Talossan Cycling Association Tour Season 5 Leg 3: Monaco -> Granada

[Glüc]

Talossan Cycling Association Tour
2026
Third leg
Monaco -> Granada

The following teams are participating:

- Gordon Hiatus Support Team - (GHS, Belacostă) Pogačar Skjelmose Carapaz Widar Brennan Tarling De Jong De Pestel Vine -----------------------------------------------------	- Cyclohexane - (CHX, Belacostă) Pogačar Vine Onley V. Paret-Peintre De Schuyteneer Brenner Camprubí Tarling Van Aert -----------------------------------------------------	- Els Talossaes Rexhital - (REX, Maricopa) Almeida Bilbao Mas Kuss Pedersen Christián Rodríguez Armirail Brenner Carapaz -----------------------------------------------------
- Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis - (MMM, Maritiimi-Maxhestic) Pogačar Almeida Sivakov Vermaerke Pedersen Konrad Oliveira Torres Novak -----------------------------------------------------	- Velociposse Florencia - (VFL, Florencia) Pogačar Roglič T. Johannessen Mas Dainese Brenner Christián Rodríguez Mosca Elosegui -----------------------------------------------------	- Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs - (BDC, Cézembre) Pogačar Vine Onley Mas Brennan Tarling Omrzel Calzoni Widar -----------------------------------------------------
- Cézembre Fieschā - (CFA, Cézembre) Pogačar Skjelmose Martin Zana Pedersen Van Bekkum Bernard Samitier Almeida -----------------------------------------------------	- Naziun Cjovani - (CJO, Belacostă) Roglič Almeida Kuss T. Johannessen Van Aert Chamberlain Armirail Albanese Gall -----------------------------------------------------	- The Manilows - (MAN, Maricopa) Tulett Tuckwell Mas T. Johannessen Brennan Konrad Rota Brenner Pogačar -----------------------------------------------------
- Port Maxhestic AC - (PTM, Maritiimi-Maxhestic) Pogačar Roglič Onley Kuss Groves Barta Porter Omrzel Torres -----------------------------------------------------	- Dirnalaiset Mortescu - (DED, Vuode) Pogačar Bilbao Onley Uijtdebroeks Groves Christián Rodríguez Aparicio Albanese Alleno -----------------------------------------------------

Links:
Registration thread
Information about the route and riders

[Glüc]

Stage 1 (ITT)  »  Monaco  ›  Monaco

And we're off for the third leg. We started with very short time trial in the streets (and tunnels) of Monaco. A very technical parcours with quite a lot of corners. One of the main favourites was Joshua Tarling (GHS/CHX/BDC), who earlier this month lost his brother Finlay in a terrible accident in the tour of Portugal. Despite this tragedy Tarling did start today and finished in third place.

The fastest however, by nine hundredth of a second, was GC favourite Pogacar (9 out of 11 teams), who already takes the red jersey after stage 1. Chamberlain (CJO) finished 7th, followed by Van Aert (CJO/CHX) in 8th.

As a result it is Cyclohexane who take an early lead, followed by GHST and BdC. After getting very close to a win in the second leg, Els Talossaes Rexhital now have a disappointing start and are in last place. Granada is still very far though.

Unfortunately the script Lüc made for the standings isn't working anymore, so I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way for now.

Standings after stage 1:

1. Cyclohexane (CHX) - 586
2. Luca (GHS) - 546
3. Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC) - 518
4. Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM) - 345
5. Cézembre Fieschā (CFA) - 316
6. The Manilows (MAN) - 287
7. Port Maxhestic AC (PTM) - 262
8. Velociposse Florencia (VFL) - 262
9. Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED) - 262
10. Naziun Cjovani (CJO) - 217
11. Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX) - 46

Today TCAT heads to France for a hilly stage that could end in a succesful attack, a bunch sprint or some sort of reduced sprint. I imagine a lot of riders who did well in the TT (including punchy sprinters like Van Aert and Pedersen) see an opportunity to take the red jersey today.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 2  »  Monaco  ›  Manosque

Uphill sprint finish saw Wout van Aert (CHX/CJO) attack with two kilometres to spare to try and snatch the red leader's jersey from Tadej Pogacar, but the effort was unsuccessful and it was his teammate Matthew Brennan (BDC/GHS/MAN) who instead sprinted to a dominant first place ahead of Pogacar in third, who keeps his red jersey and already a 30"ish lead on his closest actual competitors for the overall win, and Pedersen (CFA/MMM/REX) in fourth.

Among the three Brennan teams it is the Manilows who get the stagewin - their first ever - thanks to Tobias Halland Johannessen in 6th (also of CJO/VFL), while second placed BDC gets the overall lead.

