The Race to the Sun is in full swing, and right now it belongs to one man. Jonas Vingegaard has won two consecutive stages and holds a 3-minute-22-second lead over his nearest GC rival. With three stages left, he is looking all but unstoppable.
Stage 1 — Lamperti Opens in a Sprint American sprinter Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost) took the opening bunch sprint in Carrières-sous-Poissy, grabbing the first leader’s jersey of the race. A clean, fast day — calm before the storm.
Stage 2 — Kanter Wins the Chaos Max Kanter sped to victory in a messy sprint finish in Montargis. The stage was animated but the GC riders stayed safe, biding their time.
Stage 3 — Ineos Win the Team Time Trial Ineos Grenadiers took stage 3’s team time trial, but it was Juan Ayuso who benefited most, moving into the overall lead by a hair ahead of Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley.
Stage 4 — Carnage in the Crosswinds Everything changed on the rain-soaked road to Uchon. Crosswinds shredded the peloton from the start, triggering crashes that took out Ayuso (ambulance, but no fractures confirmed later) and Brandon McNulty (abandoned). Jonas Vingegaard, perfectly sheltered by teammate Edoardo Affini through the chaos, attacked one kilometre from the finish to win solo. He crossed the line in a yellow rain jacket — “maybe I’m a trendsetter,” he joked — and took the overall lead.
Stage 5 — Vingegaard Goes Again As if stage 4 wasn’t enough, Vingegaard went solo again on stage 5, launching a 20km attack on the Côte de Saint-Jean-de-Muzols and finishing more than two minutes clear of Valentin Paret-Peintre. His GC lead now stands at 3:22 over Dani Martinez.
Stage 6 — Barbentane to Apt (179.3km)
Harold Tejada of Astana Qazaqstan took a superb solo victory in Apt, attacking on the final climbs and holding on to win by 6 seconds over a chase group that included Dorian Godon in second and Lewis Askey in third. It was only the second career win for the Colombian climber, and by far the biggest. Vingegaard and his GC rivals were safely in the chase group — the Dane’s overall lead remains untouched heading into the final weekend. Two stages remain before the finish in Nice on Sunday.
Stage 7 — Nice to Isola (47km — shortened due to snow)
What should have been the queen stage turned into chaos before it even started. Heavy snowfall forced organisers to cut the stage twice — first from 139km to 120km, then all the way down to just 47km — keeping the sprinters firmly in the frame. Dorian Godon of Ineos Grenadiers unleashed a powerful sprint on the uphill finish in Isola to take his first win with the team, edging out Biniam Girmay and Cees Bol. Vingegaard was caught behind a crash with 2km to go but was protected by the UCI’s 3km rule and given the same time as the winner — his yellow jersey is safe. One final stage remains tomorrow in Nice.
Stage 8 — Nice to Nice (129.5km)
The final stage delivered a dramatic conclusion. Jonas Vingegaard attacked on the Côte du Linguador with around 20km to go, and only Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious could follow. The two cooperated on the run-in to Nice, but in the sprint it was Martinez who launched first and held off Vingegaard to take the stage win. Vingegaard, however, had long since secured the overall title — his dominant performance across the week was never seriously threatened after his stunning stage 4 attack in the crosswinds.
Final overall classification:
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)
- Daniel Felipe Martínez (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe) +3:22
- Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost)