LIVE Stage 20, 2026 Tour de France | Two solo riders vs Pogačar and GC favourites at the finale

Buckle up, because it’s time for Alpe d’Huez once again in the Tour de France! In this queen stage, we’ll tackle it via the Col de Sarenne side, in a grueling stage with a whopping 5,450 meters of elevation gain. Will the rain throw another spanner into the proverbial works of the Tour de France? We’ll be starting early—at 11:30 a.m.—but IDL Pro Cycling will be covering it live all day long!

For a brief moment, the terrain remained flat, but after 6 kilometers, the riders faced the first monstrous climb, the Col de la Croix de Fer. Leading up to it, a group of six had already broken away, of whom Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), Warren Barguil (Picnic PostNL), Xabier Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5), and Georg Steinhauser (EF) remained ahead the longest.

Visma | Lease a Bike initially set the pace in the pack, where we saw quite a few big names at the front. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), after his poor day on Friday, frequently made his presence felt at the front, while Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Thymen Arensman (INEOS) also showed initiative. A group including Ayuso and Arensman, as well as Richard Carapaz (EF), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), the Visma quartet Bruno Armirail, Davide Piganzoli, Sepp Kuss and Jorgenson, and Jai Hindley of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, was allowed to ride away. The small peloton, prompted by UAE, was fine with that.

With just over 3 kilometers to go, Carapaz accelerated for the mountain points. Paret-Peintre tried to follow, but failed. Meanwhile, Mads Pedersen had sprinted away from the peloton, after having already been dropped earlier on the Croix de Fer. This was all with an eye on the intermediate sprint, which was located in the valley after the first climb.

Carapaz reached the summit first, Paret-Peintre second. With that, the Ecuadorian increased his lead over the Frenchman in the mountain classification to 12 points. The two found each other on the descent, just ahead of the other leaders. Pedersen soon joined those leaders, and thus he would be able to strike a good blow later in the battle for the green jersey.

Pedersen took the full haul at the intermediate sprint and thus secured his green jersey: he only had to finish in Paris. Carapaz was also looking to secure his own jersey. The Ecuadorian saw rival Paret-Peintre drop on the Col du Télégraphe and took ten points himself: only Pogacar could (mathematically speaking) still overtake him.

The Tour did have to swallow one setback, however. Ilan Van Wilder crashed hard on the descent of the Croix de Fer and could not continue. The Belgian from Soudal Quick-Step had ridden an excellent Tour and was in twelfth place, but had to give up on the penultimate day. The Tour continued, with a fierce battle in the general classification. The presence of Ayuso meant problems for Lenny Martinez.

The Frenchman from Bahrain Victorious put his men to work, but on the Galibier, UAE Team Emirates-XRG took over again. In the peloton, we saw Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello - Q36.5) in trouble, but at the front, things exploded. Carapaz tore the breakaway apart: Riccitello, Hindley, and Kuss were able to follow, while Ayuso lost some time at the summit.

Meanwhile, things had exploded on the Galibier. After Felix Grossschartner had done his work, Tadej Pogacar took over. The yellow jersey wearer took the lead for teammate Isaac Del Toro and tore the group to shreds. Only Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) could follow. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) lost some ground.

The Dane managed to rejoin Maxim Van Gils on the descent together with Nicolas Prodhomme, which meant Evenepoel and Seixas gained a teammate. On the Galibier, Del Toro struggled: would Seixas sense his chance on the Sarenne? It didn't look like it would be for the stage win, as the leaders had a substantial lead. They did start bickering, however.

Hindley did not do any work at the front, and that frustrated Ayuso. Kuss, however, told him that he had to ride for his general classification: so no complaining. Behind them, Pogacar hammered away as a domestique. He didn't look back, and at the foot of the Col de Sarenne, on the other side of the Alpe d'Huez, the gap was only 3.30 minutes. And the attackers just kept messing around.

Kuss and Carapaz, in particular, gave each other little quarter. Hindley tried to take advantage, but couldn't get away. Kuss countered: Ayuso and Carapaz paid the price for that acceleration. Moments later, Hindley was also out of the running: the American from Visma | Lease a Bike went solo. The group of favorites had closed the gap considerably, but now the climber gave himself a chance.

Read more below the photo!