Tour de France 2026: stage six updates as riders take on the Tourmalet – live

Key events

7m ago

William Fotheringham's guide to stage six

22m ago

Points and mountains classification standings

28m ago

General classification standings

31m ago

Preamble

William Fotheringham's guide to stage six

William Fotheringham

Stage six, Thursday 9 July: Pau to Gavarnie-Gèdre, 186.2km

The Spanish Grand Départ means paring down the classic climbs in the Pyrenees to avoid the race being settled as early as day six; the organisers can reasonably argue that stages two, three and four are demanding enough to avoid claims the race is being watered down. This stage includes the Aspin and Tourmalet before the second-category drag up to Gavarnie and that is it for the Pyrenees. One or two riders will stake an early claim in the King of the Mountains prize; the stage winner should come from the break, a climber who is no threat overall such as Lenny Martinez.

Enjoy our full guide to all 21 Tour de France stages here:

So, Tadej Pogacar is clapped. Finished. Past it.

Delayed slightly by a crash in yesterday’s finale, he was only 21st over the line. A day after finishing 33rd. He has clearly lost his touch. Incidentally, those are the four-time champion’s two worst performances of 2026. Yesterday was only the third time he has finished outside of the top ten from 21 race days. Bonkers.

Points and mountains classification standings

After stage five:

1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek): 143 points

2. Biniam Girmay (NSN): 79

3. Max Kanter (XDS Astana): 77

4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech): 72

5. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team): 70

6. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): 55

7. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step): 55

8. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek): 45

9. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike): 44

10. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): 39

King of the Mountains

With a maximum of 33 points availabe today, this will get a thorough shake-up.

1. Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost): 12

2. Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA): 10

3. Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM): 9

4. Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar): 7

5. Marco Frigo (NSN): 5

6. Jan Tratnik (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe): 5

7. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): 4

8. Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious): 4

9. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): 3

10. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek): 3

General classification standings

After stage five:

1. Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility): 16hrs 32min 07secs

2. Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost): +28secs

3. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek): +3mins 50secs

4. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +7min 53secs

5. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +7min 53secs

6. Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech): +8min 6secs

7. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe): +8min 16secs

8. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +8min 17secs

9. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek): +8min 20secs

10. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM): +8min 41secs

Preamble

The Tour de France is heating up and I don’t just mean the barmy temperatures the bunch is coping with in south-western France.

This is likely to be the stage which yields the biggest differences of the 2026 edition’s opening week. Included in the final 70 kilometres are the first-category Col d’Aspin, hors categorie Col du Tourmalet and long drag to the finish at Gavarnie-Gèdre, just beneath the majestic Cirque de Gavarnie. Helicopter telly cameras will have a field day with that one.

The Tourmalet is one of this race’s iconic climbs. In 1910, during its first inclusion, Octave Lapize shouted “Assassins!, at the commissaires at the col top after pushing his bike there in a “pitiable” state. You can tell the Tour was invented and run by journalists: after such drama, the race had to keep going back.

Its last 13 kilometres rarely go under the eight per cent mark. We will hopefully see action in the race for the yellow jersey between Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). They had a ding-dong battle up this Pyrenean pest in 2023 and maybe even 19-year-old ingenu Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) can join their party this time round. Have a gander at the stage profile:

Another ponderable is whether Torstein Træen, the cancer survivor in the maillot jaune, can hold onto the race lead. Unless the Uno-X Mobility climber has a bad day and/or the race favourites give it full beans, I reckon he will. That jersey gives a lot of riders wings and added motivation. American Sean Quinn is a readier challenger to worry about, just 28 seconds in arrears.

As for the stage win? Certainly not one for yesterday’s winner Olav Kooij or green jersey wearer Mads Pedersen. It might go to the strongest climber from the breakaway which will surely go away in the first hour or two on the flat roads out of Pau. Especially if the bunch knocks off their early effort in broiling temperatures going as high as 40 degrees Celsius. Sacrebleu!

We’re closing on the stage start at 11:25 BST, so please do let me know your predictions, tangents, snack choices, earmworm songs or musings on today’s stage via the email link at the top of the page. Allez!