2026 Tour de France stage 6 preview | Tourmalet brings first real showdown between Pogačar & Vingegaard

Buckle up—it’s time for the first mountain stage of the 2026 Tour de France! After seeing the general classification contenders really go all out in the first few days, Thursday brings a challenging stage that includes the legendary Tourmalet. Who, what, and where can you expect to see action? IDL Pro Cycling has a complete preview for you, below.

Don’t let the scale of the profile above fool you: Thursday’s stage will be a tough one. For the first real mountain stage of this Tour de France, we’ll start in Pau, the same place where we finished the day before. From there, it’s 186.2 kilometers to Gavarnie-Gèdre.

The opening section is virtually flat, which will make it difficult for strong climbers to break away. The first climb of the day doesn’t come until just under 50 kilometers in, though the Côte de Loucrup (1.9 kilometers at 7.1%) isn’t too difficult. The intermediate sprint in Pouzac follows fairly soon after.

For the riders aiming for the green jersey, it will likely be over at that point, but those aiming for the stage win will keep pushing hard toward the next climb of the day. That’s the Côte de Mauvezin, a 3-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 6.8 percent. It’s not too difficult either, especially compared to what’s coming up next.

From Arreau, where the riders arrive with 80 kilometers remaining to the finish, the Col d'Aspin-Col du Tourmalet double climb begins. The Aspin (12 kilometers at a 6.5% gradient) is a Category 1 climb, followed by a rapid descent toward Sainte-Marie-de-Campan. That’s where the climb to the summit of the Tourmalet begins.

So this is not the same climb as in last year’s Tour, when we started climbing from Luz-Saint-Sauveur. Back then, Thymen Arensman ultimately won on the climb to Luchon-Superbagnères. Now we’re climbing from the other side, a 17.1-kilometer stretch with a 7.3 percent gradient. The start isn’t too difficult, but the climb gets progressively tougher from there.

At the summit, there are still just under 40 kilometers to the finish line. First comes the fast descent toward Luz-Saint-Sauveur, followed immediately by the final climb to Gavarnie-Gèdre. This is a new climb in the Tour de France, one that we’ve only seen once before in professional cycling. That was in the 2022 Tour de l’Isard, a race for U23 riders. Who finished second there? Lenny Martinez, then riding for the Groupama-FDJ development team.

All right, so that final climb. With an average gradient of 3.7%, it’s certainly not steep, but at 18.7 kilometers, it is long. It’s not particularly irregular either, though there are two sections that approach 6 percent. Toward the top, the gradient eases off a bit, so this climb doesn’t seem likely to produce huge time gaps. Of course, everything that came before could very well cause that.

Times
Start: 12:25 p.m CET
Finish: approximately 5:30 p.m CET

It’s still hot in France, so the riders will be glad to finally head up into the mountains. In Pau, the starting point, temperatures will still be around 34 degrees Celsius in the early afternoon, but at the top of the final climb, it should be about 10 degrees cooler. The wind will be blowing diagonally against them at the start, but will be at their backs on the final climb. It certainly looks like it will stay dry.

The general classification contenders have already had to be on their toes in this Tour de France—partly due to the UAE team—but the first real mountain test awaits on Thursday. Given the eagerness of the team from the Emirates, it seems likely that Tadej Pogacar will once again look to put pressure on the competition. UAE also saw an outstanding performance from Isaac Del Toro, so we expect them to set the pace once again.

Jonas Vingegaard has been doing just fine so far, and the Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike seems to be facing terrain in this stage that should suit him better. While the first few days featured short, punchy climbs, we’re now seeing long climbs at high altitude. His team could see that Vingegaard was, in any case, in top form to challenge Pogacar.

Any more challengers for the world champion? It looks like they’ll mainly come from the Decathlon team, with Paul Seixas, and from the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe team, with Florian Lipowitz and Remco Evenepoel. The German has shown some weaknesses here and there, but he, too, is now entering terrain that should suit him better. Evenepoel could strike with his explosive final sprint if no one has broken away before the final climb.

Also looking good so far: Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek, who briefly wore the white jersey. The German-American team also has Mattias Skjelmose on its roster, while Derek Gee-West will be a strong domestique. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) is another rider to keep an eye on; he performed well in both Stage 2 and Stage 3. His team, incidentally, will want to control the race to defend Torstein Træen’s yellow jersey.

Who else is still in the general classification? Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) showed few signs of weakness, nor did Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5); Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) showed a bit more, and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar) will be hoping to limit the damage after his illness. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), for his part, will be hoping to have recovered from his setback on Day 2, while his team still has a contender in Lenny Martinez who could pull off an upset.

And what about Netcompany INEOS? Kévin Vauquelin finally showed signs of improvement on Day 4, much to his team’s satisfaction, but he still doesn’t seem to be the Vauquelin we saw in last year’s Tour, especially not on the climbs. The British team wants to keep Thymen Arensman in the general classification “until the Tourmalet,” so it will be an important and decisive day for INEOS, which also has Egan Bernal on the roster.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that a breakaway might hold on until the end, though we don’t think that’s very likely. In that case, we’re definitely expecting some strong performances from riders like Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Yanis Voisard (Tudor), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), George Bennett (NSN), and Chris Harper (Pinarello-Q36.5).

For riders like Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché), it remains to be seen how much freedom they’ll be given. They don’t seem to be here to contend for the general classification, but they’re still close in the standings. It’s kind of the same story as with Martinez, actually. In any case, keep an eye on them!

Top Favorites: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Dark horses: Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)
Long shots: Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose (both Lidl-Trek), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS), and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)