Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond
Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond
Stage 3 of the Tour de France 2026 is the final part of the Spanish Grand Départ, a 196km mountain stage.
It is from Granollers, and there's an early climb of the Côte de Saint Feliu de Codines. After the Col de Toses near La Molina, the race enters France.
The finale is a summit finish at Les Angles in the Pyrenees.
Christian Prudhomme thinks that Stage 3 will be one for a strong breakaway group, with the final 1.7km at 7% allowing the best on the day to surge to the finish line.
Race Details | Poll | Map & Profile | Timings | Videos | Food & Drink | Route Notes | Favourites
| Date | Monday 6th July 2026 |
|---|---|
| Stage classification | Mountain |
| Distance | 196km |
| Intermediate sprint | TBC |
| Climbs | Côte de Sant Feliu de Codines Col de Toses Les Angles |
| Total climbing | 3,950m |
Vote for one of the main contenders to win Stage 3 (to be added later).
This is a map of the route of Stage 3, Tour de France 2026.
This is a zoom-able map of Stage 3 Tour de France 2026 (to follow).
This is the profile of Stage 3 Tour de France 2026.
| Caravan | Fast Schedule | Slow Schedule | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Time (départ fictif) | |||
| Start Time (départ réel) | |||
| Intermediate Sprint | |||
| Col de Toses Climb | |||
| Finish Line (196km) |
This is a video of the route of Stage 3 Tour de France 2026.
Stage 3 of the Tour de France 2026 is from Granollers to Les Angles, in the Pyrénées-Orientales département.
In Les Angles, you could eat at Chez Antoine Martin, who offers authentic and traditional Catalan cooking.
In what I suspect is a machine translation of the original French, one Tripadvisor reviewer says, 'In the "come hungry" series, we keep a bestseller. An appetizer of scallop nuts that would make some dishes of the same name pale from other establishments, a magical side of beef, gargantuan desserts, all cooked finely, happiness. Add a team on top'.
Anyway, grilled meat seems to feature heavily.
Wikipedia tells me that Catalan cuisine also relies on Mediterranean ingredients, including fresh vegetables, tomato, garlic, aubergine, beans and mushrooms.
It features pork (inland) and seafood (along the coast). Catalan-style cod with raisins and pine nuts sounds nice.
Crema catalana, made from egg yolk, milk and sugar, is a well-known dessert.
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The stage starts in Granollers (départ fictif).
Granollers is around 30km north east of Barcelona, and there's no escaping the feeling that it was chosen because it gets the peloton a bit closer to France, where they are heading today.
It's the capital of the comarca of Vallès Oriental. It stands on the Congost river.
In the 1800s, this was a textile town. Now, it's a bustling business centre.
The départ réel is TBC.
The riders make their way north to Sant-Feliu-de-Codines.
This is the first categorised climb on the stage - the Côte de Sant-Feliu-de-Codines.
It is 7.6km at an average gradient of 4.5%. It might serve as the launchpad for the day's breakaway.
Sant-Feliu-de-Codines is known for a warm, dry climate which is considered beneficial to valetudinarians.
Stage continues to Centelles, on the river Congost.
Now the race route heads for Vic, which is a significant town.
Vic is the capital of the comarca of Osona. It is in the Plain of Vic, about half way between Barcelona and the Pyrenees.
It gets its name from the Latin Vicus Ausonae, where vicus means a town - so in effect, it is just called 'town'.
It is known for temperature inversions in Winter, producing persistent fog.
Vic has a history of Basque separatist sentiment.
Spanish philosopher Jaume Balmes is buried in Vic.
The race heads relentlessly north, following the river Ter to Ripoll.
A Benedictine monastery in Ripoll, Santa Maria de Ripoll, was founded in 879.
Because there was coal and iron ore here, there was metal-working industry from the early Middle Ages. Later, Ripoll produced nails, crossbows and guns.
Ripoll has a significant Moroccan population - people who arrived to work in factories in the 1990s.
From Ripoll, the race route starts to climb to Planoles.
Next, the riders head west and climb to the Col de Toses.
The Col de Toses (the name given to it by the French race organisers), or Collada de Toses, is the second categorised climb today.
It is 9.3km at an average 6.5%.
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Soon after the descent starts, the riders go through La Molina.
La Molina is the main ski village of a resort called Alp 2500. Spain's first ski lift was opened here in 1943, and its first ski school opened in 1944.
Dan Martin won Stage 3 of the Volta a Catalunya here in 2016.
The descent is to Puigcerdà.
Very soon, the race leaves Spain and enters France.
The road rises to Font-Romeu and the Col de Calvaire (1,836m).
Then the route is undulating as the riders head past the Aérodrome de Mont-Louis La-Quillane to the Lac de Matemale.
That just leaves the final short climb to Les Angles.
Stage 3 ends with a 1.7km climb at an average 6.5% gradient to Les Angles.
The finish town is the ski resort of Les Angles.
The only thing Wikipedia says about this place is that in the 1300s, the Black Death wiped out the entire population except for two sisters. I rate that fact more interesting than cheerful.
The Les Angles tourist office says that the ski resort was created in 1964 by Paul Samson.
There are now 60km of ski pistes, and you can ski right back to the clock tower in the village.
If Christian Prudhomme is right to say that Stage 3 will be one for the breakaway, perhaps Ben Healy or Valentin Paret-Peintre will be in it and contesting the win - as they did on Mont Ventoux in 2025.
Alternatively, Pogacar could gobble up yet another stage.
Who do you think will win Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour de France?
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