this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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The great Circus of July arrive in town on Saturday, for 3 weeks.
It starts in Catalunya, Spain and reaches France by the road. Strangely, while many days are spent in the area, Pyrenees as a mountain are almost avoided.
There are only 2 rest days this year, so the first week is relatively long: 9 days.
Again, there are no long stages this year: only 1 barely goes over 200 km. And the total course is probably the second shortest in history (just a few miles longer than last year's edition...)
Another heatwave is expected over France in July, starting at the same time as the race. It may not be as bad as the heatwave of June, but it is still going to be significantly hotter than normal for days if not weeks.
Regulations
You've got the usual Yellow, Green, Red Polka Dots, and White jerseys. Mountain and Points final classifications bring UCI points for the first 3 riders (only).
On top of the Agressive rider daily and final prizes, there is now a smaller weekly and final 'best teammate' prize. Both are jury-based prizes.
Each stage brings almost the same UCI points as a 1.Pro race (!)
The scale for Green jersey points has been tweaked to favour even more the pure sprinters... There seems to be only 1 Intermediate Sprint per stage.
The scale for small GPM points remains as ridiculous as before: only 1 point for 1 rider on 4^th^ category climbs, and 2 and points for the first 2 riders on 3^rd^ category climbs...
There are no other secondary or tertiary classification to animate stage or give smaller teams an achievable goal.
Riders
The cream of the mutant crust will be present, probably for the only time this year.
Stages
Stage 1, Saturday 1, Team Time Trial
20 km, D+ 220 m
A very short TTT in the streets of Barcelona, with some climbing near and at the end (your usual Montjuic). Together with the new rules, it means that it is designed to bring the leaders to the front as soon as day 1.
Stage 2, Sunday 5
169 km, D+ 2000 m
A stage for punchers, again finishing in Barcelona's Montjuic, pretty much like the final stage of the Tour of Catalunya even though the circuit is a little bit different
Stage 3, Monday 6
196 km, D+ 3900 m
Arrival in a ski resort in French Catalunya. Is this a mountain stage or a puncher stage? Or simply a very good day for breakaways?
Stage 4, Tuesday 7
182 km, D+ 2900 m
After a uselessly long bus transfer, this stage meanders in the Cathar Country, the Pyrenean piedmont, and may offer opportunities for breakaways, as well as sprinters if there isn't too much action.
Press to see the finish profile
Stage 5, Wednesday 8
158 km, D+ 1600 m
A stage which looks very much like the first 2 stages of the Route d'Occitanie a couple of weeks ago. Despite some use of the hills of Gers, they will probably insufficient or too separated to get rid of the sprinters on their favourite finish city (Pau). There is almost no reward for breakaways, with only 1 GPM... I don't suppose riding by my high-school (in a distant past) will be a motivating reward.
Press to see the map
Stage 6, Thursday 9
186 km, D+ 4100 m
The only mountain stage of the Pyrenees this year simply consists of the Aspin Pass, the Tourmalet Pass, and a strange never-ending (18 km) strongly uphill false flat as a finish.
Press to see the map and detailed profiles
Stage 7, Friday 10
175 km, D+ 700 m
A flat stage for the next favourite arrival of sprinters: Bordeaux.
Press to see the profile
Stage 8, Saturday 11
180 km, D+ 1300 m
The second flat stage for sprinters in a row. A grand total of 3 GPM points will have been offered in 2 days...
On top of this, this stage is utterly useless in terms of geographical progression between Bordeaux and the stage of Sunday, it even goes a bit backwards, and requires transfers before and after...
Icing on the cake, the last km looks slightly downhill, which is more dangerous.
Press to see the map and profile
Stage 9, Saturday 11
185 km, D+ 3300 m
After 2 flat stages, there isn't one flat yard today, approaching the Massif Central. This will certainly be one of those stages where 150 riders want to join the breakaway.
Press to see the map and the finish profile
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So...
The modification caused a change in attitude in the beginning: Lidl-Trek intended to arrive as a bunch at the I.S. and lead the peloton up there. No other sprinter team tried anything intelligent to prevent Pedersen🇩🇰 from taking maximum points or maximum points difference at the I.S., their sprinters just sprinted behind him, except Merlier (🇧🇪 Soudal-QS) who was already dropped.
Then the expectedly long and messy fight for breakaway started. It lasted for 50 km.
Behind, in a very reduced peloton, UAE and Ineos were keeping the gap pretty low. At the front, a handful of strong men finally detached, and they managed to reach the line, despite Lidl-Trek riders (Q. Simmons🇺🇸 & Gee🇨🇦) dropping from the breakaway down to the peloton to join the chasing efforts in the hope of bringing Pedersen . The Dane still scores a few points – despite being beaten by Ganna (🇮🇹 Ineos) at the 'peloton' sprint – and contrarily to the I.S., the other sprinters in the game don't score any, which is more important than absolute figures.
Alpecin can't win through their sprinter? No problem, Van der Poel🇳🇱 beats the other 3 breakawaymen on a hilly stage! T. Johanessen (🇳🇴 Uno-X) scores another 2^nd^place, and Pidcock (🇬🇧 Q36.5) and Baudin (🇫🇷 EF) take the next two seats. Pidcock🇬🇧 was proactive all day, in contrast with the rest of his so far mediocre first week.
It was supposed to be a stage for Grégoire (🇫🇷 FDJ) but he was dropped by the peloton very early (well, not as early as Merlier 🤣). Even after 2 flat stages he still hasn't recovered a bit. The guy is cooked, boiled and fried. I have little hope in him for the rest of the tour, unless temperatures drop sharply.
Baudin🇫🇷 had been going for Mountain points this week, but not today. He was at the front of the race, but didn't try to pass first (or even second) at any climb top, despite the fact that he could have scored +50% compared to the points he had gathered so far...