For the first time in Tour de France history, Alpe d’Huez will be faced two days in a row, starting with a short, explosive stage 19, which marks the mythic mountain's return to the French Grand Tour after a four-year absence.
The peloton will depart from Gap and travel 127.9km with 3,500 metres of elevation gain to the summit of Alpe d’Huez.
It will undoubtedly mark a pivotal moment at this year's Tour de France that has thus far been dominated by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and his hunt for a record-equalling fifth overall title.
Pogačar is currently in the yellow jersey and leading the GC standings by a whopping 4:32 ahead of his nearest rival Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and 6:51 ahead of his own teammate Isaac del Toro, followed by 7:11 ahead of French sensation Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), so there will be little his rivals can do to eclipse the him before the race concludes on Sunday in Paris.
However, the race for the remaining podium places, the top-10 overall, and the young rider classification will be all to play for on Friday's first of two back-to-back days finishing atop Alpe d’Huez.
Points at finish: 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
The second week of this Tour de France has been anything but smooth sailing, starting without arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who crashed on stage 15. Pogačar too has faced turbulence, or more accurately, his UAE Team Emirates-XRG that has been caught out in a wave of illness, which left Adam Yates unwell, and then Brandon McNulty abandoning, and Tim Wellens struggling to make the time cut on the roads to Orcières-Merlette on stage 18. Evenepoel, too, lost his main support rider and overall contender Florian Lipowitz to a crash during the stage 16 time trial.
But anything can happen on a climb like Alpe d’Huez, and this first onslot will be, on paper, the easier of the two stages.
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The road immediately climbs as the peloton leaves Gap, with the ascents of Col Bayard, followed by Col du Noyer, with its narrow road and steep gradient. The two ascents provide a perfect combination to establish the breakaway.
Then comes 68 kilometres of valley roads before the riders must haul themselves over the Col d'Ornon, pass through Bourg-d'Oisans, and take on the famous 21 numbered hairpins to Alpe d’Huez (13.8km at 8.1%) at 1,850 metres.
Saturday's stage 20 will return to the iconic mountain, but the peloton will depart from Le Bourg d'Oisans and tackle the Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier and Col de Sarenne and then to the top of Alpe d'Huez.
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Stage 19 profile at the 2026 Tour de France
(Image credit: ASO)
Col du Noyer profile
(Image credit: ASO)
Alpe d'Huez profile
(Image credit: ASO)
Route map for stage 19 at the 2026 Tour de France
(Image credit: ASO)
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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