Road to the Podium TdF 2026

Tour de France 2026 lost its last real title fight on stage 15, when Tadej’s closest rival,Vingegaard, crashed out and abandoned with a broken collarbone. From that point on, the battle for the podium was barely a contest: Pogačar cruised to his fifth overall win, 6:26 clear of Remco Evenepoel, with nobody else close enough to threaten the top of the standings. What made the final week compelling instead was Pogačar’s own choice: rather than chase more stage wins, he rode as a domestique for teammate Isaac del Toro, defending the Mexican’s third place through the Alps so the 22-year-old could stand on the Paris podium beside him — something Pogačar had said he wanted well before the race even started. The chart below traces how that story unfolded, stage by stage: who was still fighting for the top 10, and who fell away along the road.