Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's double leadership will use this long weekend's trio of mountain stages to intensify their battle for the Tour de France podium, management say, with the co-leadership between Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz offering a huge strategic advantage other teams with just one leader do not enjoy.
While Red Bull recognise that race leader and multiple Tour winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is currently operating in another league to the rest of the field, they believe the fight for a top-3 position has got much more open.
Even if Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) remains the top favourite for the runner-up spot, nothing can be ruled out at this point in the game, Head of Sport Patxi Vila told Cyclingnews. Or as he put it, "We'll fight him for second, but we'll do so very calmly".
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Of the three upcoming mountain stages, Vila believes that Saturday is the most interesting in terms of collective strategy for teams. That being the case, on paper Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, with two leaders, should automatically start with an advantage.
"On Saturday, it all depends on how we start the stage, either the breakaway will get going right away or at least by the time we get to the top of the [long opening climb of] Grand Col du Gran Ballon. How big a break forms is another huge factor, too. But wherever it happens, the start will be much more important that day than on either of the other two."
On Friday, stage 13 from Dole to Belfort kicks off the mountain battle with a very long but flat northerly trek, 205.2km, that culminates in a single ascent of Ballon d'Alsace, 25 kilometres from the finish.
This is in marked contrast to Saturday's stage, which features what is in effect the first major summit finish of the 2026 race at Le Markstein, with the final climb of the Col du Haag peaking out just four kilometres from the actual finish line. This is preceded by the long opening ascent of the Col du Gran Ballon, the Col du Page (Cat.2), then a repeat of the same northerly approach to the first-category Ballon d'Alsace as on Friday. All in all, it will likely see the field in tatters.
Finally, on Sunday's stage 15, a very long buildup from Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison precedes a very difficult final 40 kilometres - first the Cat.1 Col de la Croisette and then a short third category, prior to the last ultra-hard ascent to the Solaison - 11.3 kilometres at 9%.
"The three stages are very different, although I don't think too much will happen tomorrow [Friday]. Maybe somebody will have a bad day but on a single eight-kilometre climb, we're not likely to see too much action," Vila argues.
"Saturday is way harder, particularly because it has a way harder start, and it will be one where riders are very heavily dependent on their teams, and tactically it offers the most.
"Sunday basically comes down to what will happen in the last 30 kilometres, the hardest part is the right at the finish."
Having two leaders in such varied terrain is always an advantage, Vila tells Cyclingnews, particularly when - as in the case of Evenepoel and Lipowitz - they are very different kinds of riders.
"It gives us options, because while it's always difficult to manage two different guys, on this occasion and in these kinds of climbs, they complement each other.
"Each one has their strong points, even if they're both top performers in all areas. Their having different characteristics helps you to manage the situation.
"It's clear when it comes to recovery from long, hard climbs, Lipo is the one who's best, and that's what the stages are all about this weekend.
"But the same time, Remco has matured a lot as a climber, you could see how he handled things on the Tourmalet and stage 10. He's a different kind of Remco to the Remco he used to be," Vila argues.
In terms of their rivals, Pogačar is all but out of reach, given he's already at 3: 35 on his closest pursuer, Vingegaard. But the time gap between Vingegaard, and Lenny Martínez (Bahrain Victorious) in ninth is considerably less, just 2:58. So as Vila says, the fight right now in the Tour is between those who want to be on the podium next to the leader, rather than against the leader himself.
"Let's try and win that battle and if we've got enough strength and strategy to win that one, we'll go onto the next," Vila says. "But right now, Tadej is a long way away from us, even if 'hasta el rabo, todo es toro'," he added, a Spanish expression that is hard to translate, but which basically means 'it ain't over, 'til it's over'.
"It does not seem like he's got any problems. That said, there's still the weekend and all the Alpine stages to come. So although he's looking good right now, we're still up there in the battle too."
As for Vingegaard, Vila believes that for all his recent setbacks in the Tour, the Dane's palmares, and his whole dramatic run of success in 2026, from Paris-Nice through to the Volta a Catalunya and Giro d'Italia, can't be ignored.
"OK, he's close to the rest of the field right now in the race, and that's a big deal. But this year he's not lost a single race he's taken part in. We have to remember the type of rider he is. So let's try to fight him but calmly.
"In the only really tough mountain stage we've had to date, he showed he was able to do a lot more than everybody bar Tadej. What happened on stage 10" - where the Dane lost a little time to his podium rivals - "could be due to a lot of things: the rest day, the climbs were shorter. But he's still top favourite number 2."
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