Vif > Courchevel (Col de la Loze) 172km The end game starts now, get ready for one of the hardest stages you’ll ever see. Not only does it contain over 5500m of climbing, the final climb (Col de la Loze) tops out at an altitude just over 2260m. This stage would be incredibly difficult no matter when it was tackled but coming on day 18 of the Tour significantly increases the level of difficulty, especially with Visma trying everything they can to crack Pogačar. The Slovenian still has a big lead, but he’s not home and hosed yet, especially considering...

Bollène > Valence 161km Just another crazy day at the Tour de France, this race is bonkers. Valentin Paret-Peintre took an epic win for France on Mont Ventoux, Vingegaard did everything he could to try and break Pogačar and Ben Healy proved again that he is one of the best in the world. Stage 17 should be a “boring” stage, but you can never be certain in this epic race.

Montpellier > Mont Ventoux 171km Welcome to the final week of the Tour de France. The riders have 6 stages left to chalk off, three mountain stages, one sprint, one breakaway and who knows what will happen in Paris. This stage is something you often see in the Vuelta, not usually in the Tour, but it’s still Ventoux. Winning here is special, it’s one that all the GC riders would love to claim, which is probably bad news for the break, but you just never know. In this preview, I’ll also take a look at the classifications, just like I...

Muret > Carcassonne 170km Not sure what happened today, after UAE worked hard all day long, Pogačar decided the stage wasn’t for him. That’s not to take away from what was an incredible ride by Thymen Arensman, he was on a different level to his breakaway companions. Stage 15 looks like another breakaway day, it should be fun to watch.

Pau > Luchon-Superbagnères 183km A huge day of climbing, over 5000m of elevation gain is enormous. Pogačar leads by a mile, which will surely have a massive impact on the type of racing we get over the next week. Will Visma continue to try and attack him, or is it time to accept defeat? Breakaway riders will hope it’s the latter, it would open up a number of chances to take a stage win.

Loudenvielle > Peyragudes 10.9km ITT That’s that then. Total dominance by Pogačar, winning by 2:10 to Vingegaard and he now leads GC by 3:31. Evenepoel faltered, but did very well considering how far from the finish he started to have difficulty. With yellow seemingly all over, the focus turns to fight for 2nd, 3rd and the white jersey. Stage 13 is the rarely spotted mountain TT, the last one in the Tour was 2020 and that famous day on La Planche des Belles Filles, where the legend of Pogačar was born.

Auch > Hautacam 181km I really don’t know what I watched today, absolute madness, but that’s modern cycling for you. Anyway, the mountains are calling. The opening 11 stages have been great, but the best is yet to come. The riders are about to take on a block of 3 stages in the Pyrenees, the GC will look very different come Friday night. The last time the race finished at the top of Hautacam was back in 2022, Vingegaard beat Pogačar by 1:04 and a certain Wout Van Aert incredibly finished 3rd, he would have won if the break stayed...

Toulouse > Toulouse 156km What a first week that was, hats off to the ASO for some well-designed stages. It all started with Philipsen taking the first yellow jersey in Lille, while Evenepoel lost time in the crosswinds. Alpecin won the next stage too, Van der Poel was at his brilliant best to hold off Pogačar to take the stage and the yellow jersey in what was a thrilling finale. Next up it was Merlier beating Milan by a baw hair before Pogačar flipped the script on Van der Poel in Rouen. The TT went to Remco, with Pogačar moving...

Ennezat > Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy 166km It’s going to go off! UAE and Visma seem to be locked in a battle just now, with plenty happening on and off the bike. This tension has been brewing for quite some time, there’s no love lost between the two camps. I think Visma will have carefully studied this stage and see it as an opportunity to test out UAE and Pogačar, especially now Almeida is out the race. This is a great chance to test the UAE domestiques and see how many of them survive deep into the finale. This...

Chinon > Châteauroux 174km Day 9 and it’s another one for the fast men. There was a bit of frustration about the lack of a breakaway today, but when the organisers don’t put any reward in a stage, that’s what you get. No categorised climbs, no special prize for the breakaway riders (like you get in the Giro), it’s hard to encourage riders to jump in a pointless break. This stage has an intermediate sprint after just 24km, I would expect Lidl – Trek to make sure Milan is sprinting for 20 points, whether there’s a break that forms afterwards...