Returning to the area that saw him conquer his first Grand Tour stage, in the 2019 Vuelta, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG) turned in his most dominant solo ride ever in a three-week event.
Stage 4 of the 2026 edition took place entirely in Andorra, with a 104.8-km loop around Andorra la Vella featuring four ascents. Pogacar attacked on the second climb, Collada de Beixalis, and distanced all his rivals with 50 kilometres to go. The 5-time winner of the Tour de France thus surpassed his 43-km benchmark set last month en route to Gavarnie-Gèdre (stage 6), as well as his 39-km solo ride to Plataforma de Gredos in La Vuelta 19 (stage 20). A few days after his opening success in the Principality of Monaco, he took his fifth La Vuelta stage win, his first wearing La Roja, with a gap of 2’39” over his first chasers. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is now second in the overall standings (+3’21”).
After stage 3 had to be cancelled due to extreme weather, the race resumed with a mountain stage packing 3,000 metres of elevation with relentless ups and downs over the Port d’Envalira, Collada de Beixalis, Coll d’Ordino and Alto de La Comella.
Early in the stage, the peloton passed by Encamp, a few kilometres below Els Cortals d’Encamp, where Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates XRG) took his first Grand Tour stage win in 2019. At that point, the road rose towards the highest summit of the 2026 race: Port d’Envalira, at 2,409 metres of altitude.
Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Emirates XRG squad rapidly showed their ambition to control the stage. Early attackers tried to flip the script, with Visma-Lease a Bike particularly intent on making a strong breakaway. Sepp Kuss made his move alongside Wout van Aert, Matthew Brennan, Ben Tulett and Bruno Armirail.
Behind them, Decathlon CMA CGM set a strong pace. Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) went first at the summit (cat. 1, km 25.1) and the attackers were caught early on the downhill.
Onto the second ascent of the day, the steeper climb to Collada de Beixalis (6.5km at 8.5%), UAE Emirates XRG and Decathlon CMA CGM upped the ante. The bunch exploded and Pogacar accelerated. Felix Gall tried to follow him for a handful of kilometres but Decathlon CMA CGM’s Austrian climber had to let the Slovenian superstar go with 50 kilometres to go.
Behind him, 15 riders catch Gall. A dozen more returned on the downhill, while Pogacar rode away, with a gap of 1’40” at the bottom of the climb to Coll d’Ordino (cat. 1, summit at km 78.7).
Gall attacked on the climb with Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) on his wheel. They were joined by Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and then Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Enric Mas (Movistar). At the summit, Pogacar was more than 2 minutes away.
The sole leader kept pushing his advantage, up to a maximum of 3’05”, while a handful of climbers got back to the first chase group: Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché) and Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM). The former sets the pace for another attack by Gall on the final climb of the day, Alto de la Comella (cat. 3, km 99.4). But only Carapaz and Skjelmose are distanced.
At the line, Pogacar completed a 50-km solo ride and took the victory 2’39” ahead of Jarno Widar. In the overall standings, he is now 3’21” ahead of Primoz Roglic.
Pogacar: “I didn’t have to do that, but the pace was super high already on the first climb. Then on the second climb we were going basically all out from the bottom. Then when Jay let me pass on the wheel of Decathlon, I knew that I didn’t want to be isolated against all the GC riders because they would always play against me. I tried with an attack on the climb, and then just hoped I could survive until the finish. I saw that I could open a gap, and I did it. It was pretty tough, but a beautiful day out there.
“Any gap is more than enough, but it is super good because now I can be calm and confident for the next days. We will just keep going day by day, and keep focused on each day after this.
“I have such beautiful memories from the first time in Andorra. It was really beautiful, and it is one of my favourite moments from my career. I will never forget that day.”
2026 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 4 Brief Results
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) @ 2h 40’35”
- Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarche) @ 2’39”
- Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) s.t.
- Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) s.t.
- Sep Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) s.t.
- Enric Mas (Movistar) s.t.
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull BORA hansgrohe) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 4:
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) @ 7h 38’59”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull BORA hansgrohe) @ 3’21”
- Enric Mas (Movistar) @ 3’32”
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