. Ganna (NCI) 3 pts
14. Stannard (TBV) 2 pts
15. Vacek (LTK) 1 pt

That move is brought back. And a new one goes with Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor).

Attack

Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor)
John Degenkolb (Picnic-PostNL)
Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious)
Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies)
Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies)

They don't have a huge gap, though. More riders will want to join as they are about to start the first categorised climb of the day, the Côte des Rousses (6.6km at 5.1%). Jayco-AlUla, Netcompany-Ineos and Movistar chasing behind.

Turgis dropped from the break as they start the Côte des Rousses.

Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) tried a move but is just dragging the peloton across the gap. Healy and Paret-Peintre up there as well as Netcompany-Ineos look to set up Thymen Arensman with a leadout from Josh Tarling.

Merlier being dropped off the back of the peloton. This will be a very long day for him and a big worry for Soudal-Quickstep as they hope to get the three time stage winner at this race through the day. Another stage winner, Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), is with him.

This is all together again but new moves come as Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) appears for the first time. Georg Steinhauser is trying to help his teammate.

150km to go

Valentin Paret-Peintre making sure he marks Carapaz's every move.

Attack

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)

He has Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS-Astana) bridges the gap.

Biniam Girmay now dropped from the peloton.

Puncture

Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM)

He gets a rear wheel change. Very calm and collected from the white jersey wearer. The youngest wearer of a leader's jersey ever at the Tour de France.

That break is back together yet again. Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) and Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) the next to try.

Attack

Xavier Mikkel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5)

He has no-one following for the moment.

Castrillo catches Azparren as Paret-Peintre flies out of the peloton and across the gap with 500 metres to the top of the climb.

Carapaz is trying to bridge the gap with the peloton in tow.

Valentin Paret-Peintre wins the first KOM of the day on the Côte des Rousses ahead of Carapaz.

KOM (Côte des Rousses)

1. V. Paret-Peintre (SOQ) 2pts
2. Carapaz (EFE) 1pt

Attack

Arensman (NCI)
Azparren (PQT)

Several riders out of the back after that first climb with the majority of the sprinters gone.

Tobias Halland Johannessen (UXM) getting involved in trying to make a move in the peloton as well as Matteo Jorgenson (TVL). All the big climbing names no longer involved in the GC tussle.

Magnus Cort trying to drag T. Johannessen away from the peloton.

This break still isn't properly away with Arensman and Azparren riding well together but still the peloton is battling behind. About 20 riders get a gap but it will be back together again.

Just 10" split these two from the peloton as they begin descending.

Pogačar was thinking about letting the break go for the win today, but at this rate the break won't have gone by the time they're on the final few climbs and the yellow jersey will surely then go for a 5th win of this race. He will go within single figures of Mark Cavendish's record.

Movistar's Nelson Oliveira is off the front of the peloton as he tries to bridge to Arensman and Azparren.

130km to go

Oliveira within 10" from the leaders with a further 9" back to the peloton.

A new counter attack comes out of the peloton:

Mauro Schmid (JAY)
Tobias Johannessen (UXM)
Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Ion Izagirre (COF)
Anders Skaarseth (UXM)
Michael Matthews (JAY)
Tim van Dijke (RBH)

They join Arensman, Azparren and Oliveira. Just 10" back to the peloton.

It is long rolling terrain now until they get to the Le Salève-Col de la Croisette, a very steep category 1 climb that comes with about 52km to go. 123km to go currently.

On sprinter watch, Philipsen, Wærenskjold, Kanter, Kooij and a few others are at 1'19" off the back of the peloton whereas Merlier is at 3'40".

Attack in peloton

Ben Healy (EFE)
Marco Haller (TUD)
Julian Alaphilippe (TUD)
Marc Hirschi (TUD)

But the peloton stay with them as the gap is now at 23" up to the break.

The pace is absolutely rapid out on course with one and a half hours almost complete, the average speed sits at 47kph.

EF Education-EasyPost have completely missed the move and are now working flat out in the peloton for Carapaz to try and bridge the gap on the next climb.

Breakaway caught by the peloton after a huge amount of work done by EF Educaiton-EasyPost.

Attack

Schmid goes clear yet again but EF come flying through to chase and try and go across.

Carapaz tries to go but Paret-Peintre is glued to his wheel. Jorgenson and Healy also involved in these new moves.

Tim Wellens (UAX) has been dropped by the peloton. He seems to be on a rough day.

Attack

Nicolas Vinokurov (XAT)

The Kazakhstani champion goes clear with EF trying to bridge to him.

100km to go

A new group goes clear including Carapaz and they bridge across to Vinokurov who waits for them to join him.

Current breakaway:

Egan Bernal (NCI)
Quinn Simmons (LTK)
Tom Pidcock (PQT)
Adam Yates (UAX)
Ilan Van Wilder (SOQ)
Yannis Voisard (TUD)
Kevin Vauquelin (NCI)
Einer Runio (MOV)
Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet (GFC)
Alex Baudin (EFE)}
Mauro Schmid (JAY)
Aurelien Paret-Peintre (DCT)
Alexandre Delettre (TEN)
Ben Healy (EFE)
Victor Campenaerts (TVL)
Ewen Costiou (GFC)
Bruno Armirail (TVL)
Matej Mohoric (TBV)
Brent Van Moer (PQT)
Marco Frigo (NSN)
Nicolas Vinokurov (XAT)
Tim van Dijke (RBH)

Abel Balderstone (CJR) drags himself across the gap and joins the leaders as they have 1'35" over the peloton as they come to the next climb very soon and it is a brute.

80km to go

The break get about 2 and a half minutes on the peloton but they aren't working together well for the moment. Oddly, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike lead the chase in the peloton despite both having riders in the breakaway. The biggest danger to the GC in there is Pidcock at 7'59".

The riders working on the front of the peloton for UAE and Visma are Tim Wellens and Per Strand Hagenes.

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The break of 24 riders have 2'44" on the peloton with just over 70km to go.

Third day in a row that Pidcock has gone into the breakaway. He plummeted down from 4th to 9th after jumping up from 10th to 4th the day before that. Will he be doing another jump up today?

Vinokurov has gone off the front of the breakaway yet again. He is getting fed up with the break not working together and goes solo. He hasn't got much of a gap, though.

One rider is well off the back. Tom Van Asbroeck (NSN) is over 21 minutes down on the leaders. He is having an extremely tough day and is almost certain to miss the time cut.

Visma-Lease a Bike leads the peloton at 2'49" from the break. Immediately behind them is Netcompany-Ineos who are blocking for Bernal and Vauquelin in the break.

Edoardo Affini and Per Strand Hagenes are working hard to keep this break close for Jonas Vingegaard.

55km to go

The riders are about to start the next climb of the day, the cat 1 Le Salève - Col de la Croisette, this is 4.7km but has an average of 11.2%, a real brute that will certainly split the break and peloton alike.

Van Moer is working flat out for Pidcock in the breakaway now as they head to Le Salève - Col de la Croisette.

Matthews was dropped out of the break, into the peloton and out of the back into the grupetto.

Healy dropped from the break along with Van Dijke and Mohoric.

Van Moer has done all he can for Pidcock and leaves the Brit to work alone with the rest of the break sat on his wheel.

Both Campenaerts and Armirail dropped by the pace in the break as is Bernal.

Vauquelin, Baudin, A. Paret-Peintre and more all being dropped by the pace being set by Pidcock.

Back in the peloton, Pedersen sits up and will go at his own pace to the finish.

Isaac Del Toro right at the back of the peloton with Felix Großschartner alongside him. He does this a lot but still worth keeping an eye on.

And as soon as the cameras show him at the back, he moves up through the group.

50km to go

Pidcock continues to lead with just 7 riders able to follow from the 23 that were with him at the bottom.

Van Wilder is dropped by the break along with Schmid.

Attack in break

Quinn Simmons (LTK)

Rubio and Costiou set off in chase as Pidcock leads Voisard and Yates.

Costiou and Rubio have been reeled back in by Pidcock, Voisard and Yates but Simmons still leads and by 14"!

Back in the peloton, Davide Piganzoli leads for Vingegaard. The gap remains the same, though. 3'03" gap.

Costiou is dropped by the Pidcock group as Simmons is close to cresting the climb.

Simmons goes over the top but he is about to get company as Pidcock and co are about to rejoin him.

Pidcock is first to get back onto Simmons' wheel before Voisard, Yates and Rubio also rejoin the US champion.

KOM (Le Salève - Col de la Croisette)

1. Simmons (LTK) 10pts
2. Pidcock (PQT) 8pts
3. Voisard (TUD) 6pts
4. Yates (UAX) 4pts
5. Rubio (MOV) 2pts
6. Costiou (GFC) 1pt

Pidcock is virtually back on the podium again but this will definitely change.

Right at the back of the race an error to correct, Van Asbroeck is with Tim Merlier and Pascal Eenkhoorn who are 15'49" down on the leaders.

Onto the Côte du Mont goes the break and, interestingly, Yates comes through to work with Pidcock. The climb is 2.1km at 8.3%.

Pogačar and Vingegaard both had very very early morning doping tests to contend with last night...

>>> 'Somebody knocked on my door at 2am' – Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard subjected to middle-of-the-night anti-doping tests at Tour de France

Jorgenson has started working in the peloton. Out front, Schmid and Costiou make it back in again.

Bernal dropped out of the back of the peloton after being in the break.

KOM (Côte du Mont)

1. Pidcock (PQT) 2pts
2. Simmons (LTK) 1pt

Pidcock goes clear on a little kicker after the summit but didn't look deliberate as Pidcock finally gets a bidon after asking for one about 10 minutes ago.

Matt Riccitello (DCT) gets a bike change.

Attack in break

Mauro Schmid (JAY)

He goes clear on the descent as the chase us on behind him.

Back in the peloton, Victor Campenaerts is back and immediately goes to work for Vingegaard. But this is really strange tactics yet again from Visma-Lease a Bike.

Bruno Armirail also caught by the peloton, so Visma now have good numbers.

Out front, Schmid has 6" on the chasers then 2'34" back to the Visma led peloton.

Merlier, Eenkhoorn and Van Asbroeck may be in trouble today. They are almost 21 minutes down on the leaders.

30km to go

Schmid continues to lead but has 10" on the chasers then 2'35" back to the peloton.

