The 113th Tour de France resumed after its first day off with a Bastille Day battle in the Massif Central. Race leader Tadej Pogačar took a hat trick of 2026 Tour stage victories, winning where Jonas Vingegaard beat him in a sprint last season. His teammate Isaac del Toro had a tough day, losing his podium spot to Remco Evenepoel and his white jersey to Juan Ayuso.

Isaac del Toro wore the white jersey for the sixth day. Photo: Sirotti

A Massif Bastille Day

The race entered the Massif Central on Tuesday and will visit the Vosges later this week. First came a course in which seven categorized climbs were shoehorned into the final 105 of 165 km. The big action would come on the two Cat. 1 ascents near the finish.

Plenty of climbing on Bastille Day. Image by La FlammeRouge

From the start in Aurillac to the first climb of Côte de Pailherols there were several attempts to breakaway and all failed as UAE-Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike were full of intent. Finally, a great Bastille Day mob got loose. Valentin Paret-Peintre was first over. Fugitives Harold Tejeda and Javier Romo bolted on the others. On Cat. 2 Col de la Griffoul Romo went solo as the peloton swallowed up escapees.

However, the GC men, particularly Pogačar, desired a Bastille Day brawl, and the last breakaway was absorbed as soon as Cat. 1 Puy Mary-Pas de Peyrol kicked up. Richard Carapaz immediately charged up the road. Decathlon-CMA-CGM set a torrid pace on the climb that dramatically streamlined the peloton. Tom Pidcock crashed on the descent.

The steepest climb of the day was the penultimate one: Col de Pertus was 4.5 km of 8.3 percent. The Ecuadorian continued his raid. First UAE-Emirates and then Visma-Lease a Bike set the pace. Pogačar attacked just over kilometre from the top.

Pogacar attacks on the penultimate climb.

The world champion caught and dispatched Carapaz. Del Toro could not chase with Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Ayuso, Paul Seixas and Mattias Skjelmose.

Pogačar didn’t start the final climb with a huge lead over the Vingegaard chase, but pried open a bigger gap. Evenepoel struggled to keep pace but ended up being second.

Wednesday’s route is similar to Saturday’s, with two Cat. 4 climbs on a sprinters’ day.

113th Tour de France, Stage 10
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 3:58:08
2) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Red Bull) +0:32
3) Paul Seixas (France/Decathlon-CMA-CGM) +0:34
46) Derek Gee-West (Canada/Lidl-Trek) +3:16

113th Tour de France GC
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 36:15:02
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) +3:36
3) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Red Bull) +4:06