It\u2019s so terrible that it might be the hardest finale the Tour de France has seen in a decade.<\/p>\n
And guess who is already plotting to annihilate at least one of ASO\u2019s marquee stages before the race returns to Paris?<\/p>\n
You know it.<\/p>\n
Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> is seeking his ultimate Tour de France coronation in the hulking peaks of the Alps.<\/p>\n A botched leadout<\/a> for teammate Isaac del Toro on Plateau de Solaison and losing to Remco Evenepoel<\/a> in the stage 16 time trial fed King Pog\u2019s hunger.<\/p>\n \u201cI always ride to win. I really wanted to give it my all today and to win. My legs felt good, and I was incredibly motivated, but Remco is simply the best time trialist ever,\u201d Poga\u010dar admitted after the stage on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cThat gives me extra fire to go for another stage win in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n The hardest final mountain block in a decade<\/p>\n The men\u2019s Tour de France returns to Alpe d\u2019Huez, \u201cthe rockstar mountain\u201d of road cycling, for the first time since 2022 on Friday.<\/p>\n Stage 19 winds its way up the infamous 21 bends for a brutal summit finish to a spicey, 128km stage.<\/p>\n The pack returns to the Alpe via the gnarled Sarenne goat track on stage 20 for a classic \u201cqueen stage\u201d with a twist. The Croix de Fer, T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe, and Galibier are just \u201cwarm ups\u201d before the back-road route to the ski town caps a stage with 5,500m climbing.<\/p>\n With the grueling uphill haul to Orci\u00e8res-Merlette on Thursday included, the Tour de France hasn\u2019t seen a final block this hard since Pogi came to prominence.<\/p>\n The last time the race successfully finished with three consecutive stages so severe was 2016. The finale in 2019 might have taken the punishment prize but landslides and severe weather decided to decapitate the race.<\/p>\n Another climbing record on Alpe d\u2019Huez? The back-to-back summit finishes in Alpe d\u2019Huez are the crescendo of ASO\u2019s old-school final of the 2026 Tour de France.<\/p>\n It seems to be in Poga\u010dar\u2019s destiny that he\u2019ll win one, if not both of them.<\/p>\n The grimy resort has celebrated the biggest superstars of the sport \u2013 but not yet Poga\u010dar, the Meckxian GOAT of our era.<\/p>\n Demi Vollering, Tom Pidcock, and Geraint Thomas are the last three who won on Alpe d\u2019Huez after they navigated tunnels of crazed roadside crowds.<\/p>\n Before them, Andrew Hampsten, Marco Pantani, and Carlos Sastre earned a ceremonial plaque mounted to the side of a hairpin by winning on the hors categorie horror.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar might be next.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old said in his post-race conference on Wednesday he ranked the 14km switchback climb alongside Ventoux and Tourmalet as the icons of the Tour de France.<\/p>\n Victory on the Alpe d\u2019Huez would be the ultimate way for Poga\u010dar to seal a historic fifth yellow jersey. Adding to his collection of prestigious climbing records would make it all the sweeter.<\/p>\n Marco Pantani owns the two fastest Alpe d\u2019Huez ascents in history with times of 36:40 in 1995<\/a> and 36:53 in 1997 .<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve scheduled two of the toughest stages back-to-back this year, both finishing at Alpe d\u2019Huez,\u201d Poga\u010dar said. \u201cI expect it to be insane. We already saw huge crowds on Le Markstein. But I think Alpe d\u2019Huez might even top that. It\u2019s going to be fantastic.<\/p>\n \u2018I hope nothing goes wrong, but \u2026 we\u2019ll see. It\u2019s going to be a great finish to this Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n Seixas and Del Toro battle to become Tour de France prince in the Alps Poga\u010dar aside, this brutal Alpine triple will host the final act of one of the most fascinating GC battles the Tour has seen in years.<\/p>\n Even with Adam Yates falling sick, only disaster or a late-night doping test<\/a> can stop Poga\u010dar from winning the yellow jersey.<\/p>\n However, Jonas Vingegaard\u2019s exit has blown open the chase for the spots below the Slovenian dominator.<\/p>\n Evenepoel is in his best form in years and has a strong grip on second, but he\u2019s lost his best teammate, Florian Lipowitz.<\/p>\n Del Toro and Paul Seixas are as good as neck and neck in the fight for third overall and the white jersey, and both have the potential to win big in the Alps.<\/p>\n Del Toro might get some superdomestique pulls from Poga\u010dar if his captain feels generous again<\/a>. French phenom Seixas has the collective power of a nation behind him.<\/p>\n Tour de France stages 18, 19, 20: The peloton\u2019s terrible route to Paris<\/p>\n Here are the raw details of stages 18, 19, and 20.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1408703238.jpg\"\/)
Expect madness when the Tour de France ascends the Alpe d\u2019Huez on Friday. (Photo: Michael Steele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2286147905.jpg\"\/)
Paul Seixas is fighting Isaac Del Toro to reclaim the white jersey. (Photo: Jeff PACHOUD \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
![\"tour](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tour-de-france-stage-18.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Tour](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4491c.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Tour](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ebc22-2.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 23, 2026 04:35AM Double Alpe d\u2019Huez. 13,000m of high-altitude climbing. A rutted back road climb. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,11177,42371,42271,52351,52352,52353,1644],"class_list":["post-107116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps","tag-parent_category-road","tag-tag-isaac-del-toro","tag-tag-paul-seixas","tag-tag-remco-evenepoel","tag-tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tag-tour-de-france","tag-type-article"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116968886459725290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}