The peloton are closing this gap with Campenaerts and Armirail doing all the damage on the valley road before the final climb.

Schmid is riding full gas here and has dragged his gap to 18" to the Pidcock group.

Crash!

Jonas Vingegaard (TVL)
Sepp Kuss (TVL)
Isaac Del Toro (UAX)
Brandon McNulty (UAX)

All up again aside from Vingegaard who has stayed on the ground.

The peloton has completely sat up, giving a huge chance to the breakaway, but terrible news for the race as he seems in a lot of discomfort.

Abandon

Jonas Vingegaard (TVL)

He leaves the Tour de France 2026 after his team has ridden all day for. The peloton now lose all their push and the break has a big chance.

>>> Jonas Vingegaard crashes out of the Tour de France

Pogačar talking to his teammates and Visma riders for information as Piganzoli appeared to be angry with Del Toro.

Moments before the crash, Schmid very nearly went down in a crash and had to take dramatic evasive action with a bunny hop over the traffic island. A minute or so later and Vingegaard was down.

Schmid is still riding hard out front on his own but he is doomed once he gets onto the climb. He hold 19" on the Pidcock group and 2'47" to the peloton that are now led by Bahrain Victorious of Lenny Martinez.

Onto the final climb, the 11.3km Plateau de Solaison with an average of 9%.

Van Wilder, Vauquelin, A. Paret-Peintre and Baudin are about 30" in front of the peloton, they start the final climb as well and Vauquelin immediately sits up.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe takes up the pace setting in the peloton to limit the time to Pidcock and, ideally, even catch him.

10km to go

Schmid leads by 29" over Pidcock, Simmons, Voisard and Yates with Costiou and Rubio losing touch. The peloton at 2'18".

Yates looks to be struggling a bit as well in the break.

Aurelien Paret-Peintre is back in the peloton and is keen to help his leader, Seixas.

Mattia Cattaneo leads the peloton for Evenepoel and Lipowitz. They are now 2'01" behind Schmid who is about to be caught by Pidcock, Voisard, Simmons and Yates.

Attack in break

Quinn Simmons (LTK)

Schmid's time updates and is still out front but Simmons is about to join him. Pidcock still leads Voisard and Yates.

Simmons catches, passes and drops Schmid with 9km to go. He is on some climbing form for someone who is not a pure climber at all.

Pidcock, Voisard and Yates catch Schmid. They are at 15" from Simmons. 1'35" back to the peloton now.

Maxim Van Gils has finished his effort after Catteneo in the peloton handing over to Jai Hindley who sits in front of Lipowitz and Evenepoel.

Simmons seems inspired having his family at the race as his father waits for him on the final climb.

Yates comes through to the front of the chase shortly after Pogačar was on the radio.

Pogačar comes to the front and starts working for Del Toro as Hindley is dropped along with Carapaz, Skjelmose, Riccitello and Martinez.

Costiou caught by the GC group as Seixas, Lipowitz and Ayuso are all really struggling to follow Pogačar, Del Toro and Evenepoel.

Ayuso, Seixas and Lipowitz have all be distanced as they catch Schmid and Rubio.

Seixas and Ayuso are seeing the white jersey ride up the road as Del Toro is being dragged away by Pogačar. And Evenepoel is now looking excellent compared to teammate Lipowitz.

6km to go and Simmons has 24" on Pidcock, Yates and Voisard but Pogačar, Del Toro and Evenepoel are closing dramatically with Seixas, Ayuso and Lipowitz are losing a chunk of time here at about 30" from Pogačar and co.

Abandon

Tim Merlier has abandoned the race after being certain to miss the time cut.

5km to go

Simmons has 25" on Pogačar, Del Toro, Evenepoel and, now, Yates. 50" back to Seixas, Lipowitz and Ayuso with Pidcock and voisard somewhere in the gap.

Pidcock has been caught and dropped by Pogačar and co with him drifting back to Seixas' group.

This really could possibly be a UAE one-two-three on the stage.

Simmons caught by Yates, Pogačar, Del Toro and Evenepoel as Seixas, Lipowitz and Ayuso catch Pidcock and Voisard with the former trying to follow for now.

Yates goes pop and swings off so Pogačar retakes the lead. Del Toro on his wheel while Evenepoel still continues to follow.

Pidcock dropped by Seixas and Lipowitz as Voisard passes him and the also dropped Ayuso who now has Simmons there to support him.

Evenepoel muscles into second wheel to follow Pogačar as Del Toro looks to be suffering after his crash.

Voisard now dropped by Simmons and Ayuso who are 46" down on the leaders.

3km to go and Pogačar continues to lead with Evenepoel and Del Toro following. 30" back to Seixas and Lipowitz. Ayuso with his Simmons support at 57" then Pidcock at 1'12".

Pogačar constantly on the radio and he sits up forcing Evenepoel through. The yellow jersey is very keen to get Del Toro onto the podium and into the white jersey but he has the Olympic champion as a problem.

Pogačar back to the front but not his usual flat out superhuman effort as he works for Del Toro. The gap has grown to Seixas and Lipowitz at 43" with 1'11" to Ayuso and 1'36" to Pidcock.

Inside 2km to go now and Pogačar is winding up the pace.

Pidcock, meanwhile, has been caught and dropped by Martinez and Skjelmose.

Flamme Rouge

Pogačar leads the way with Evenepoel in 2nd wheel and Del Toro swinging in his usual style at the back in 3rd wheel. 41" to Seixas and Lipowitz with 1'19" to Ayuso and 1'38" to Martinez and Skjelmose.

Attack

Isaac Del Toro (UAX)

Evenepoel can follow with, of course, Pogačar sat waiting and watching. Nothing comes of it and Evenepoel may start to worry UAE. I imagine Pogačar will go clear soon.

500 metres to go on stage 15.

Del Toro tries again but Evenepoel is right with him. Pogačar coming through as well with 250 metres to go. It will be a sprint!

Remco Evenepoel WINS stage 15 of the Tour de France 2026!!

Seixas and Lipowitz cross the line at 58" and the 19-year-old Frenchman loses white to Del Toro.

Skjelmose comes back to Ayuso and works with him but the Dane has to follow Martinez with Ayuso left to limp across the line. over 2 mins down.

Stage 15 top 10

1. Evenepoel (RBH) 4:23'09"
2. Pogačar (UAX) S.T.
3. Del Toro (UAX) +6"
4. Seixas (DCT) +58"
5. Lipowitz (RBH) S.T.
6. Martinez (TBV) +1'57"
7. Skjelmose (LTK) S.T.
8. Ayuso (LTK) +2'00"
9. Yates (UAX) S.T.
10. Simmons (LTK) +2'16"

GC

1. Pogačar (UAX) 55:41'31"
2. Evenepoel (RBH) +5'00"
3. Del Toro (UAX) +5'58"

Make sure to red our post race report from what was a crazy day in the saddle for the riders. Vingegaard crashing out, Pogačar riding for Del Toro and seemingly refusing to win after his old rival left the race, and Evenepoel seizing the perfect opportunity to win his first road stage at the Tour. Not to mention yet more breakaway heroics from Pidcock and Simmons...

>>> Tour de France: Remco Evenepoel outwits Tadej Pogačar to win stage 15 as Jonas Vingegaard crashes out

A very special, emotional and long-awaited road race win at the Tour doe Evenepoel who is, understandably, over the moon with the result today...

Tadej Pogačar was in control of the day from the off but didn't take the win despite looking like he could've done so with ease. He just followed Evenepoel's wheel to the line, losing just the 4" in bonuses.

Pogačar also extends his KOM lead to 22 points over Valentin Paret-Peintre.

Isaac Del Toro takes white from Paul Seixas by just 25" with Juan Ayuso slipping to 1'30" and Lenny Martinez at 4'30".

As we wait for the green jersey presentation with Mads Pedersen, here is is Lidl-Trek teammate Quinn Simmons taking the most combative rider prize from the day, as voted for by the public online.

And here is Mads Pedersen after the green jersey crossed the line in 141st at 35'50" down on Evenepoel with his teammates Mathias Vacek and Toms Skujiņš alongside him.

That brings out live updates of stage 15 at the Tour de France, as well as the second week, to a close. Thank for following along. Make sure to keep Cyclingnews open for all the latest news, analysis, interviews and more across this evening and for the rest of the season and beyond. But for now, au revoir!

Now riding his second edition at the Tour de France, the sport's biggest race has not been kind to Lennert Van Eetvelt.

The talented Lotto-Intermarché rider made his debut at the Tour last year but was forced to abandon after stage 14, a back injury not only ending his race but his season, as he struggled to recover. Now, in 2026 he has made it to the same point in the race, but is riding with a broken rib after a crash on stage 10, won by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

A talented climber, it had all started so well for the 25 year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Friday. Though the team finished well down in the opening day team time trial, he managed 11th place on the first road stage between Tarragona and Barcelona, then sixth the following day to Les Angles.

He's also been up the road in two breakaways, including Saturday's stage 14 to Le Markstein, another stage won by Pogačar, when he was part of the initial 38-man group. A feat on its own when suffering with a rib injury.

Now, however, the Tour is all about survival for Van Eetvelt, with his Lotto-Intermarché squad already down two riders with the departure of Arnaud De Lie and Jenno Berckmoes.

"There are moments when I feel better, but generally speaking, the Tour is hard enough when you’re completely healthy. For me, it’s just about reaching Paris now," Van Eetvelt told reporters at the stage 14 finish reported Wielerflits.

"I feel better on the bike than at night. I get stabbing pains, especially when I go all-out and have to take deep breaths. Yesterday, I cursed a lot because we were riding so fast. We averaged around 55 km/h for the first two hours.

"The fact that I can still keep up shows I’m doing okay, but I’m not at 100%, and you need to be in the Tour."

Van Eetvelt, is rumoured to be on the move away from his Belgian squad at the end of the season, and should be putting in his best performances at this part of the Tour, if it weren't for his injury.

A winner of the UAE Tour in 2024 after winning the Jebel Hafeet stage, he is best in the mountains, though it seems as though he will need to wait until next year to taste success at the Tour, though provided he starts Sunday's stage 15, at least he has survived longer than last season.

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

With lactate proving an attention-grabbing new theme in the sports nutrition sphere, UAE Team Emirates have confirmed they are using a new exogenous lactate product at the Tour de France, and explained how they are doing so.

