Key events
Preamble
Through Cathar and cassoulet country we go for the 2026 Tour de France’s first fully French stage. It covers a lumpy 181.9km from splendorous Carcassonne to Foix over four categorised climbs.
There is not quite as much climbing on the menu as yesterday, but it will be even hotter, with temperatures expected to be reaching 40 degrees Celsius. Ah, the sweaty reality of a modern Tour taking place in July during the climate crisis.
Riders will be getting through water bottles into double figures and using ice socks down the back of their necks. Stage three winner and new race leader, Tadej Pogačar, has done plenty of heat training, but believes racing in the heat is “dangerous” if you don’t keep your body temperature down.
“It’s a logistic nightmare when it’s hot like today,” Pogačar said yesterday. “As a team, we really start to put a lot of effort into this … we have to bring so much water and ice to the riders. Three guys go back to the car to bring bottles and ice to keep cooling yourself.”
The sport’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has tweaked rules, authorising the use of feed bags in zones initially defined for the provision of bottles only on categorised climbs ie. racers can also carry water bottles in their musettes. Every little helps.
After three stages putting Tour de France contenders to the fore, this should be one for the breakaways. Okay, I said the same 24 hours ago and UAE Team Emirates-XRG proved me wrong, but I’m even more adamant today.
The Col de Montségur, topped 35km from the finish, will be a likely launchpad for stage-winning attacks.
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Contenders, then. A day like this will pique the interest of a range of riders: British champion Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5) has already noted his interest to media. This medium-mountain day will also suit Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), perhaps a quick, resilient sprinter who can climb well like Michael Matthews (Jayco Alula) or Alex Aranburu (Cofidis). And then there is always awe-inspiring Monument man Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech?)…
Got Pogi fatigue yet? Enjoying Channel 5’s highlights coverage in the UK? Send over your Tour thoughts, predictions, quips, questions and tangents to me here or on Bluesky.
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