Standings after stage 2:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+2)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1099	+581
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1043	+505
3rd	(-2)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	973	+387
4th	(+2)		The Manilows (MAN)	938	+651
5th	(-1)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	821	+476
6th	(-1)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	689	+381
7th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	601	+339
8th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	601	+339
9th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	548	+286
10th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	454	+237
11th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	263	+217

Tomorrow we have our first summit finish - a long flattish approach to back-to-back category 1 and category 2 climbs. The outcome depends on who tries to get away in the early stages; a strong group of climbers would have a chance at staving off the GC favourites in the peloton, and perhaps even temporarily steal Pogacar's GC lead, while a weak breakaway will all but ensure the main GC contenders will dominate the top of the standings.

[Glüc]

Stage 3   »   Gruissan - Aude  ›  Font Romeu (Cancelled)


The peloton was surprised by the weather today as they face heavy rain and hail on the final climb. The conditions were bad enough that the riders decided collectively not to continue and the stage was cancelled as a result. We therefore only get classification points today (and a few breakaway/kom/sprint points collected on the way). This does give us a nice insight into who is collecting the most classification points at the moment. Turns out its...

The Menceis.

Similar to last edition they are raking in a whole bunch of assist points from picking Pogacar teammates. This time it gets them the stagewin, although without stagepoints today was too low scoring to affect the standings much.


Standings after stage 3:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	1220	+121
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1162	+119
3rd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1096	+123
4th	(=)		The Manilows (MAN)	1037	+99
5th	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	985	+164
6th	(=)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	768	+79
7th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	696	+95
8th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	666	+65
9th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	600	+52
10th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	539	+85
11th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	314	+51

Tomorrow we get a proper Pyrenean mountain stage around another micronation (Andorra). Even though the stage ends with a long downhill (interrupted by a short category 3 climb) this still looks like one for the climbers and GC favourites.

Edit: Just realised its really short as well (100km) so might be pretty explosive.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 4  »  Andorra la Vella  ›  Andorra la Vella

Copypasted from PCS:

In the shortest stage of Vuelta 2026, multiple attacks unfolded early on the Port d'Envalira climb. Felix Gall and Tadej Pogačar broke clear with 50 km remaining, with Pogačar launching a solo attack to claim the stage win. He extended his overall lead, strengthening his hold on the Red leader jersey. Jarno Widar and Gall finished second and third respectively.

BDC get the stagewin and end their longest stagewin drought ever, at 26 winless stages - just longer than their previous winless streak of 25 between stage 20 of TCAT Italy 2024 and stage 5 of TCAT Spain 2024; an edition which they won, and they're certainly looking like the strongest contender to win this one as well, at the moment.

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2142	+922
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1975	+813
3rd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1711	+615
4th	(=)		The Manilows (MAN)	1570	+533
5th	(+2)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1530	+834
6th	(-1)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	1499	+514
7th	(+1)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1290	+624
8th	(-2)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1207	+439
9th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1094	+494
10th	(=)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1033	+494
11th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	772	+458

Today, what should be a sprint finish, as TCAT Spain finally actually enters Spain. A bunch of hills in the final quarter might however drop some of the heaviest sprinters, and the final stretch is slightly uphill. Maybe one for the puncheurs (like stage 2) rather than the pure sprinters.

[Glüc]

Stage 5   »   Falset. Costa Daurada  ›  Roquetes. Terres de l'Ebre

Today was mostly flat and therefore suited for a bunch sprint. However, a category 3 climb not far from the finish proved to much for some of the sprinters including Groves (PTM/DED), De Schuyteneer (CHX), and, surprisingly, Pedersen (REX/MMM/CFA). This provided ideal circumstances for Brennan (GHS/BDC/MAN), who got his second stagewin. Albanese (CJO/DED) finished third, Dainese (VFL) seventh, and Van Aert (CHX/CJO) tenth.

The result is a narrow stagewin for BdC again

Standings after stage 5:

Pos	±		Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)		Cézembre Caçeirs dals Mailintzarăs (BDC)	2512	+370
2nd	(=)		Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2342	+367
3rd	(=)		Cyclohexane (CHX)	1912	+201
4th	(=)		The Manilows (MAN)	1910	+340
5th	(=)		Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1695	+165
6th	(=)		Maritiimi-Maxhestic Mençeis (MMM)	1665	+166
7th	(=)		Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1490	+200
8th	(+2)		Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	1393	+360
9th	(=)		Dirnalaiset Mortescu (DED)	1336	+242
10th	(-2)		Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	1298	+91
11th	(=)		Els Talossaes Rexhital (REX)	889	+117

Tomorrow is a typical Spain up-and-down medium mountain kind of stage. Again, without an uphill finish, so we might not see big differences in the GC-behind-Pogacar being made. Could be a day for a succesful break.