The Château does its work
The first road stage of the 2026 Tour ended where the whole race began: on Montjuïc. Two laps of the Barcelona finishing circuit, and on the final ascent of the Côte du Château de Montjuïc — 1.6 km at 9.3% — Isaac del Toro jumped.
The gap opened instantly, and it stayed open for the best tactical reason in cycling: his teammate Tadej Pogačar sat on the wheel of everyone who thought about chasing. Del Toro crossed the line alone for his first Tour de France stage win, in only his second Tour, with Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel rounding out the podium on the same time.
Casualties and margins
Mathieu van der Poel — a favourite for exactly this kind of finish — was dropped on the final climb. And at the top of the standings, Jonas Vingegaard held on to yellow by just 6 seconds over Pogačar, the sort of margin that keeps sports directors awake.
Stage profile and result on the stage 2 page — and the whole race is on the Tour tracker.