Lactate has become a nutritional talking point in recent weeks with a number of products supposedly able to channel what was once seen as a waste product of the body into a new fuel source.

Some come in the form of gel sachets, like the ones common among cyclists seeking a sugary carbohydrate hit, but UAE Team Emirates-XRG are using a slightly different product that has just been unveiled by their nutrition supplier, Enervit.

Named the C2:1PRO Lactate Gel Mix, Enervit’s product is a drink mix, meaning it’s mixed with water and consumed from a bottle. It contains 10g of sodium lactate, mixed with 90g of carbohydrate in a 2:1 glucose-to-fructose ratio, and some vitamin B1.

Amid confusion over who is actually using lactate products, Enervit made their revelation on Friday morning, and on Saturday morning the UAE Team Emirates-XRG nutritionist Gorka Prieto-Bellver spoke to Cyclingnews about their use of the new gel mix.

“We have been working with Enervit for two or three years now, just to try to develop the best product possible,” he said.

“The lactate you can use like an extra fuel, because it’s absorbed in a different way in the gut, it’s absorbed faster than glucose, so that’s why it’s an interesting fuel to give the riders extra energy.”

Prieto-Bellver explained that the team are not using it as a routine part of their nutritional regime, but instead saving it for selected days. After using it on the opening day’s team time trial, they used it again for the first time since then on Saturday’s mountainous stage 14.

“We’re using it when it’s needed, not always,” Prieto-Bellver said.

“It’s not for all the stages but for stages where the energy expenditure is quite high.”

It is somewhat unusual that the team are only using the product selectively. There have been other mountainous energy-intensive stages where they haven’t used it, for example.

“It’s not something new, but we still need to do more research, to know how is the impact on performance,” Prieto-Bellver said.

That would indicate the team are still testing the waters, and the biggest bike race in the world might seem like a risky place to do that. The team underline the fact they’ve been helping to develop the product for years now and are familiar with it, but it’s clearly still in something of a trial phase.

“It’s something we have to try otherwise we do not know, so that’s why we are using it,” said Prieto-Bellver.

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

2025 UCI MTB World Series winner Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) reclaimed the elite men’s cross-country Olympic (XCO) national title at the USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike Nationals in Roanoke on Saturday, while Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing) took her third elite women's XCO title.

It was a second title of the week for Blunk, adding to the cross-country short track crown she secured on Thursday. She crossed the line in Roanoke comfortably ahead of Gwendalyn Gibson (Trek-Unbroken) and Crystal Anthony (Flow Formulas/Kenda/The Black Bibs).

In the race, which ran over four laps of the main course with a prologue, Blunk and Gibson were together through the opener but as soon as the main laps were underway Blunk carved out a gap of 50 seconds and then built that to the end.

“This concludes a five-week back-to-back block of racing,” said Blunk. “I was in Europe for two months, then came straight here. It was a big push to race here on Thursday and today, but it means so much to race in front of a home crowd; it makes it so worth it.

"I’m ready for some rest now, but really proud to wear the jersey in short track and cross-country for the next year.”

In the elite men's race Blevins, who last won the title in 2023, crossed the line ahead of short track title winner Bjorn Riley (Scott-SRAM MTB) while Riley Amos (Trek-Unbroken) claimed third, stepping up one spot from the short track.

It was a tighter battle at the start of the men's race, with eight riders heading out of the prologue and into the first of five main laps, but then defending champion Riley and Blevins quickly got away. Blevins didn't wait long to make his move, delivering an attack that stuck in the second lap.

Once away, Blevins maintained control, building his advantage and riding solo to the line.

“It was a super hard race, I knew I would have to go super deep to beat Bjorn [Riley] and Riley [Amos], who are two of the top ten riders in the World Cup field, along with myself last weekend in Andorra.” said Blevins.

“I think the level of U.S. Men’s mountain biking is just going to skyrocket these next two years up until the LA Olympics, with the Durango World Champs after that. So, I’m just really excited to be finding my form at this point after an injury earlier this season.”

Riley comfortably held firm for second while Amos broke away from Ivan Sippy (Team Segment 28 p/b Baird) on lap four to secure the podium spot.

Dan English (Trinity Racing) and Greta Kilburn (Bicycle Express Racing) won the U23 titles, while in the Junior 17-18 category Scout Wellmeier (Bear National Team) and Noah Scholnick (Bear National Team) claimed the victories.

It says a lot about the scale of Tadej Pogačar's superiority in this year's Tour de France than just seconds after praising key rival Jonas Vingegaard's performance in the mountains, he then added that the Danish star is not, in his opinion, as strong as he has been in previous years.

For Pogačar, you could easily say that stage 14 was a 'business as usual' victory. When the Slovenian charged away alone on the upper slopes of the brutally difficult Col du Haag, only one result was really possible: yet another triumph - this one the 25th stage of his career and fourth in exactly a fortnight of racing in this year's Tour, and an even greater advantage overall. With 4:30 on Vingegaard, barring absolute disaster in the seven days of racing that remain, a fifth outright Tour victory is clearly Pogačar's for the asking.

Yet before and after that trademark devastating attack, it was also noticeable that Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) seemed much more comfortable than he had done up to now on perhaps any other ascent of the Tour. Prior to the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider going clear, the Dane piled on the pressure to the point where he could put Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), his closest rival overall, up against the ropes.

Then afterwards, for nearly all of a climb with multiple changes of pace and gradient, Vingegaard steadily remained Slovenian's closest pursuer, only struggling slightly at the summit to let Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) close in.

Yet for all Pogačar was impressed by Vingegaard, he still argued that compared their duels of other Tours - and these now stretch back all the way to 2021, the first year Vingegaard finished on the Tour podium - in 2026, he believes the Dane is not quite at the same level that he has been.

"If my power meter is correct when he was pulling he did an amazing performance on the front," Pogačar said in his post-stage press conference. "But I think honestly he is missing a little bit compared to the last few Tours."

"In the bigger mountains maybe he'll get this extra boost and he'll drop me there, you never know. But here I think he is missing a little bit, a bit of grinta."

"It's a small percent and he's there with me, so I would not count him out for the coming days. Tomorrow [to Plateau de Salaison] is a good climb for him and both stages on Alpe d'Huez are good for him, too."

It remains to be seen, as Pogacar says, if Vingegaard will gain renewed force when the race hits the Alps on Sunday. But even before Saturday's latest stunning climbing display, there can be no doubt, either, that if Pogačar is in a position to go on winning stages, too, both this Sunday and next weekend and everything in between, then he will do so. For the Slovenian star, the idea of simply racing conservatively and ensuring that the yellow jersey has the safest passage possible all the way to Paris, as conventional race strategy would recommend, just doesn't seem to come into it.

The reasons behind this are seemingly multiple. For one thing, UAE Team Emirates-XRG head sports director Joxean Fernández Matxin told Cyclingnews earlier in the race that "We don't race defensively." And there's no doubt Pogačar is applying that particular in-house policy with ruthless efficiency, time and again.

Equally importantly, Pogačar is also aware that at bottom line, cycling is far more unpredictable than his relentless run of stage wins and crushing advantage overall makes it appear. In fact, as he knows only too well, and as he pointed out in his press conference, it's a sport where everything can turn on a dime.

As he told one reporter who asked him why he continued to try to win as much as possible, "If you remember, put an example for myself, in 2023, l lost two minutes on time trial and next day eight minutes, think quite obvious that anything can change in one day."

Then there's another reason, of course, which is simply - that if Pogacar can win, he will, because he feels he owes it both to himself and to his team's efforts to put him in a position where he can triumph.

"It was a really strong fight and I couldn't waste my legs," he explained, "I wanted to finish off the good work by the team." Then on top of that, with tens of thousands of fans lining the route through the Vosges, he wanted to pay a kind of homage to the spectators, "because it was one of the craziest finishes of my career."

The idea that Pogačar is having more fun in this year's Tour than in previous editions has gained a lot of ground recently, particularly as he did not seem to be in a good mood at all in the final week of the 2025 race, while this year, one reporter said, he'd actually looked like he was smiling on the ascent of the Col du Haag.

The Slovenian pushed back against that impression, explaining that his 'smiley face' was actually the one he put on when he was making a major effort, as he had been when he attacked. But at the same time, he recognised, compared to last year when in the third week he had a bad knee pain, he was "maybe a bit grumpy in the media zone." But in comparison, "morale is good this year, and [overall] it was good last year also."

He also pointed out that having had two days, Friday over the Ballon d'Alsace and the stage before that, where he hadn't felt so great, Saturday had represented a good opportunity to boost his morale levels again - and there was no denying he'd seized it with both hands.

"I think I can say for now I'm more confident, I must admit that yesterday and two days ago when Trek were going all out, I was thinking, shit this is so hard, I feel so shit, hope I feel a bit better.

"These kinds of days, you have to get through. Today in the morning, spoke to Urska [Zigart, partner] she gave me a morale boost for today, so I was feeling great. And after today, this Tour has been amazing for me.

"For tomorrow, I'm confident, then it's the time trial, [on Tuesday] I need to treat it as a one-day race, and do the best I can do, because I have put a lot of effort into the time trial.

"Then we'll see for Alpe d'Huez what is left in the tank. It's going to be hard next week, but we can go into it feeling confident."

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

Nienke Veenhoven (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprinted to her second stage victory on stage 3b at the Baloise Ladies Tour. The Dutch sprinter used the slipstream of race leader Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) to launch her sprint in the Grote Markt in Maaseik.

Gladys Verhulst-Wild (AG Insurance-Soudal) edged out Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM) to take second in a tight duel.

Bäckstedt crossed the line safely in tenth place and retained her overall lead with 23 seconds on Australian time trial champion Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek). Stage 2 winner Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) sits in third, at 30 seconds.

“We all started the second stage of the day with a lot of motivation. As a team, we were always well positioned at the key points; we really did that very well," Veenhoven said.

"The communication was once again excellent today, and everyone started with the same plan in mind. It was really great to see and gave me extra motivation to go for it again."

Taking place in Limburg, the first time the race had visited the region, stage 3b was the second of two stages held on Saturday, following the morning's time trial, which Bäckstedt won.

Over the flat roads of the four-lap 104.8km race, a fairly disorganised peloton stayed mostly together.

The final 45 kilometres saw a handful of attacks, with Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek) and Wilson-Haffenden each trying separately to break away, but Bäckstedt was quick to react and close down the moves each time.

Racing concludes on Sunday with stage 4, a 114km circuit around Mechelen, and another flat stage perfect for a bunch sprint.

“I think tomorrow will be another sprint, but there will undoubtedly be some hard racing,” Veenhoven looked ahead. “It’s the final day, so there will certainly be riders who still want to try something to move up in the general classification. We’ll have to stay sharp as a team throughout the day.”

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Tadej Pogačar won stage 14 of the Tour de France on Saturday with another searing attack on the road to Le Markstein. The victory is the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider’s fourth stage win of the race so far, and further extends his overall lead to 4.30.

Wearing the yellow jersey, Pogačar attacked on the brutal slopes of the Col du Haag, 7.2km from the finish line, distancing a group of favourites and building a lead of 24 seconds before reaching the final flatter 6km.

Behind him, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) joined forces with home favourite Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM), though Pogačar’s teammate, Isaac Del Toro, sat on their wheel, eventually taking second place, while the young Frenchman was third.

The win further cemented Pogačar’s grip on the yellow jersey, which has extended to 4.30 over Vingegaard, with Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) rallying to retain third place, 5.04 down.

Pogačar’s team was active throughout the race, monitoring their deficit to what was, at first, a huge breakaway group, which once again contained Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) who for a while assumed virtual second place overall. However, with a smaller group escaping on the first climb, UAE gradually brought Pidcock’s group back.

The smaller group lasted onto the last of four classified climbs, the Col du Hag, but was unable to resist the pressure UAE were exerting behind them. They splintered before the final climb, with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) the last to be caught.

“Today I must say thanks to all the fans that came to the side of the road because it was really something unforgettable I think, to see all the crowds on the hills on the top of the mountain, it’s just, I’ve never seen something like this, so thanks to all and I think all the cyclists, all the riders have such a massive respect towards each other and I think we all put on a great show and it’s nice to see this kind of racing,” Pogačar said post-stage.

While many expected the race leader to attack on the final climb, it was a bit surprising to see the move come so late in the climb. It had to do with his teammate Del Toro, who was dropped on the lower slopes.

“I know Isaac is not maybe at 100% as him, so I was waiting for the last two kilometres to see if there’s going to be any movement, but actually Decathlon and then Jonas made it a really hard pace on the climb and there was one by one guys dropping and I felt good, so I said I would try the last two kilometres. I know it well and also so much crowd that is gives you additional boost to go to the top. I gave it a go today, I have good feeling so I grabbed it and took the opportunity.”

How it unfolded

One of the big mountain tests of the entire Tour, the 155.3km stage 14 rolled out of Mulhouse, tackling four classified climbs and 3,900m of vertical ascent before the finish at Le Markstein, in the Vosges Mountains.

Rolling out in a torrential downpour, then suddenly into sunshine, the race stayed together for the opening kilometres, Alpecin-Premier Tech taking control ahead of the day’s intermediate sprint. Sure enough, with his team leading him out, Jasper Philipsen took maximum points, chipping away at Mads Pedersen’s lead in the green jersey competition, the Lidl-Trek rider finishing second.

With the sprint done and the ascent of Le Grand Ballon looming, the attacks started, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) making the first move. He was soon joined by teammate Ben Healey as, for the second stage running, a large breakaway formed. This time it contained 38 riders and, as on stage 13, included Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5).

After Friday’s breakaway exploits, Pidcock had started the day fourth overall, just nine seconds from the podium, and his presence up the road ensured the peloton allowed them too much space. With the gap around 1.30, UAE Team Emirates-XRG took control, Nils Pollit leading the way.

However, just ahead of a downhill half way up the climb, Healey and Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) attacked the break, gaining a small advantage before being caught again.

Other than Carapaz and Healey, EF Education-EasyPost had Alex Baudin and Georg Steinhauser in the break, and with their eyes on the stage win, they set to work trying to extend the breakaway’s advantage.

Over the top, Carapaz made another move, taking Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) with him, the pair managing to gap the rest of the break on the descent before being joined by Healey and the Halland Johannessen brothers, Tobias and Anders (UNO-X Mobility). They quickly built a lead of 30 seconds over a chasing group of Castrillo, his Movistar teammate Einer Rubio and Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos).

By this time Pidcock had moved from fourth overall into a virtual second place, pushing Jonas Vingegaard down a spot, but despite this three of his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates in the British rider’s group kept working, maintaining the advantage over the peloton, even though they had dropped to more than one minute behind the leaders.

The second category Col du Page came next, the leading group hitting it with 93km to go, their lead over the chasing group unchanged. A puncture saw Arensman dropped, while Rubio reached the leaders, cresting the climb with Pidcock’s group 1.50 behind and the peloton at 3.20.

The Col du Haag was making its debut in the Tour de France and set a brutal test, the 11.2km ascent averaging 7.2%, the gradient of the final kilometre ramping into double digits, before the almost flat closing 6km. At the front, with his brother dropped, and their advantage plummeting, Tobias Halland Johannessen managed to a follow a move from Carapaz, though the Ecuadorian was soon alone at the front.

In the favourites’ group, Decathlon-CMA CGM fought for the lead as the race hit the bottom of the climb, persisting with their effort and soon leaving Pogačar with only Isaac Del Toro in support. Then, with Pidcock dropped from the favourites’ group, Vingegaard sent teammate Sep Kuss to work on the front.

Despite this, Carapaz’s lead stubbornly remained more than 50 seconds until Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked with 11km to go. This drew out Vingegaard, the Dane’s pressure putting Lipowitz’s teammate, Remco Evenepoel, in trouble and bringing both Halland Johannessen and Carapaz to heel.

Just moments later, Pogačar attacked through a sea of fans, quickly gaining a gap and shattering the chasers, though on the run in, Evenepoel, Lipowitz and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) teamed up for the final run to the line.

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Zoe Bäckstedt took her second time trial victory of the week on Saturday, the Canyon-SRAM rider winning stage 3a of the Baloise Ladies Tour. The British rider's win came on the back of her win in Wednesday's prologue, and propels her back into the overall lead.

Starting as the penultimate rider off the ramp, Bäckstedt covered the pan-flat 8.4km course in 10.08, 13 seconds faster than Australian champion Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek), with Lotte Kopecky a further seven seconds down in third.

After winning stage 2 on Friday, Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) started the day in first place overall, but was unable to defend that position, finishing the stage in ninth, 35 seconds down, and slipping to third overall.

Stage 3a took place in Maaseik, in Belgium's far east, and was the first of two stages on Saturday, with a 104.8km road race coming later in the day. With a 23-second general classification lead over Wilson-Haffenden, Bäckstedt is well-placed to defend the jersey.

Of the early starters, Slovakian champion Viktória Chladanoňová (Visma-Lease a Bike) set the early benchmark, stopping the clock in 10.44. AG Insurance-Soudal's 20-year-old German, Messane Bräutigam, who usually rides with the Belgian squad's Development team, pushed her very close, stopping the clock just .8 of a second slower, but Chladanoňová's time stood the test of time.

However, it was Australian powerhouse Lauretta Hanson who toppled her, the Lidl-Trek rider taking almost seven seconds out of her. However, Hanson was put in her place, first by Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime), then by her compatriot and teammate, Felicity Wilson-Haffenden.

Stage 3A Results

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Race Results

2026 Tour de France stage 14 - results

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Hello and welcome to stage 14 of the Tour de France!

We’re in the Vosges today, for what will be one of the biggest climbing tests at this Tour so far, culminating in the category one climb of Le Markstein. They’ve had a quiet few days, but the GC riders all come to the forefront today.

Tour de France 2026 stage 14 preview - Maiden ascent of the Col du Haag as the fourth categorised climb on Saturday expected to propel GC action

There are four mountains today, including three with a rating of category one, all amounting to a total elevation gain of 3,800m. Whereas yesterday’s stage was a mostly flat day ending with one tough climb at the finish, today is a sustained test of climbing, and will therefore suit both the GC riders and the climbing specialists.

The riders have just started the neutralised zone. It's a long one today, lasting 12.5km, so plenty of time to warm up.

They will need warming up, too. Although the first climb does not come until over 10km into the stage, this is a day where many will want to get into the break, and so the action will likely be hectic right from the flag.

Who will take inspiration from Mauro Schmid and Jayco-AlUla’s success yesterday? They demonstrated the effectiveness of having multiple riders in the breakaway, as they worked together to help Schmid come out on top. There will be multiple teams and raiders hoping for a repeat of that and doing everything they can to get their men in the day’s break.

'We've been waiting for this' - Jayco-AlUla celebrate major collective effort at Tour de France to propel Mauro Schmid to breakaway stage victory

There is one DNS to report today - Alpecin's Ramses Debruyne, who became ill last night.

The riders at the start. We're preparing for yet another instalment of the rivalry between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. Can the latter at last manage to land a blow, having been gotten the better of for such a long time?

It's a very uncomfortable start for the riders, who are currently being subjected to hailstones! As much as they must have been longing for an easement to the heat at this year's Tour, this goes beyond refreshing and looks nasty. Just 1.5km until the start, and the riders can warm themselves up by starting to race.

OFFICIAL START

And they're off! But there are no attacks just yet. It could be that they're holding fire until after the day's intermediate sprint, which comes just 12km into the stage.

Mercifully for the riders, the rain has stopped and they’re greeted by sunshine again.

Alpecin-Premier Tech are leading the peloton, controlling it for the upcoming intermediate sprint. They still have designs on the green jersey with Jasper Philipsen; here are the current rankings in that classification.

1 Pedersen 377

2 Philipsen 336

3 Girmay 333

4 Merlier 307

5 Kanter 239

Still Alpecin control the peloton, with no attacks being attempted from the peloton. They're all waiting for after the intermediate sprint, which is coming up in just 3km.

INTERMEDIATE SPRINT

Philipsen takes the sprint, ahead of Pedersen, Kanter and Girmay. Girmay had a lead-out man control the sprint, but Girmay looked very tired and lost ground in the finale. Here’s what the rankings look like now:

1 Pedersen 397

2 Philipsen 361

3 Girmay 347

4 Merlier 307

5 Kanter 255

The riders are on the first climb of the day, the category one Grand Ballon. It’s a very long one, going on for 21.6km, and though it's steeper than its average gradient of 4.8% suggests - that number is skewed by a brief downhill halfway up.

