At nearly 206 kilometers, and with the summit of the Cat.1 Ballon d’Alsace coming 29.9km from the finish in Belfort, the longest stage of the 2026 Tour de France suited a wide range of riders and seemed destined be won by a breakaway rider.
An impressive team effort saw four Team Jayco AlUla riders ride into what ultimately became a 57-rider escape—exactly one-third of the remaining race peloton.
Aboard his Propel Advanced SL—and racing in a Pursuit Helmet and Aurea Sunglasses—Schmid made the initial move of 37 riders, which formed after 33 kilometers of racing. His Propel rolled on a CADEX Max 50 WheelSystem with Aero Cotton Tires, and was finished with a CADEX Aero Integrated Handlebar and Amp Saddle.
An additional 20 riders worked to bridge across. Representing Team Jayco AlUla in the chasing group were Australians Ben O'Connor, Michael "Bling" Matthews, and Luke Plapp, allowing Schmid to sit on in the front group. Also in that lead group was Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5), green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Brandon McNulty and Tim Wellens of UAE Team Emirates XRG, teammates of race leader Tadej Pogacar.
Behind, Bahrain Victorious rode to keep the gap to the leaders manageable, as Pidcock, who started the day 10th overall, worked his way up the virtual general classification, with the gap eventually growing out to over eight minutes.
Though it took nearly 60km of full-gas racing for the group of 20 make contact, the two groups merged with 92km remaining. Jayco AlUla had half of its eight-man squad in the breakaway, each a unique threat to win the stage.
A battle on the Tour's oldest climb
The first climb of the day, the Col des Croix, came about 20km after the intermediate sprint, meaning those in the breakaway hunting green-jersey points had done their job for the day.
As the breakaway hit the slopes of the iconic Ballon d’Alsace— the first major summit passed in the history of the Tour, in 1905—the Jayco AlUla riders took on differing responsibilities. O’Connor rode at the front of break supporting Schmid, while Plapp rode toward the back of break, supporting Matthews in hopes that a large group might go to the line together for a reduced bunch sprint.
Pidcock led the charge, with O’Connor also setting pace. As the tempo increased, and with Matthews struggling to maintain contact, Plapp bid goodbye to his compatriot and switched to an attacking role, seeking to either go clear or allow Schmid a free ride. Plapp attacked twice toward the top of the climb, with Pidcock trying his best to control the situation.
After reeling in Plapp, Pidcock counterattacked, but the British rider could not drop his breakaway companions, with Schmid and Plapp among the quickest to respond. The attacking pace pushed out the group’s advantage to the main GC group to a maximum of 8:25, meaning that Pidcock had ridden his way into second on the virtual classification.
Nine riders reached the summit together, including Pidcock, Schmid, Plapp, McNulty, and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana). Wellens closed the gap on the descent toward Belfort to make it an even 10-man front group.
“On the climb, Bling [Matthews] and Ben [O’Connor] were key,” Schmid said. "I was worried the climb would be too hard for me and, when Ben started pacing, I was unsure I could go all the way to the top like this. It was good for me that the climb became stop-and-go, that style of climbing suits me better. It was a good situation, because we always knew we had Bling in the back. I was just making sure I wasn’t getting dropped. On the downhill, I just focused on avoiding crashes and even lowering the pace of the group.”
A drag race to the line
At the bottom of the descent, with 15km to go, Schmid was first to attack, and only Tejada went with him. It was a risky endeavor, but with Plapp sitting on in the chase group and covering moves, it was a calculated risk. The two riders opened a 10-second lead with 10km to go, and as Pidcock drove the chase while Plapp and McNulty sat on, that gap doubled to 20 seconds in the final 5km. Behind, a dropped Wellens once again bridged the gap, and this time he went straight through the chasers as they entered the final kilometer.
As the two leaders began to play cat and mouse, their lead over Wellens, and the rest of the chasers, began to plummet. Schmid, whose racing career began as a junior track racer, took to the front and swung to the right side of the road, forcing Tejada to launch his sprint from behind. Tejada jumped and swung to the left, forcing Schmid into a two-up drag race to the line.
Though Tejada opened a small gap, Schmid quickly drew even, and for an instant the two men were neck and neck with a first Tour de France stage win dangling between them. Schmid threw his bike at the line, diving so hard he popped a wheelie, but the stage had already been won, Tejada’s sprint imploding just meters from the finish.
It was the biggest victory yet for the 26-year-old Schmid, amid what has been the best season of his career, and a near carbon copy of his two-up sprint into Toulouse on Stage 11 of the 2025 Tour de France, which Schmid narrowly lost to Norwegian rider Jonas Abrahamsen.
“I didn’t really have an idea of how close the chasers were in the end,” Schmid said. “I started to cramp a bit with 4km to go, so I was a bit worried. I stayed at the back with 2km to go, hoping [Tejada] he would go from the front. Then at some point he forced me to first position. I think I launched it a bit late, and for the first 50 meters I thought maybe I was going to miss out on the stage win the same as last year. But when I saw the finish line, I found my legs again, and I just went for it.
"It’s a team effort today, and in the end I’m the lucky one that stands on top, but this win belongs to everyone behind the scenes who worked so hard for this,” he continued. “It’s really a victory for the team, and not for me alone."