The leaders have actually expanded their gap to almost a minute again with 45km to go.
Mechanicals for Michal Kwiatkowski (NCI) and Quinn Simmons (LTK).
50km to go
The peloton has calmed down a bit now but the GC teams still look very interested at the front with 48″ up to the break now.
Bike change
Isaac Del Toro (UAX)
The Mexican champion goes onto the same style of Colnago as Pogačar with the stripped paint on the frame.
These two are still riding hard with 45″ on the peloton as we are not far away from the finishing circuit.
Nils Politt (UAX) has done his job for Pogačar for now and is out of the back, but he may get back in again.
Multiple GC teams come to the front of the peloton with UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Decathlon-CMA CGM, Visma-Lease a Bike and Uno-X Mobility all fighting to lead the way in the peloton.
The race putting out the call for fans to NOT run alongside the riders after someone dressed as a banana did just that on the previous climb…
🍌 DON’T RUN NEXT TO THE RIDERS, EVEN IF YOU’RE A BANANA!🍌 NE COURREZ PAS À CÔTÉ DES COUREURS, MÊME SI VOUS ÊTES UNE BANANE !#TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/EV8zhudscOJuly 5, 2026
Arnaud De Lie is 1’38” back on the peloton but isn’t in trouble with the time limit just yet. Here is an explainer on how it all works…
After the climb Van der Broek sat up and has now been caught by the peloton.
Molenaar goes over the top of the climb and takes the 5 points.
Florian Vermeersch leads the way for Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG on the front of the peloton with 75km to go. Inside a minute to the break.
Girmay now losing touch with the peloton as well as the sprinters suffer after going all in at the intermediate sprint.
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché) is off the back of the peloton and he is having a very bad day yet again as he continues to have stomach issues. He has been plagued with health issues in the last couple of years with Lyme’s disease and other issues with a bacterial illness taking him out of the Giro.
The temperature is apparently up to 38°c on the road.
Mechanical for Pablo Castrillo (MOV).
UAE Team Emirates-XRG suddenly come to the front en masse. The pace has rocketed with the gap to the break shrinking all the time on the first climb of the day.
Onto the 6.1km Côte de Begues, the category 2 climb with the average gradient at 6.5%.
Intermediate sprint (Vialdecans)
1. Molenaar (CJR) 25pts
2. Engelhardt (JAY) 20pts
3. Van den Broek (TPP) 16pts
4. Girmay (NSN) 14pts
5. Pedersen (LTK) 12pts
6. Philipsen (APT) 10pts
7. Turgis (TEN) 9pts
8. Merlier (SOQ) 8pts
9. Kanter (XAT) 7pts
10. Matthews (JAY) 6pts
11. Wærenskjold (UXM) 5pts
12. Ballerini (XAT) 4pts
13. Vermeersch (UAD) 3pts
14. Stuyven (SOQ) 2pts
15. Wellens (UAX) 1pt
Girmay leads in the peloton and takes 14 points ahead of Pedersen. The pure sprinters or Merlier and Philipsen seemed to get a bit stuck in their gears.
Molenaar shows he has the pace and wins the intermediate sprint ahead of Engelhardt and Van den Broek. The latter opening up too early and from the front. 25 points go to the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA man who is registered Dutch and was born in Rotterdam but he was raised in Catalunya, so is a local lad.
Seixas following Pogačar everywhere, even back from a comfort break…
👀 Paul Seixas already in Tadej Pogacar’s wheel.😅👀 Paul Seixas, déjà dans la roue de Tadej Pogacar. 😅#TDF2026 pic.twitter.com/UUzqDScijBJuly 5, 2026
Decathlon-CMA CGM have Olav Kooij, Jasper Philipsen for Alpecin-Premier Tech, even the likes of Dorian Godon for Netcompany-Ineos could be involved in the fight.
Multiple teams moving up to the front of the peloton with Lidl-Trek working for Mads Pedersen, NSN for Binian Girmay and Soudal-QuickStep for Tim Merlier.
Just 5km to the intermediate sprint in Viladecans with 25, 20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points available. The first three spots will be taken by the leaders of Engelhardt, Van den Broek and Molenaar. But what will the action in the peloton be like behind?
Vingegaard told TNT Sports that he was wearing the face mask this morning because he has got sick the last two Tours and has already heard their is sickness in the peloton.
95km to go
The peloton led by Pinarello-Q36.5 has closed the gap to the breakaway to 2’44” with just over 10km to go until the intermediate sprint.
It is a big day for Ayuso as he races in the white best young riders jersey, something that has now been relinquished by the likes of Pogačar, Evenepoel and Vingegaard. He does go up against the likes of Seixas and Del Toro, though. But can he find the form he showed on the climbs in the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes as well as the early point of Paris-Nice and the Volta ao Algarve?
Here is that crash which happened earlier on today…
💥 Crash in the peloton. Biniam Girmay is among those who crashed as well as Silvan Dillier and Robbe Dhondt who seems to suffer.💥 Chute dans le peloton. Biniam Girmay est impliqué tout comme Silvan Dillier, Dorian Godon, Maxim Van Gils ou encore Robbe Dhondt qui semble… pic.twitter.com/v7SunUcrNKJuly 5, 2026
Pinarello-Q36.5 have sent their entire team to the front of the peloton with no-one else helping. British champion Fred Wright was chatting to Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to maybe start helping, but the answer is no for now.
30km until the riders get to the intermediate sprint in Viledecans.
Pogačar was the fastest of the riders from the bottom to the top of the Montjuïc climb in yesterday’s TTT giving him the KOM jersey. However, Pidcock was faster in the final 700 metres, which is the steepest part of the climb, averaging over 40kph on the slopes that kick up to around 10%.
