Stage 18 of the 2027 Tour de France runs 174 km from Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan on Thursday, July 22, and finishes on the Col du Portet after about 5,400 meters of climbing, the most of any stage in the race. It is the queen stage of the 2027 Tour.
The day crosses four big climbs: the Col du Soulor (11.8 km at 7.3 percent), the Col du Tourmalet from Luz-Saint-Sauveur (19 km at 7.4 percent), the Hourquette d’Ancizan (8.2 km at 5.1 percent) and the Col du Portet, 16 km at 8.7 percent to 2,215 meters, the highest point of the 2027 Tour. Cyclingnews notes that the Tourmalet summit arrives with 70 km to go.
“In the Pyrenees, we’ll be combining the Tourmalet and the Portet for the first time,” Prudhomme said. The Portet is not Pla d’Adet, where Pogačar won in 2024; the Portet road branches off higher in the same valley.
The Portet has been a summit finish twice. In 2018, on a 65 km stage with a grid start, Nairo Quintana won, Geraint Thomas stayed in yellow and Chris Froome cracked on the approach to the summit. In 2021, on stage 17 from Muret, Pogačar attacked 8.5 km from the finish, dropped everyone except Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz, and won the sprint between the three, with Vingegaard three seconds behind.
The Tourmalet decided last year’s Tour as well: on stage 6 of the 2026 race Pogačar went clear on the climb, reached the top alone with 43 km to go and won by 2 minutes 38 seconds from Vingegaard. Visma’s Marc Reef said of the Pyrenees: “That’s where the race will be decided.”