EF are riding the climb with intent, first Healy and then Carapaz upping the pace at the front.

A large breakaway group has a gap on the peloton, where UAE are riding tempo. Armirail, Rubio, Carapaz and Paret-Peintre are right towards the front of the group, and among the riders trying to thin it out.

15km from the top of the climb, and this large group of about 25 riders is one minute ahead of the peloton. It's full out quality climbers who will have designs on either the stage win, the king of the mountains, or both - Carapaz, Bernal, Arensman, Tiberi, Simmons, Hirschi, Healy, Van Eetvelt, Cattaneo, Rubio, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Jorgenson, Valentin Paret-Peintre.

More significantly of all though, Tom Pidcock is here! There’s no way the GC teams can allow him up the road again now he’s as high as fourth overall.

There’s been talk throughout this Tour of whether Pidcock should ride smartly for GC, or more aggressively and target stage wins. In these past few days, he seems to have found a way to do both simultaneously!

Despite identifying him as a danger after his leap up the GC rankings yesterday, UAE aren’t panicking at his presence in the break, and continue setting a steady tempo to keep his group at 1:15.

'He's becoming a bit dangerous' - Tadej Pogačar's team feeling the heat after Tom Pidcock's Tour de France stage 13 raid

Healy and Castrillo have clipped off the front of the breakaway group, as they take on the brief downhill halfway up the Grand Ballon. They're 10 seconds ahead of the Pidcock group, which includes over 30 riders, while the peloton continue not to panic at 1:30.

Healy and Castrillo still lead by 10 seconds, as they come to within 5km from the top. It will be interesting to see who goes for the KOM points at the top - there are points available for each of the first five riders over the top, and with no single rider having stamped their authority on that classification yet, there's a chance for someone to do so today. Here are the current rankings:

1 Pogačar 42

2 Vingegaard 27

3 Carapaz 19

4 Pidcock 18

5 Valentin Paret-Peintre 18

Healy and Castrillo are back in the Pidcock group, which is now being pulled by Steinhauser, his 3 EF teammates, Healy, Carapaz and Baudin, all on his wheel. Just 3km more to climb until they finally reach the summit.

120KM TO GO

Steinhauser continues to lead the break, as they come to within 1.5km from the top. The peloton is 1:15 behind, with UAE setting tempo. The group remains all together - who will sprint for the KOM points?

KOM - GRAND BALLON

EF attempted to lead out Carapaz for the KOM points at the top with first Steinhauser and then Healy, but Paret-Peintre stole a march on him and beat him in the sprint. That pair have now pressed on down this descent and lead by a few seconds.

Here's what the KOM rankings look like now:

1 Pogačar 42

2 Paret-Peintre 28

3 Carapaz 27

4 Vingegaard 27

5 Pidcock 18

Carapaz and Paret-Peintre have been joined by Healy and the Johnannessen brothers on the descent, and have pulled out a lead of 25 seconds over the Pidcock group. Meanwhile the peloton is at 1:25.

The leading five are pulling away from the rest on the descent. A chase group of three containing Arensman, Rubio and Castrillo are 30 seconds behind, but the Pidcock group is now at 1:15, and not working well together.

100KM TO GO

The impetus has gone out of the Pidcock group. It's now 1:15 down on the leaders, and only 40 or so seconds ahead of the peloton.

Visma-Lease a Bike are in a bit of a dilemma here. They’ve succeeded in getting a few of their riders (Jorgenson, Armirail and Campenaerts) up the road and in the break. But should they work at the front, given that they also have GC rival Pidcock in the group with them? The more attacking move would be to ride on and put UAE under pressure, but at present he is having to fight more to fend off those behind on GC than the one man ahead of him.

'Vingegaard has to fight more to stay second than he does to win' – Brian Holm sees tough battle ahead for Dane to maintain best of the rest status in Tour de France

The riders are climbing again, up the category two Col du Page. Still UAE lead the peloton, and they're keeping the Pidcock group very much in check, at just 40 seconds. The leading quintet is working well together though, and have grown their lead over the peloton to two minutes.

90KM TO GO

Arensman has had to stop for a mechanical. The Dutch rider is therefore having to go hard to try to chase back up to Rubio, who has struck out alone with his teammate Castrillo having run out of gas. His work was enough to get Rubio to within 25 seconds of the leading quintet.

Visma have decided to press on in the breakaway group, despite the presence of Pidcock in it. Campenaerts has dropped back into the peloton, but Jorgenson and Armirail are working at the front of the group and have built the advantage over the peloton up to 50 seconds.

Rubio has joined the five leaders at the front, but Arensman is further behind still chasing, at 20 seconds. They're now only 1km away from the summit - Carapaz and Paret-Peintre will surely sprint for the points, but will anyone else?

KOM - COL DU PAGE

It's a repeat of the last climb, with Paret-Peintre again out-sprinting Carapaz after Healy led them out. They crest the climb 40 seconds ahead of Arensman, while the Pidcock group is at 1:50 and the peloton (which is still being led by Politt) at 3:05. Here's what the KOM rankings look like now; this pair are closing in on Pogačar's lead

1 Pogačar 42

2 Paret-Peintre 33

3 Carapaz 30

4 Vingegaard 27

5 Pidcock 18

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The weather has taken another turn for the worse, and it’s started pouring down. Bad timing, too, as the heavens have opened as the riders are descending, making these roads especially sketchy. They’re all taking it easily, and thankfully will be at the bottom quite soon, after which they’ll take on the third climb of the day - Ballon d’Alsace, which was also tackled yesterday.

Today’s stage is the second of three back-to-back tough climbing stages, which could prove decisive in the race for GC. Be sure to have a read of our more in-depth look at them.

'We will need to survive as well as possible' - Tour de France leader Tadej Pogačar hints at quiet start to tough trio of climbing stages in race

Problem for the EF riders in the break! Healy and Carapaz go wrong on the turn onto the Ballon d’Alsace, and are held up. They’ve managed to bridge back up to the other four in the break, but given how this might go down to the wire in terms of survival for the stage win, they can’t afford mishaps like that. As things stand, they remain one minute up on Arensman, two minutes up on the Pidcock group, and 3:15 up on the peloton.

It's been a relatively straightforward day in the peloton so far for Tadej Pogačar, who remains safely in the peloton. He's under some pressure with Pidcock up the road, but his team have things firmly in control, keeping his group at a minute.

Yesterday, he had a go at bottle fetching, and was full of praise for his teammates at the menial jobs like that which they do for him each day.

'It's a hard job, don't be fooled' – Tadej Pogačar turns bottle-fetcher as he gets a taste of his teammates' Tour de France workload

Arensman is back in the Pidcock group (pictured), that is still being pulled along by Visma-Lease a Bike. They remain a long way down from the 6 leaders at 1:45, but are still holding off the peloton, which are at 40 seconds.

The sextet at the front is just 1km from the top of the climb. If Paret-Peintre can once again win the sprint for the KOM points, he'll take over from Tadej Pogačar at the top of the virtual classification.

KOM - BALLON D'ALSACE

Paret-Peintre does indeed win the sprint, taking it from the front this time, and Carapaz made no real effort to come around him, settling for 2nd place. Here's the updated rankings:

1 Paret-Peintre 43

2 Pogačar 42

3 Carapaz 38

4 Vingegaard 27

5 Pidcock 18

UAE Team Emirates XRG went hard on the Ballon d'Alsace, and have the Pidcock group within their sights, the catch about to be made.

Their work is also dimming the break's chance of survival - they're now only two minutes ahead.

50KM TO GO

The Pidcock group has been caught, so these 6 riders are the only riders remaining in front of the peloton. They've still got a reasonable lead of two minutes, but you sense they will need more if they're to hold off the inevitable Tadej Pogačar charge on the final climb.

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Some riders have been dropped out of the peloton on the descent - including Lenny Martine, who is 10th on GC. His Bahrain team are leading the group to try to bring them back.

It was a tough day yesterday for Bahrain too, who worked for much of the day to try to neutralise Pidcock, but still saw their leader lose many minutes to him. If he can’t bridge up to this gap, he stands to lose yet more time.

'Everyone protects their own interests' - Bahrain Victorious spearhead pursuit of 57-rider Tour de France breakaway to keep Tom Pidcock at bay

Assisted by Netcompany Ineos, whose leader Bernal was also caught out in the split, Bahrain have helped bring Lenny Martinez back into the peloton. Panic over.

It's just as well they did, as UAE are still going at a fair lick at the front of the peloton. They've bought the 6 leaders to 1:50, as they're about to start an unclassified climb.

There’s a feeling of inevitability about a Pogačar attack on the final climb, but what of the race for the podium? It’s extremely close on GC at the moment, with only 1:02 between Evenepoel in third and Del Toro in eighth, while even Vingegaard a slender 30seconds ahead in second.

Paul Seixas is one of those riders in that cluster. He’s ridden a smart race so far, mature beyond his years - given the nature of the final climb, which really suits his strengths, today might be when he becomes more visible, and really starts to get the French excited.

'I told him we’ve got to tone it down a bit' – Luke Rowe explains why we're seeing a more cautious and conservative Paul Seixas at the Tour de France

Juan Ayuso is another of those riders in contention for the podium spots, who have so far looked pretty evenly-matched. His teammate Gee-West spoke to Cyclingnews about his prospects earlier.

'When he's good, we know how good he is' - Derek Gee-West backs teammate Juan Ayuso to make an impact in the GC battle on Tour de France mountain stages

30KM TO GO

Healy's shift is over, and he's been dropped out of the lead group. Uno-X Mobility take over with Anders Halland Johannessen working for his brother, but they're being closed down by the peloton, which are now just 1:30 behind. About 10km away from the foot of the final climb, that's very unlikely to be enough.

Having failed to win from the breakaway yesterday, UAE are reverting to their usual tactics today, controlling the break and setting Tadej Pogačar up for an assault on the stage.

If he can pull it off, it’ll be his fourth and the team’s fifth victory at this Tour de France.

‘Everyone wants to be in UAE Team Emirates-XRG, you can decide how the race happens’ – Tables turn at Tour de France as Wellens and McNulty become breakaway riders

20KM TO GO

The breakaway five are nearing the foot of Col du Haag, but with a lead of only 1:30. This is a proper climb, rising at 7.2% for 11.2km - enough for time gaps between the GC riders. Brace yourself for some action!

