Overview
- Tadej Pogacar won the 14th stage on Saturday with a late attack on the final climb, taking his fourth stage victory of the 2026 Tour and stretching his overall lead to roughly 4 minutes 30 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard.
- Tim Merlier continued to control the sprint story earlier in the week by winning Stage 12 for his third stage triumph of this Tour, reinforcing his threat in the points competition.
- Stage 13 produced a breakaway winner, Mauro Schmid, who outsprinted Harold Tejada while Tom Pidcock used the long break to move up into contention for a top‑five overall placing.
- The sprint finishes have been chaotic and crash‑prone, with Fernando Gaviria and Soren Waerenskjold among those taken down in the Stage 12 pileup, though the principal general classification riders finished safely.
- With two big mountain days and a time trial still to come, UAE Team Emirates‑XRG’s control on climbs and the tight green‑jersey points race mean the coming stages will likely decide both the overall podium and the sprinters’ competition.