As the only "true" Pyreneean stage of the 2026 Tour de France, stage 6's 186.2 km ride through the mountain range's feared and fabled Circle of Death was always going to be a major setpiece of the race. But it was far from a tactically straightforward course profile.
There were two steep, long climbs in the Col d'Aspin and the high-altitude Col du Tourmalet – at 2,115 meters the second-highest summit of this year's race – but the riddle was what to do after. The Tourmalet summit lay almost 40 km from the finish, and the last climb, to the finish line at Gavarnie-Gèdre, was 18.7 km long but quite gentle (3.7% average) by Tour standards. Do you drive the final climb, hoping to break things up and nab a few seconds here or there? Do you simply cover attacks and wait for more promising terrain another day?
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