The break have started the Col du Haag. Anders Halland Johannessen is done, leaving just the four remaining riders in the break, with a lead of 1:20.

Decathlon have taken over from UAE at the front of the peloton on the lower slopes of the climb. The peloton is being thinned out already, and UAE's McNulty, who had been leading the peloton, is one of the men to be dropped. And Ayuso appears to be struggling towards the back...

At the front, Carapaz is on the attack in a last-ditch attempt to win the stage.

Benoot is finished for Decathlon, and another teammate takes over.

Pidcock is among the riders dropped! He stands to fall down the GC. Yates has also been dropped, so only Del Toro remains for Pog.

Carapaz has managed to go clear of Johannessen. He's still a minute ahead of the peloton, which is now being led by Visma-Lease a Bike's Kuss, who has taken over fro Decathlon's Prodhomme.

There are only 11 riders left in the peloton - Kuss, Vingegaard, Pog, Del Toro, Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Seixas, Ayuso, Skjelmose, Martinez and Voisard.

We have a first attack from the group of favourites - and it comes from Lipowitz! Seixas has gone with him, and they built a small gap, but Kuss has dragged the rest of the group back to them.

10KM TO GO

Vingegaard has taken over the pace-setting, and has just 6 left with him - Seixas, Lipowitz, Evenepoel, Ayuso, Del Toro and, of course, Pogacar. They're now only 35 seconds behind Carapaz.

Evenepoel has been dropped, but is riding at his own tempo, and not been too far distanced. There is a plateau after the summit of the climb, which could ba chance for him to make up ground again, as he has done previously at this Tour when he has been dropped.

Up ahead, Johannessen has had a second wind and re-joined Carapaz. But the pair of them are now only 20 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group.

The catch has been made. Vingegaard has dragged the 6-man group of favourites up to the two leaders. The stage will go to one of the GC riders - but which one? The anticipated Pogačar attacks has not (yet) materialised...

POGACAR ATTACKS

Here's the move, 1500m from the top! He has a gap, not as big as he usually opens, but its slowly getting bigger, ahead of the group in which Vingegaard continues to lead the pace.

Pog is growing his lead, he's 10 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, who has dropped the rest. Seixas is third on the road, a little ahead of Del Toro, Lipowitz and Ayuso.

KOM - COL DU HAAG

A grimacing Pogačar crests the climb 23 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, who has been joined by Seixas. Can that pair work together to bring him back?

Del Toro is just a few seconds behind them, followed by Lipowitz, Ayuso and Evenepoel, who has paced the climb excellently to join them.

Vingegaard and Seixas aren't making any inroads in Pogacar's lead, which has grown to 30 seconds. They've also been joined by Del Toro, who can get a free ride, citing his teammate up the road.

1KM TO GO

37 seconds for Pog as he goes under the flamme rouge. Victory in the yellow jersey looks set to be his once again.

POGACAR WINS

Win number four at this Tour for the great Tadej Pogačar, and number 125 in his career!

38 seconds later, Del Toro wins the sprint for second ahead of Seixas and Vingegaard, while Evenepoel, Lipowitz and Ayuso arrive in a group just a handful of seconds later.

Mads Pedersen defends the green jersey, Pogačar the yellow jersey and, despite giving it away to Paret-Peintre after the earlier climbs, Pogačar also defends the polka-dot jersey.

But there has been one change in the jerseys, as Paul Seixas takes the white jersey from Juan Ayuso. Far from tiring during what is his first ever Grand Tour, the teenager appears to be getting stronger, and managed to crest the final climb with Vingegaard before ultimately placing third on the stage. He also moves up to fourth overall - debut podium finish is turning into a very real prospect, a third place that would feel much more like a triumph than the one their going for later tonight at the football world cup.

The biggest change on the GC sees Tom Pidcock slide back down, from fourth to ninth after he finished 3:34 down today. It was unclear how he would go after catapulting his way up yesterday, but today seems to confirm that he doesn’t have the legs to ride for the podium. A stage win remains on the cards though - look out for him to try and get into the break for a third successive stage tomorrow.

Thanks for joining us today, as Tadej Pogačar won his fourth stage of the 2026 Tour, and increased his lead in the overall classification.

Could he add a fifth tomorrow, bringing him just one short of his career-best tally from 2024? Quite possible given the nature of the final climb, which is an hors category averaging over 9%. But that would require his UAE team doing lots of work all day again, and, with defeating him mano y mano seemingly impossible, there will be many teams and riders desperate to get into the break, aware that’s their only chance of winning a stage. The race to try and win the stage promises to be an exciting one, so be sure to tune in again to our Live coverage!

Bjorn Riley (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing) and Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing) successfully defended their elite titles on Thursday in the cross-country short track races at the USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike Nationals.

The elite men's XCC race came down to a pair of head-to-head sprints to decide the medals, with Riley using an extra kick on the finish straight to dispatch last year's UCI World Cup champion Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing). The battle for the bronze medal also came down to the wire, Ivan Sippy (Team Segment 28 p/b Baird), the reigning 2025 Collegiate Mountain Bike XCO and XCC Varsity national champion, edging out Riley Amos (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing) at the line.

Last year Riley needed a final surge of speed to outduel Amos for his first XCC national championship.

"I just went back-to-back in the XCC, battling Riley and Chris," Riley told USA Cycling at the finish. "It was hot, it was wild, really happy to be able to back it all up.

"I will say, for Nationals, this crowd is massive. This course is super fun, it’s super flowy, every single corner is super loose, so you really have to be on your game. But maybe that’s what makes it fun, you really have to be fully locked in and there’s no time where you can zone out."

Riley made his move with two laps remaining in the 11-lap circuit at Elmwood Park in downtown Roanoke, Virginia. He opened a gap on Blevins, who fought back for the bell lap showdown.

Blevins, who had been sidelined for more than two months because of a broken collarbone, suffered at the start of the World Cup campaign in South Korea. He proved he was back in form last weekend in Andorra where he finished third in the XCC race, which was won by Riley for his first World Cup race victory, and then backed it up with fourth in the XCO.

Blunk used an acceleration in the rock garden with five laps to go to nullify a dangerous move by Crystal Anthony (Flow Formulas/Kenda/The Black Bibs) and only Gwendalyn Gibson (Trek - Unbroken) was able to react and follow for the next circuit. Blunk used the final three laps to extend her lead, winning by 26 seconds over Gibson, who earned the silver medal. Anthony followed another 38 seconds later for bronze.

Twice a double national champion in XCC and XCO, Blunk now has seven national titles in mountain biking, her first wins in 2021 as an U23 rider. She is currently ranked fifth overall among UCI elite women in both the World Cup XCC and XCO standings.

"I kind of attacked in the middle of the race in the technical parts and just committed from there. We had four laps to go still, so it was a bit far out," she told USA Cycling after crossing the line solo.

"It was really nice to have my mechanic and my fiancée on course just telling me to commit one hundred percent. It’s a really nice welcome home after two months in Europe."

The men's U23 race came down to a photo finish, Nicholas Konecny (Lexware Mountain Bike Team) just clipping the finish line for the gold medal and leaving Dan English (Trinity Racing) in second place.

Greta Kilburn (Bicycle Express Racing) attacked on the final lap of the women's U23 contest to outdistance Bear National Team riders Alice Hoskins and Elisabeth Knight for the national title.

The cross-country Olympic races will be held on Saturday for elite riders, as well as junior 17-18 and under-23 divisions for men and women. Those races shift to Roanoke County's Explore Park.

Former rider and sports director Brian Holm has warned that his compatriot Jonas Vingegaard could be in major GC difficulties in this year's Tour de France if the Danish star cannot fend off the overall contenders currently snapping at his heels to move into second place.

Vingegaard is currently lying 3:36 back on race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) after stage 13, which was won by Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), and is just 30 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). A further seven riders are at less than three minutes back, spearheaded by Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) in fourth after his long breakaway on Friday while the last, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) in tenth, sits 2:58 down on Vingegaard.

While the Giro d'Italia winner seemingly cannot stem his time losses to Pogačar, rather than concerns about the Slovenian, Holm suggests, his biggest difficulty will be handling an increasingly fraught battle for the right to the runner-up spot and third.

On top of that, Holm told Cyclingnews, Visma-Lease a Bike is not as strong as it could be, with the lack of Simon Yates in the mountains a more than notable absence.

"After the Tourmalet I figured we'd know a bit more, everybody was expecting Pogačar to go and he did and I was hoping Jonas would follow him and sprint at the final. He'd lose maybe 20 seconds at most." Holm, now working for the Danish BT newspaper and Eurosport, said.

"The perfect scenario would be that he chased alone, and ok, that didn't happen. But if somebody loses 30 seconds on the downhill, you start to get nervous, you know what I mean?"

"Then when he lost those 30 seconds, I thought, wow, now it's going to be three minutes at the finish."

"It's ok to lose 10 or 15 seconds on the Tourmalet, but not 30. Then there was Le Lioran, another 30 seconds gone."

"If someone drops you on the uphill, ok, they're stronger. But if they drop you on the downhill, they're smarter."

With the differences between second and ninth overall still very small, and even a rider like Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) back in the GC game after his long-distance breakaway on stage 13, the situation is growing critical, Holm warned. The four-times Tour winner Pogačar may be out of reach, but Vingegaard's chances of taking a second place on the final podium for a fourth time are, he feels, increasingly precarious.

"Vingegaard is still the second best behind Pogačar, but not by far, so he probably has to fight more to stay second than he has to fight to win," Holm warns.

Quite apart from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's co-leaders of Evenepoel in third and Florian Lipowitz in seventh, "there's also the very strong duo of Lidl-Trek" [with Mattias Skjelmose and Juan Ayuso] "and probably Del Toro will recover too. If they all start attacking, he will have problems."

The team and the Giro d'Italia

As for Visma-Lease a Bike, Holm is concerned that what should be on paper a powerful Tour team is not firing on all cylinders. Yet at the same time, he insists that Vingegaard's decision to race and win the Giro d'Italia, rather than try to ensure he and his squad were stronger in the Tour was sound, because the prestige the Dane gained with that victory had far more value than anything he might have lost.

"No way was doing the Giro was a mistake. Last year we complained because he wasn't racing enough and even if he loses a little bit here as a result, for a Danish guy to win the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta is enormous. It is fantastic."