Veistroffer sits up and has now been caught by the bunch.
The temperature is now up to 35°c with Pinarello-Q36.5 deciding that they will take control of the stage as Tom Pidcock looks to take the win today.
Jenthe Biermans (COF) back at the doctors car. The medics have had a very busy start to the stage today.
Veistroffer now at +2’35” on the leaders. He won’t be joining them.
Second bike change for Girmay after crashing.
The gap yawns open to over three and a half minutes to the three leaders with Veistroffer just under a minute behind them.
With Lipowitz being close to the rear of the peloton early on today, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe may be a bit worried as he struggled in the TTT, leaving Remco Evenepoel to kick on alone…
No team has come to the front to control things just yet as the gap continues to grow.
Some of the big teams now swinging to the side to take comfort breaks as the peloton goes clear.
Yet another puncture. It is John Degenkolb (TPP) now.
And that is that, the peloton sits up with the leaders getting over a minute. Veistroffer is in the gap at 30″ and will be hoping to join the trio out front.
Veistroffer is now in the gap and the peloton looks to have finally eased up.
The peloton are trying to calm things down but they can see the break just 17″ up the road and want to bridge as Lotto-Intermarché manage to get a solo rider out of front with the peloton looking happy with that move.
Yet another puncture, this time for Damien Howson (PQT).
Gate is back at the doctors car after his crash.
Counter attacks continue to kick off out of the peloton but they don’t get very far off the front.
The three leaders are pushing hard but they only have 12″ on the peloton now.
160km to go
Into the final 100 miles and the leaders have just 22″ on the peloton as the fun and games continue behind.
More riders launch counter attacks in the peloton as the pace kicks up again to get into the early breakaway.
After that crash the peloton eases with the leading trio taking their chance to pull away.
Crash!
Aaron Gate (XAT)
Silvan Dillier (APT)
Biniam Girmay (NSN)
Robbe Dhondt (TPP)
Kelland O’Brien (JAY)
Anton Charmig (UXM)
Maxim Van Gils (RBH)
Dorian Godon (NCI)
All seem to be getting back up and setting off again.
Engelhardt is joined by Alex Molenaar (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Frank van den Broek (Picnic-PostNL). They have 17″ on the peloton so far.
Interesting to see Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) right near the back of the peloton already. The German struggled in the TTT yesterday and looks to be hurting early on here.
Attack
Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla)
The new German champion goes clear and is joined by a Picnic-PostNL rider with Caja Rural-Seguros RGA launching two riders across.
The peloton is stretched right out in one long line as the first attack is caught. Veistroffer isn’t giving up, though.
Six riders get a gap with another couple coming across as UAE Team Emirates-XRG chasing it down.
168.5km to go
Racing begins and it is the breakaway star Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) leading the first move of the day.
Just 1km to the official start.
Multiple issues for riders including Seb Berwick (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) who has a front wheel puncture.
Just over 5km left of the neutral in Tarragona.
Neutral start
The riders have started the neutral zone with a couple of issues for riders including Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla).
Vingegaard went to the presentation today with a familiar sight of the covid mask as he aims to avoid illness.
🎛️ Derniers réglages pour Jonas Vingegaard 💛#TDF2026 #MaillotJauneLCL pic.twitter.com/UR3vTyJJ7qJuly 5, 2026
Lets take a look at who’s in what jersey today!
Yellow – Jonas Vingegaard (TVL)
Green – Egan Bernal (NCI)
Polka dots – Tadej Pogačar (UAX)
White – Juan Ayuso (LTK)
Best team – Netcompany-Ineos
Just 10 minutes until the neutralised start.
The temperature is already above 30°c in Tarragona and will get hotter as the day goes on. It is going to be a tough day in the saddle for the riders who will need to manage the amount of liquid and food they take on throughout the day very carefully.
Other riders to come down were about half of the XDS-Astana team. Fortunately, none of them have left the race due to this, but a calamitous start to the race.
We do have one non-starter to tell you about, Clement Berthet (Groupama-FDJ United) is the first man to leave the race after crashing in yesterday’s TTT.
🇫🇷🇪🇸 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 #𝟏Une entame prometteuse mais un véritable crève-cœur : Clément Berthet ne prendra pas le départ demain suite à sa chute. On est avec toi Clem’ 🫶🔗 https://t.co/CvNRMK2RrG pic.twitter.com/jTn5XjTdF1July 4, 2026
Make sure to do our prediction game and vote for who you think will take the stage today. Will it be a win for Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech)? Maybe the world champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) will show his strength? Perhaps some British success with Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5)? Or someone else? Vote above this update! And comment your pick at the bottom of the page.
There was a lot of new tech and interesting cooling techniques on show in yesterday’s TTT from new helmets to ice boxes to plunge arms into, it was all there in Barcelona…
Cooling hacks, prototype bikes and new TT groupset parts: Tour de France TTT tech gallery
There are absolutely huge crowds in Tarragona for the rider presentation and neutral start today.
We remain in Catalunya for stage 2 of the race after a rapid and hot TTT in Barcelona yesterday. Relive the action with our post race report below…
Tour de France: Visma-Lease a Bike sweep to stage 1 team time trial victory in Barcelona
Bonjour and welcome to Cyclingnews‘ live updates of stage 2 at the Tour de France 2026!
Rider presentations are well underway in Taragona before today’s start with the neutralised start coming in around 45 minutes time. The day starts simply enough but turns into a nasty finale with three more times up the Montjuïc climb in Barcelona with over 2500m of elevation. See our in-depth preview below for a deeper dive into what the riders will face today…
Tour de France 2026 stage 2: A chance for Pogačar or a puncheur with three Montjuïc climbs – preview
