Stage 3 Preview: The Tour Climbs Into the Pyrenees for Its First Mountain Test at Les Angles
The Tour de France says goodbye to Catalonia and points its wheels toward the mountains on stage 3, a 195.9km haul from Granollers to the ski resort of Les Angles that carries the race across the border into the French Pyrenees. After two days of nervous, punchy racing around Barcelona, this is the first stage with genuine altitude gain and the first real opportunity for the general classification contenders to show their hands.
With roughly 3,850 metres of climbing packed into the day, the decisive terrain arrives in the second half. The category 1 Col de Toses is the centrepiece: 9.3km at an average of 6.5 per cent, but with a vicious final four kilometres averaging around nine per cent. It is the first hors-Barcelona test of the legs, and although its summit comes with some 68km still to race, it is steep enough to thin the peloton and set the tone for everything that follows.
The finale then tips over the Col du Calvaire, a long and steady 11.4km at 4.1 per cent, before the short uphill drag to the line at Les Angles. The final ascent measures 4.7km at 4.6 per cent, ramping up to around 6.5 per cent inside the last two kilometres. It is not a summit finish of the demolition-derby variety, but the gradients are awkward enough to reward an explosive attack and punish anyone caught out of position.
All eyes will be on the yellow jersey of Jonas Vingegaard, who carries a slender six-second lead over Tadej Pogacar into the climbs. The Visma-Lease a Bike leader has looked sharp in the opening days, but the first mountain stage is where the true hierarchy of this Tour will begin to emerge. Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG arrive with momentum after Isaac del Toro's Barcelona win and will fancy their chances of taking time.
Remco Evenepoel, third overall at fifteen seconds, will be desperate to prove he can hold the wheels of the two favourites on a proper climb, while Isaac del Toro in the white jersey has the freedom to race aggressively. Lurking behind them all is the question of the breakaway: with an intermediate summit so far from the line, many expect the day's move to be given room, setting up a fight for the stage between escapees and a GC skirmish behind.
There is also intrigue over how the puncheurs and one-day specialists handle the transition to the high mountains. Riders like Mathieu van der Poel, who have thrived on the opening weekend's short, sharp finishes, now face a very different kind of test, and survival rather than glory may be the order of the day for the fast men. For the overall favourites, though, stage 3 is the moment the 2026 Tour finally bares its teeth.