"I like the way Visma are riding as a collective, they are 110% for Vingo here – the whole team. However, look at [Matteo] Jorgenson, who didn't ride the Giro, but he's still not exactly flying here, In fact the whole team is looking a bit off-colour. Vingegaard was lacking a domestique to chase after Pogačar on stage 10, and Sepp Kuss isn't flying either."

"So Jonas was isolated in the final, and luckily Lidl-Trek were pulling because Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) had been dropped. If they had suddenly started attacking Jonas would have been in trouble. He had a bigger chance that day of being up the creek instead of winning."

This intensifies the focus on the current GC standings, where Holm feels the margin behind Pogačar is now all but too big to be crossed, even if Vingegaard does improve in the final week, as tends to be the case in the Tour.

"What does it matter if you're stronger if you're already four minutes back?" Holm asks rhetorically. "If it was a minute, and in second, it wouldn't matter so much."

"It's true UAE are losing a lot of energy, going for stage wins that aren't necessary. But for the moment, I'm not too optimistic. Now Visma are proud because they convinced Pogačar to sit at the back of the bunch like Vingegaard. It's probably easier for sprinters teams that they are there, but if I was second, or I had a rider that was second, I'd say 'now you go to the bloody front because you're second and Pog has more to lose than you do'. So if they can force him to stay in the top 20 in these finales..."

Holm pointed to Vingegaard's technical ability in tricky sprint finales, recalling how when in 2023 there was a very tricky stage at the start of the Tour at Nogaro, the Dane was placed exactly where he needed to be.

"He has to take more risks, that's part of the Tour, that's why people get burned out. Never underestimate what it costs to sit in the top 20 for the last five kilometre for a GC rider, it's so much pressure. But that's part of the game, and now they say let's sit back."

"It's like they have lost it a bit because they're thinking too much. For Pogačar, the Tour looks like it's a game, he's playing around and having fun with it. But for Vingegaard, it looks like it's just hard, hard work."

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

When Dutch rider Maike van der Duin first jumped into the professional peloton in 2023 as a 21-year-old she wasted no time in making her mark, taking to the podium at Women's WorldTour events from Ronde van Drenthe, Gent Wevelgem and RideLondon Classique during the opening months of her career.

It has, however, been far harder to find a place on those steps since. First an ankle injury and personal loss stymied her 2024 season, with her road race podium exploits limited to a third on stage 3 of Vuelta a Burgos, and things didn't get easier in 2025.

After a run of DNF's, last year's season ended in June with the rider having struggled with her health for some time. Later that year the road and track cyclist, who won bronze on the boards at the Paris Olympics, discovered the reason why, she had been grappling with systemic inflammation.

Still, by working back to fitness step-by-step, after nine months away from racing Van der Duin was able to rejoin the fray in 2026.

“I’ve already felt really good in the last months, and every week I’m getting a little better. I was on a kind-of training camp last week in Spain, and I’ve felt really good from that, but it’s also hasn’t been very often that I’ve gotten opportunities this year," said Van der Duin in a team statement.

That, however, changed on Friday on stage 2 of the Baloise Ladies Tour when teammate Zoe Bäckstedt, who was leading the race, launched from a stretched out bunch at 300m to go.

“To be fair, it was not really the plan and I was a bit boxed in, but Zoe went really early, I think to be out of the chaos," said Van der Duin. "Because she went so early, a gap opened and the speed was so high that I followed her in case she couldn’t hold on. I told her to continue and I also gave everything until the finish."

She eventually finished third and there was some disappointment initially at missing the win, which was taken by Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) who also moved ahead of Bäckstedt on GC, but it didn't take long till a different perspective filtered through.

"It worked out well in the end, but it’s a bit emotional because I’ve come from a really low point, so this is a nice reward for the last year," said Van der Duin. "I was thinking that I couldn’t do this sport anymore.”

Now, however, the 24-year-old has just captured her first road podium in 790 days, with the last being the 2024 podium spot at Vuelta a Burgos, and is part of a squad that is fighting for another overall victory at the Baloise Belgium Tour with Bäckstedt. The defending champion, who crossed the line in sixth on stage 2, is just five seconds back from Kool with an 8.3km time trial and 106km road stage ahead on Saturday, and then on Sunday it is a last 111.8km battle to decide the race.

In a race as big as the Tour de France, there are no such things as minor targets, and if TV viewers of stage 13 were surprised to see Bahrain Victorious engaged in a tenacious pursuit of the break of the day long after any chance of a victory was possible, there was always going to be a good reason.

The reason, as Bahrain confirmed to reporters after the stage, was none other than the presence of Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) in the break, previously tenth on GC, more than 11 minutes down on yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Pidcock was in no way a threat to the very top level of Tour contenders, then. But with their rider Lenny Martinez in ninth overall at 6:34, and therefore the most vulnerable to Pidcock, the team were not prepared to let the Briton gain so much time that he would be impossible to try to remove from the GC picture later on.

As things worked out, Pidcock finally gained 7:30 on the peloton, moving past Martinez and a host of other riders to end the day in fourth overall. He's now just 4:15 back, causing everybody in the top ten to drop down a spot - and, as sports director Enrico Gasparotto told reporters, that explained why other teams began to collaborate later in the chase, too.

"That was certainly why we did that, Pidcock was on the podium of a Grand Tour last year at the Vuelta and he's a very good rider, so we were not prepared to give him too much time, not to give him 12 or 13 minutes," Gasparotto said.

"In the end, that wouldn't have changed anything for UAE, obviously. But after we started chasing, then Red Bull and Lidl-Trek came and helped, more or less everyone came."

"In these kinds of situations, it's best to have a bit of an agreement and collaboration. If you do it that way, you probably benefit more than if everybody is doing their own thing."

The size of the break in itself was not concerning, Gasparotto said, even if Q36.5 had four riders in the move. When it came to the end of the stage, there would only be a few riders still out there. "But as ever in the Tour de France, everybody rides their own race and protects their own interests."

Overall, he said, even if Pidcock still was off the front for the finale and took third on the stage, the time gaps on GC remain more than manageable. It was, he confirmed, a case of mission accomplished.

"Definitely yes. In the end, everyone is within two and a half minutes [on GC]," he said. "That's exactly what we wanted."

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

Some 600 metres after the Tour de France stage 13 finish line at Belfort in a quiet, tree-lined boulevard, a small pack of reporters waited for the Jayco-AlUla riders to reach their team bus and begin the celebratory round of interviews after a memorable victory by teammate Mauro Schmid.

The Swiss rider outduelled XRG-Astana's Harold Tejada after the team put four riders in the massive breakaway that took formed long before the main challenge of the day, the category 1 Ballon d'Alsace. And all of them played a part in Schmid's victory.

Schmid underscored that team effort, telling reporters that given the squeeze on opportunities for breakaway victories in this year's Tour, "when the opportunities to succeed are less, then you have to go all in on those days.

"The whole team was on it today, everybody was keen to be in that breakaway and there in numbers. The guys had my back, and it was a huge team effort."

With four riders in the 57-rider breakaway, Jayco were one of the best-represented squads. Only Groupama-FDJ United and Q36.5-Pinarello had as many. But the team weren't simply holding on for dear life on another day run off at a blisteringly fast pace through the flatlands of eastern France and onto the Vosges. All four - Schmid, Luke Plapp, Ben O'Connor and Michael Matthews - were still there once the going got tough on the Ballon d'Alsace, where the group was reduced to less than a third of that original number.

O'Connor was able to keep the pace high at the front with Schmid on his wheel in the crucial middle third of the eight-kilometre climb. Then Plapp launched multiple attacks on the upper slopes and covered moves by key dangerman Tom Pidcock (Q36.5-Pinarello). That was before Schmid, also on the attack close to the summit, and Tejada got away with 11 kilometres to go on the sweeping descent. Meanwhile, Matthews - on paper the fastest in the front group - acted as a deterrent for counter-moves in a second chasing group a little further behind.

"It was brutal from the start," Michael Matthews, the first to make it to the bus as Schmid was wrapped up with post-stage ceremony duties until long after the finish, told reporters after wheeling to a halt.

"We were quite lucky, but Mauro got in a good move with 30+ guys, probably 20ks into the stage. We thought that was an ok move but there were too many guys to just have Mauro in the move."

"So once it opened up again, we had three more get across with Ben-O and Plappy and myself, just to be sure we had as many numbers as possible."

"Then what more can you ask for? We've been waiting for this."

As Matthews explained, stage 13 was the first in this year's Tour when, rather than one rider feeling good and the rest feeling average, the whole team felt strong enough to contribute. For him, to be finally heading back to the level he had before his bad training accident this spring and also contribute to the victory meant that Schmid's triumph could not have come at a better moment.

"This is what we've been working for; we brought the team to go for breakaways like this and we had four guys in the move. It was such a massive effort." Matthews said.

"Once we got to the chase group, we were all pretty pinned because it was a very hard chase, but I think having numbers there going into the cat. 1 was definitely the key. We had all bases covered today."

Nor was there any question, head sports director Mathew Hayman told SBS and other reporters, of Jayco trying to bring Matthews back up to the front, once Plapp, Schmid and a group of eight other riders had got away.

"Plappy was on the radio saying 'Guys, you don't have to move this forward, it's on everyone else to keep Bling [Matthews] off the back'. The guys were in a luxurious situation; they could sit back, follow, and Michael was also pulling through but he didn't need to commit as well because we had two strong riders up front."

"The final was special, Mauro was awesome, I think he'd have wrapped that up even if he was away like that or on a sprint," Plapp added after he arrived a little later.

"Mauro and I knew he'd be the quickest if he got away, and then on the descent Mattie [Hayman] told us Bling was only 30 seconds away, so we almost stopped and waited for him to come back.

"Then Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was trying to get us to roll through and we said we're waiting for Bling, but then Tim tried to launch an attack and that was when Mauro went. It was job done by then, he was always going to wrap that sprint up."

The win is definitely a timely one for Jayco-AlUla, as this is their first in a WorldTour race this season, as well as being the first in a Grand Tour since Ben O'Connor won the toughest mountain stage of the Tour de France last year over the Col de la Loze. Matthews said winning the stage into Belfort could be the beginning of even more success.

"The hardest one is the first one," Matthews, himself a triple Tour stage champion as well as the winner of the race's points competition back in the day, concluded.

