Del Toro celebrates first Tour stage win, Vingegaard defends Yellow Jersey

Pogacar ultimately did not push through completely, allowing his teammate a significant personal triumph. At the same time, the Austrian did not extend his deficit to the overall leader, even though he was on the losing side in the battle for seconds this time. "Er liegt nun sechs Sekunden vor Pogacar," the Deutschlandfunk reporter summarized the overall situation after the stage. The Austrian Felix Großschartner had previously performed valuable work for his UAE teammates and helped set the pace in the peloton over long stretches.

Lipowitz misses the lead group

At the front, "hatten sich mit Alex Molenaar und Felix Engelhardt lange zwei Fahrer an der Spitze gehalten," before the peloton raised the tempo in Barcelona. In Barcelona, however, the bunch had closed the gap and completed the junction with the breakaways. That cleared the stage for the favorites group's final push on the last uphill meters.

Riding in the Yellow Jersey, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) finished fourth behind Remco Evenepoel of the Red Bull squad. The Dane thus defended the overall lead and heads to the Pyrenees with a narrow margin of six seconds over Pogacar. Evenepoel delivered another strong performance in the high mountains with third place, keeping himself in the circle of contenders for the general classification.

Breakaways caught late

For Florian Lipowitz, the stage was less successful. The German, who had started the race as Germany's hope, reached the finish in Barcelona in 16th place. He thus missed the jump to the lead group but gained further experience in the peloton of a Grand Tour.

The second stage was also the final Spanish act of this year's Tour. As the reporter emphasized, "geht es am Montag in die Pyrenäen." This means the riders face a mountain stage on day three, set to finish in the French Pyrenean town of Les Angles, which could already provoke first significant gaps in the general classification.

Vingegaard holds Yellow Jersey

The report was broadcast on 05.07.2026 in the Deutschlandfunk program. The coverage highlighted the special situation that it was a young outsider in del Toro who took the day's victory, while the established stage race stars Pogacar and Vingegaard must continue to wait on each other for now.

Outlook: Pyrenees await

Overall, the stage offered the profile fans expect from a Tour: a long breakaway attempt, the catch by the peloton, and a gripping sprint on an iconic climb. That in the end a rider from the UAE team — though not the designated captain — triumphed underscores the squad's tactical depth and gives del Toro momentum for the upcoming mountain stages.