Pogačar's Five Wins at the 2026 Tour de France Broken Down: Five Stages, Four Mountain Ranges, One Way to Win?

Winning five stages in a single Tour de France is already rare; having those five wins spread across four different mountain ranges, each achieved in a different manner, is another level entirely.

At the 2026 Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar won the overall title while personally taking S3, S6, S10, S14, and S19. This article won’t recap the racing; instead, it treats these five stages as five case studies, breaking down what type each one belongs to.

Overview of the Five Stages

Stage	Route	Mountain Range	Type Keywords
S3	Granollers → Les Angles	Pyrenees	First win of the race, setting the tone early
S6	Pau → Gavarnie-Gèdre	Pyrenees (Tourmalet)	Classic mountain stage, legendary pass
S10	Aurillac → Le Lioran	Massif Central	Bastille Day, rolling medium mountains
S14	Mulhouse → Le Markstein Fellering	Vosges	7.2 km solo breakaway from the Col du Hundsruck
S19	Gap → Alpe d’Huez	Alps	Classic summit finish, record-breaking climb

Just looking at this table reveals one thing: none of these five stages posed the same kind of challenge.

S3｜Early Tone-Setter

Stage 3 started in Granollers, Spain (the 2026 Tour’s Grand Départ was in Barcelona, with the first two stages held in Spain), finishing at Les Angles in the Pyrenees.

This was his first stage win of the edition, coming on day three of the race. The strategic value of this type of stage isn’t in “how much you win by,” but in the timing: winning early gives the team more tactical options over the next two weeks and forces rivals to go on the offensive from the very first week.

Type Definition: Not the hardest stage, but the earliest.

S6｜Classic Mountain Stage

Stage 6 started in Pau and finished at Gavarnie-Gèdre, with the route crossing the Col du Tourmalet.

The Tourmalet is one of the most frequently used high mountain passes in Tour de France history—a signature of the Pyrenees. The defining characteristic of this kind of stage is that “there’s nowhere to hide”: long duration, sustained gradients, high altitude. Any physical weakness is honestly magnified.

Type Definition: A pure test of climbing endurance, measuring who can sustain output at high intensity for the longest time.

S10｜Rolling Medium Mountains

Stage 10 ran from Aurillac to Le Lioran, located in the Massif Central, and it happened to fall on July 14th, Bastille Day.

The terrain of the Massif Central is very different from the Pyrenees or the Alps: there are no twenty-kilometre giant passes. Instead, you get continuous, dense, constantly changing medium mountain climbs. The difficulty of this type of stage lies in the inability to settle into a rhythm—you can’t set a power zone and ride the whole stage; you have to constantly respond to changes.

Add to that Bastille Day, when French riders and team leaders’ desire to win is at its peak, and the race is often at full speed from the gun. Winning in that chaos requires not just climbing ability, but also tactical reading.

Type Definition: Identifying opportunity within chaos, testing who can read the moment best.

S14｜Long-Range Solo Breakaway

Stage 14 went from Mulhouse to Le Markstein Fellering, in the Vosges. On this stage, he attacked from the Col du Hundsruck and rode solo for 7.2 km to the finish.

A 7.2 km solo breakaway is a high-cost move in the dense chasing environment of modern road racing. Once you commit, there’s no turning back: the chasing group behind can rotate through the wind, while you have to shoulder it alone. This kind of move requires three conditions to align simultaneously—the attack point must be chosen precisely, you need to genuinely have something left in the tank, and you must be mentally prepared to accept failure.

Type Definition: Time-trial-style self-reliance, testing the judgment of the attack point and the ability to produce power alone.

S19｜Classic Summit Finish

Stage 19 ran from Gap to Alpe d’Huez, one of the most recognisable climb finishes in road cycling, with its 21 numbered switchbacks.

The climb time on this stage became the most discussed number of the edition: Reuters timed him at 35 minutes 27 seconds, reporting it broke the record and was over a minute faster than Marco Pantani’s old mark. (Cross-era climbing time comparisons come with several caveats, including the timing start point, fatigue from the earlier part of the stage, equipment generations, and the day’s wind conditions—worth a separate deep dive.)

What’s notable is its position: Stage 19, the tail end of a three-week race. Producing this kind of intensity at that point in the race demonstrates durability, not just one-day explosiveness.

Type Definition: A display of limits at the end of three weeks, testing whose body hasn’t been worn down yet.

After the Breakdown, What We See

Putting the five stages side by side, three observations emerge:

1. Extremely Broad Terrain Coverage

Pyrenees, Massif Central, Vosges, Alps—he took one or two wins in each. The gradient profiles, road surfaces, and altitudes vary greatly across these mountain ranges. Winning in four different environments shows adaptability that isn’t limited to a single type of climbing.

2. No Repetition in Tactics

Summit showdown, classic pass, opportunistic win on a chaotic day, 7.2 km solo breakaway—these four winning methods require abilities that don’t fully overlap. A pure climber might not dare to attempt a long-range solo; someone skilled at soloing might not be able to fight for position in the chaos of medium mountains.

3. Timing Spread Widely Across the Race

S3 (Week 1), S6 (end of Week 1), S10 (start of Week 2), S14 (Week 2), S19 (Week 3). The five wins are evenly distributed across three weeks—direct evidence of “maintaining a high level throughout the entire race,” rather than concentrating them in a single peak of form.

Extended Thoughts for Taiwanese Riders

In our climbing culture, many people label themselves: “I’m a long-climb type,” “I’m not good at rolling terrain.” The perspective Pogačar’s five stages offer is—there can be more than one way to win, but each one has to be genuinely trained for. If you usually only ride long, sustained climbs like Wuling, and you lose speed on routes with frequent rhythm changes like the Beiyi Highway or Fengguizui, that’s something you can specifically work on—and vice versa.

That said, professional riders’ training volume and recovery resources are completely different from those of everyday cyclists. Any training adjustment carries individual variation, so it’s advisable to progress gradually and arrange things according to your own health condition.

Summary

Five stage wins, four mountain ranges, more than four ways of winning. After the 2026 Tour, the most worthwhile thing to discuss about Pogačar might not be “how strong he is,” but “how many different ways he has of being strong.”

Related Reading

• 26 Tour de France Stage Wins: Pogačar’s Harvest Route Map from 2020 to 2026
• Pogačar’s Fifth Title: 2026 Tour de France Overview, a Year Alongside Four Legends
• What Can Taiwanese Riders Learn from Pogačar? The Transferable Parts of Attacking Riding and the Parts You Absolutely Can’t Copy
• The Timing of Pogačar’s Attacks: The Same Logic Behind 78 km, 55 km, 24.2 km, and 7.2 km