"You see what QuickStep did, they won their first one [on stage 7] and now they've won three. So hopefully this is just the first of many for us in this year's Tour, too."

The world’s biggest bike race deserves world-class coverage. Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our unrivalled reporting of the 2026 Tour de France. From Barcelona through to Paris, our experienced team will bring you breaking news, expert insight, and in-depth coverage from every stage as the battle for the yellow jersey plays out. Plus, access the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.

Mauro Schmid gave Jayco-AlUla their first success of the 2026 Tour de France, out-sprinting Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) in the race's longest stage from Dole to Belfort from the day's successful breakaway.

"I can't believe it at the moment," Schmid said after finishing the stage in just over four hours and averaging over 51kph. "It was an incredibly hard day from the start. We were keen with the whole team to be there to be in the breakaway. We tried many times already these last couple of days, and so far it didn't really go as planned.

"I felt really good from the start, but it was just full gas from the first minute. Then also the boys came from the back, so I could just sit on, so it was pretty much perfect."

It was Schmid's first Tour de France stage win and a relief after finishing second in a similar scenario in last year's race.

"I think that came to my mind many times," Schmid said. "I started to cramp up a little bit with 4k to go, so I got a little bit worried, so I stayed at the back with 2k to go and hoped he would go from the front. But then at some point he forced me to the first position - I think I launched it a bit late, and in the first 50 meters, I thought maybe it's the same like last year. But when I saw the finish line, I found my legs again and just went for it."

The biggest story of the day was the presence of Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) in the day's escape, which gained almost eight minutes on the peloton and vaulted the Briton much closer to podium position than his previous 10th place in the GC standings.

Pidcock led the chase to the line for third and the four-second time bonus to further enhance his fortunes.

"I'm going to lose a lot of time in the time trial, that's for sure. I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I think we definitely earned some respect today from everyone who was pulling hard behind. The next few days are going to be GC days, so we'll race them as hard as we can," Pidcock said.

Tadej Pogačar held true to his desire to take it easier on the 205.8-kilometre stage before the race heads into the Alps, keeping the breakaway close enough to prevent anyone threatening his maillot jaune.

There were no fireworks among the GC contenders on the Ballon d'Alsace, and the peloton was led to the line by Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), 7:32 behind Schmid.

With no time bonuses for the top three, Pogačar continues to hold 3:36 over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), with Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) holding onto third overall at 4:06.

Pidcock moved up to fourth place in the GC standings at 4:15.

There was more intrigue for the green jersey competition on the day, with points classification leader Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) having to scramble across to the breakaway to fight for the intermediate sprint.

The Dane lost five points to Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) but still eads by 41, with Biniam Girmay (NSN) in third just three points behind the Belgian.

Breakaway day

The longest stage of the 2026 Tour de France made stage 13 a day for the breakaway, and rather than the typical escape group, a massive group of riders went clear thanks to the presence of teammates of all the top contenders, barring Paul Seixas in the move.

Between the size of the breakaway and a brisk tailwind, the stage was another fast one, with an average speed of 51.45 kph even with the category 1 Ballon d'Alsace featuring in the final 40km.

It all started just a few kilometres from the start in Dole, with 205.8 kilometres between the peloton and the finish in Belfort. The first escape formed with Michał Kwiatkowski (Netcompany Ineos), Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep), Alex Kirsch (Cofidis) and Georg Zimmermann (Lotto-Intermarché), but they were caught after 25 kilometres.

Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5) sparked a much larger group to go clear, and so many riders followed that Decathlon CMA CGM and Soudal-QuickStep were the only teams to miss the move.

With high-powered riders such as Brandon McNulty and Tim Wellens from Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad, Victor Campenaerts and Per Strand Hagenes for Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike team, and Tim Van Dijke and Maxim Van Gils from Remco Evenepoel's Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe outfit, it was clear that this split would not be coming back.

Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) was the highest placed among the attackers in 10th overall, but he wasn't too much of a threat, 11:49 behind Pogačar. The Briton had three teammates for company and pulled out such a large lead that all of the other GC contenders had to worry.

Green jersey battle

The presence of Jasper Philipsen in the attack raised alarm bells within the Lidl-Trek team, and the size of the escape and the number of teams already in it meant they got very little help in chasing down what was a 40-second gap.

They had almost given up when a counter-attack came that included Biniam Girmay (NSN). It was then that green jersey holder Pedersen took matters into his own hands and surged to join the chasers. While the sprinters might not survive the Ballon d'Alsace, there was an intermediate sprint with 68km to go where Pedersen needed to score points.

After bridging to the 20-rider Girmay group, Pedersen pushed the pace for the better part of an hour, finally making contact with the leaders with 90km to go. Now 57 riders strong, the lead group had almost seven minutes on the maillot jaune.

Philipsen hit out hard to take the points at the sprint in Mélisey, but Pedersen managed to hold off Girmay for second and only ceded five points to the Belgian.

The lead group began to shrink before the Col des Croix, but was still quite large as they crested the summit, holding 8:10 on the peloton.

Ballon d'Alsace

With Pidcock threatening the place of Lenny Martinez, Bahrain-Victorious began working in the bunch alongside UAE Team Emirates-XRG to limit the breakaway's advantage, but with eight minutes, the Briton was threatening everyone except Pogačar.

As the leaders began to ascend the Ballon d'Alsace, an attack from Tudor's Rick Pluimers was just the excuse the sprinters needed to sit up, and Girmay, Philipsen and Pedersen made a rapid exit.

Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany Ineos) countered the move, but his acceleration had more impact on the back of the group than the front. There were only 20 riders left as Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked with 34km to go and 4km to the summit of Ballon d'Alsace.

Pidcock shut the move down but the damage was done - with only ten riders left, Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) attacked and the Briton had no immediate response. However, a steady tempo and an easing of the gradient and Plapp was back in the fold.

With the summit just 800 metres away, Pidcock accelerated hard but still could not dislodge anyone bar Clément Braz (Groupama-FDJ), and went over the top with Plapp and teammate Mauro Schmid, Van Gils, Vauquelin, Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), and McNulty in tow and 8:30 on the maillot jaune.

On the descent, Braz and Tim Wellens rejoined, bringing the group back to 10.

As the road flattened, Tejada and Schmid went clear with just over 15km to go and gained 20 seconds over the Pidcock group.

In the finale, Schmid was able to hold off Tejada to deliver an important victory for himself and his team.

Stage Results

General Classification after stage 13

Points Classification

Mountains Classification

Youth Classification

Teams Classification

A massive wildfire actively burning west of Leadville, Colorado, for three weeks has cast doubt on whether the Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik could take place as scheduled on August 15. The race serves as the third of six races in the Life Time Grand Prix.

On Thursday, a 'green light' for planning to continue was confirmed by event owners and managers, Life Time, as containment of the wildfire had improved to 37% and smoke had been lifting.

However, a course change was needed as several Lake County roads and trails used on the 104-mile course were closed by the Leadville Ranger District of the US Forest Service, including County roads 30 and 10 in the 'Powerline' area.

A significant portion of the out-and-back course, between Turquoise Lake and Twin Lakes, which is at the base of the decisive Columbine climb, is currently part of a mandatory evacuation area, as noted by the Lake County Office of Emergency Management.

"The time has arrived, and we are excited to share, barring any further developments, that we have the green light to move ahead with our 2026 race season," read a statement from Life Time on social media July 16.

"The smoke is lifting and the hundreds of personnel on the Willow Fire are bringing containment more into reach every day. We thank all of our first responders who have spent countless hours over the last 16 + days reducing the impact and ensuring the safety of our community.

"While the courses will look different, the same call for grit, guts and determination is woven deep into the trail ahead.

"Over the next few days and weeks, our teams will also dig deep and work diligently to bring all critical/updated course and crew information to you. Most of all, we look forward to welcoming you home to Leadville and the start line of the upcoming events."

Organisers noted that the 'green light' status could change at any time, with Air Quality Index and "any threatening changes in fire status" among the factors monitored across the next month.

An update to the Leadville 100 MTB course was underway, but no information was provided. Any reroute will have to address an order from the US Forest Service which listed the Willow Fire Area Closure as being "closed for the protection of public health and safety" from July 7 to September 30, 2026.

The Willow Fire started on June 28 and rapidly spread across Lake County, consuming nearly 6,877 acres, according to the most recent update on the US Forest Service's Willow Fire hotline.

In addition to Leadville Trail 100 MTB, Life Time owns and operates three other events hosted at the Colorado mountain town - Leadville MTB Stage Race presented by Kenetik, Leadville Trail 10K presented by La Sportiva and Leadville Trail 100 Run presented by La Sportiva.

Earlier in July, the Leadville Race Series Silver Rush 50, events for runners and mountain bike riders, was cancelled due to the Willow Fire. For Leadville Trail 100 MTB, organisers noted they would use emails for registered riders and support crews for updates.

Leadville Trail 100 MTB has been a fixture in the US for more than 40 years, renowned for its high altitude that begins on the start line in Leadville at 9,200 feet above sea level and rising to 12,516 feet at the crest of the 10.7-mile Columbine climb.

Last year Keegan Swenson won a fifth consecutive Leadville Trail 100 MTB, while the women's race was won on a debut appearance by Kate Courtney. Swenson is expected to compete again as he is part of the Life Time Grand Prix invitation-only field. Courtney signed a pro road contract to race for FDJ United-SUEZ, and her schedule for August was not confirmed.

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Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) made up for the previous day's loss by taking the sprint victory on stage 2 at the Baloise Ladies Tour.

The Dutch sprinter, who finished second on stage 1, stormed across the line ahead of runner-up Nienke Veenhoven (Visma- Lease a Bike) and third-placed Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM) in Zulte.

Kool's victory means she has moved to the top of the GC standings, taking the jersey from overnight leader Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM), and is now five seconds ahead. Veenhoven is in third place at seven seconds back.

The second stage of the Baloise Ladies Tour was a 130.4km race in Zulte that included two circuits at the start and then three circuits at the end of the stage.

There were several short-lived attacks until a late-race breakaway of four cleared the field to include Anne Knijnenburg, Noémie Thomson, Aileen Schweikart and Eline Van Rooijen.

All were brought back in the final circuit of the race, inside 5km to go. SDWorx-Protime led the field into a bunch sprint, but it was Kool who took the win.

Results