Tuesday, July 14th, 10th stage: Aurillac > Le Lioran – On Bastille Day, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG) delivers the fireworks. The Slovenian star flew to victory on stage 10 of the Tour de France 2026, claiming his third victory in this edition. He is the first rider with three stage wins on 14 July, passing, among others, Jacques Anquetil, whose record also includes two overall triumphs on this special day. French attackers and their global rivals gave it their all on the many ascents of the day, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) being the last to be reeled in, but nobody could resist when the 4-time winner of the Tour attacked on the penultimate ascent of the day, Col de Pertus. He eventually took his 24th Tour stage win with a gap of 32 seconds to Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) rounds out the day’s top 3 and moves into the overall top 5 as Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) lost ground in the finale.
Early fireworks
The first attacker of the day is from Luxembourg, but the battle is far from settled by Alex Kirsch (Cofidis) attacking as soon as the flag drops. After an early bike swap for Mads Pedersen, Lidl-Trek start pulling the bunch to ensure their Danish star goes first at the intermediate sprint in Lacapelle-del-Fraisse (km 25.5).
Right after the line, Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) puts the hammer down, with his teammate Ramses Debruyne and many more attackers in his wake. Attacks and counter-attacks fly. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) goes ham at km 45 and initiates the decisive move. A dozen riders follow the Norwegian all-rounder, a dozen more bridge the gap in successive waves, and a 31-man breakaway eventually emerges at the front.
UAE Emirates-XRG rapidly move to the front positions of the bunch to ensure the gap never gets higher than 1’25’’ reached halfway through the stage. At that point, the breakaway has already exploded, because of the pressure applied by the peloton and the lack of collaboration at the front.
Carapaz takes over after Romo’s solo
Javier Romo (Movistar) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) lead the way in front of chasers such as Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), and Ramses Debruyne. Romo goes solo on the climb to Col de la Griffoul (cat. 2, summit at km 97.3).
The Spaniard goes first atop this climb, as well as Col de Prat de Bouc (cat. 3, km 103.8) and Côte de Murat (cat. 3, km 118.8). He’s reeled in after 36 kilometres alone at the front, at the bottom of the climb up Puy Mary – Pas de Peyrol (cat. 1, km 135.7).
Immediately after, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) sets off. The Ecuadorian climber rapidly opens a gap of 40 seconds. Decathlon CMA CGM move to the front of the 20-man GC group towards the summit.
Carapaz tries, Pogacar flies
Carapaz pushes his advantage on the downhill. His lead is up to 1 minute at the bottom of the penultimate climb of the day, Col de Pertus (cat. 1, km 152.1). Visma-Lease a Bike up the ante with Davide Piganzoli. But they can’t react when Pogacar attacks one kilometre from the summit. The Slovenian flies past Carapaz and opens a gap of 20 seconds to a group with Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas, while Isaac del Toro struggles.
Pogacar keeps pushing on the Col de Font de Cère ascent and eventually takes his 24th Tour stage win with a gap of 32 seconds to Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who steps on the overall podium instead of Del Toro (8th on the day, +1’31’’). The Mexican youngster drops down to seventh place in the overall standings, also behind Juan Ayuso (+4’22’’), Paul Seixas (+4’35’’), and Florian Lipowitz (+4’44’’).
