Now that Jonas Vingegaard has crashed out of the Tour de France and Tadej Pogačar is five minutes ahead of second-placed Remco Evenepoel, you might be thinking the race is over. Absolutely not! There are plenty of reasons to keep watching during the third and final week of the 2026 edition.
Most notably, the final two podium spots are still very much up for grabs, with four riders within two minutes of each other and three major mountain finishes on the horizon.
The final six days begin on Tuesday with the 26.1-kilometre stage 16 individual time trial followed by a transitional stage from Chambéry to Voiron. Then the triple whammy in the Alps culminating with the back-to-back finishes on Alpe d’Huez. Even the final stage in Paris has room for drama with the triple climbs of Montmartre.
This Tour de France has been solidly in Pogačar’s hands since his raid over the Col du Tourmalet on stage 6. There was hope that Vingegaard could stage a third-week comeback, but those were tragically dashed when he fell in a roundabout and broke his collarbone on Sunday.
Pogačar is by no means assured the overall victory in Paris yet. After starting amid a brutal heat wave in Spain and the Pyrenees, the weather is about to change for the Tour, with much cooler temperatures and maybe even rain in store. It’s difficult to predict what a major change in conditions will do to riders, especially in the third week of a Grand Tour.
Even if the yellow jersey seems to have found a home for a fifth time on Pogačar’s shoulders, there are still quite open contests for the two podium spots and the points, mountains and best young riders’ classifications. These and the six remaining battles for a stage win are top reasons to keep watching the Tour de France.
Only nine of the race’s 23 teams have won a stage, so every day will be a massive fight to make the breakaway. That kind of chaos can be difficult for one team to control, and with Visma-Lease a Bike now joining the list of stage-hunting squads, it will only be harder for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
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It’s almost shocking that Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) has not succeeded in winning a stage yet for all of his aggression. After making a 57-rider breakaway on stage 13 and moving up to fourth place overall, Pidcock went on the attack again on both stages over the weekend but wasn’t able to translate that into a stage win. Alpe d’Huez might be another chance for the Briton.
Teams without a serious contender in the fight for the GC or other jersey competitions will undoubtedly contribute to the action, so look for aggression from Education-EasyPost, XDS-Astana, Netcompany Ineos and Movistar, in particular.
There are definitely more reasons to keep watching the Tour de France, too.
Paul Seixas vs. Isaac del Toro for the white jersey
The young French hope Paul Seixas has been the centre of attention for the home crowds, but he has been lying fairly low so far in his Tour de France debut. The Decathlon CMA CGM team’s stage win by Olav Kooij took the pressure off, and Seixas’ more conservative approach has kept him in podium contention heading into the final week.
For now, his fight is mainly with Isaac del Toro for the white jersey – Seixas is currently 25 seconds behind the Mexican in both regards and heading into his favoured terrain. A Paul Seixas victory on Alpe d’Huez would be a dream scenario for the Tour de France fans and organisers alike.
The contest between the two incredibly talented young riders this year could be a taste of things to come a few seasons down the road, so it will be a fascinating study.
Evenepoel and Lipowitz could get tactical
Everyone loves a little intra-team drama at the Tour de France. While it has been played down by the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, there’s no ignoring the lack of cooperation between Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz this year.
Unlike Pogačar and Del Toro, who took turns helping each other to stage wins in the first week, there has been no such sacrifice within Red Bull. It’s been a contest of legs over strategy.
With Evenepoel now second overall and 1:48 ahead of the German, there is a chance for the team to do something audacious and tactically brilliant, like send Lipowitz up the road and let Evenepoel follow the wheels.
Even teams like Lidl-Trek with Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose both in the top 10 have a chance to make their GC rivals worry. With UAE Team Emirates-XRG already expending a lot of effort in defending the maillot jaune for ten straight stages, there is still room to break the race wide open.
Green jersey not decided
Points classification leader Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) didn’t consider Wednesday’s stage to Voiron to be one for the sprinters, but with the intermediate sprint coming with 27.2km to go and no categorised climbs in the second half of the 174.7km stage, it could well become a sprint battle royale.
Pedersen leads Jasper Philipsen by just 31 points, while Biniam Girmay (NSN) is third, 56 points down. On stage 17, the win is worth 50 points and the intermediate sprint 75, so the jersey is by no means decided.
Philipsen already went into the breakaway on Friday’s stage with multiple teammates and made Pedersen expend a lot of energy to get across to the move before the intermediate sprint.
A similar scenario could play out on Wednesday. With four climbs in the first 55km, it will be an epic battle to make the early breakaway and – if the green jersey competitors don’t make it – a massive effort to chase it down.
Mountains classification still wide open
Much like the points jersey, the polka dots are also very much up for grabs. Thanks to his stage wins and first place over the Tourmalet, Pogačar leads the mountains classification with 67 points. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) is second with 45, while Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) is third with 39, just five ahead of Seixas.
There is still a maximum of 148 points available towards the polka dot jersey, with Saturday’s stage to Alpe d’Huez via the Col de Sarenne offering nearly half of that, thanks to the hors categorie Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Galibier and Sarenne each worth 20 for the first man over the top the same day.
It will be worth watching the final week for no other reason than to see how this contest plays out.
Who will be the Lanterne Rouge?
The Tour de France can seem one-dimensional when you only focus on the leaders, but well behind the television camera motorbikes, riders are fighting just to make the finish every day.
On Saturday, it was poor Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) who was dropped on the first climb and fought alone to the finish, only to miss the time cut by 17 minutes. The day before winning stage 11, Søren Wærenskjold was the one fighting off the broom wagon.
There is a badge of honour for being the last-placed rider in the GC standings – the ‘lanterne rouge’ – surviving the Tour de France is a massive accomplishment for most riders. Currently, three riders are within 30 seconds of each other for the title – Kamil Gradek (Bahrain Victorious) is four hours, 32 minutes and 29 seconds behind Pogačar. Just ahead are Lewis Askey (NSN) and Cees Bol (Decathlon).
From the front of the race to the autobus, there is still plenty of racing left, so keep watching the Tour de France.
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