This stage is identical to one from the 2010 edition that was won by Mark Cavendish.
Once again, the sprinters will be favourites for the spoils as the climbing, although quite substantial, comes mostly in the first half of the day on the gently weaving and picturesque ascent of the Bóixols, which is the only categorised climb on the route. Assuming they’ve still got plenty in the tank after Andorra’s mountain mayhem, the sprinters’ teams have got plenty of time beyond that to hase down the day’s break.
David López (Team Sky rider):
"This comes after a very hard stage in Andorra, so it should be a day for the sprinters’ teams, even though some will be getting tired. They’ll like the look of this one. The closing kilometres are easy and the last few days have been in the mountains, so they’ll need to take what is a rare opportunity for them."
The text in this preview originally appeared in the September edition of Procycling magazine.
-
Indoor training jargon buster
Know your ERG from your Level, your Direct Drive from your Smart Bike -
Missed deadlines for initial UCI registration by Jayco-AlUla and Liv-AlUla-Jayco reportedly due to absence of bank guarantee
Escape Collective article points to missing guarantee as reason for Australian squad's absence from initial list of 2026 WorldTour teams -
'The Giro d'Italia is not on the agenda' - Florian Lipowitz aims for repeat ride in Tour de France next July
German star will likely announce full 2026 schedule in December at the earliest -
Intermarché-Wanty riders move on to new teams ahead of merger with Lotto
Alexander Kamp, Hugo Page and Gerben Thijssen among those finding new contracts elsewhere
