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Your First Multi-Day MTB Stage Race: What the Training Actually Looks Like
Stage racing on a mountain bike is a different discipline from a single hard event. The training is different, the equipment choices are different, and the in-race decisions that determine whether you finish comfortably or blow up on day three are different. Here is the framework that experienced stage racers actually use.
By ZealZag TeamPreparing for Your First Multi-Day MTB Stage Race: What Back-to-Back Days Actually Demand
Stage racing on a mountain bike exposes gaps in fitness that a single hard day never will. Cumulative fatigue changes what you can do on day four, and pacing instincts built for one-day efforts misfire when the finish line resets every morning for a week.
By ZealZag TeamTwelve Days to Barcelona: Tour de France 2026 Contender Form After Tour de Suisse
Twelve days from the 2026 Tour de France Grand Départ in Barcelona, the contender picture has clarified — Pogačar dominant out of Tour de Suisse, Vingegaard's Critérium signals, Roglič's late-season build, and the team selection window opening this week.
By ZealZag TeamTour de Suisse Closes in the Vaud Alps: Stage 5 at Villars-sur-Ollon
Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse brought the race to Villars-sur-Ollon for a 150.7km queen stage over the Col de la Croix — closing a five-day race that Tadej Pogacar effectively settled on day one with a 72-kilometre solo attack through the Italian Alps.
By ZealZag TeamRace Against the Clock: Tour de Suisse Stage 4 ITT Runs Through Aargau's River Country
The Tour de Suisse's individual time trial cuts 23.7 kilometres through the Aargau lowlands — a rolling course with one categorised climb that puts Pogačar's two-minute-fifty lead under the clock before Sunday's queen stage in the Vaud Alps.
By ZealZag TeamŽigart Springs Back at Bad Ragaz: Tour de Suisse Enters Its Race-Defining Final Three Days
Urška Žigart wins the women's sprint at Bad Ragaz the day after a heavy crash — one of the more compelling individual stories Stage 3 produced in a race that now turns toward its ITT and queen stage. Pogačar's men's GC lead stayed intact through the Schwägalp.
By ZealZag TeamGirmay Takes Locarno: NSN Wins Stage 2 as Pogacar's GC Lead Goes Unchallenged
Biniam Girmay wins Stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse in Locarno, navigating the punchy Orselina climb and a fast run to the finish to take NSN Cycling Team's first victory in Switzerland. Pogacar's massive overall lead, built on yesterday's 72km solo, remained untouched.
By ZealZag TeamTour de Suisse 2026 Opens in Italy: Sondrio Launches the Race's New Era
For the first time in its history, the Tour de Suisse starts on Italian soil — a 144km circuit around Sondrio, in the heart of the Valtellina, with three punishing climbs and the world's best roster since the race was condensed to five days.
By ZealZag Team
Tour de Suisse 2026 Stage 1: Pogacar Strikes in Sondrio Finale
Tadej Pogacar wins Stage 1 of the Tour de Suisse 2026 in Sondrio, Italy — the race's first-ever stage outside Switzerland — after a brutal finale over three punchy Lombard climbs.
By ZealZag TeamPreparing for Your First Multi-Day MTB Stage Race: What the Training Block Actually Looks Like
Multi-day MTB stage racing is a fundamentally different test from a single long ride or a short-format XCO race. The training that builds you for it is specific, and most athletes underestimate the volume of back-to-back riding required. Here is a realistic preparation framework.
By ZealZag TeamDel Toro Detonates on Solaison: UAE's Young Climber Steals Yellow on the Final Day
Isaac del Toro attacked solo on the Plateau de Solaison and reversed a 49-second deficit to take both the stage win and the overall title — leaving Tuckwell without yellow and Jorgenson without the podium he held all week.
By ZealZag TeamTour Auvergne Stage 8: Four Climbs, 42 Seconds, One Plateau
The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes closes on the Plateau de Solaison today — 120 kilometres, four Alpine climbs, and a 42-second gap between Luke Tuckwell's yellow jersey and Matteo Jorgenson. Isaac del Toro is 49 seconds back after winning Stage 7 on the Grand Colombier. The race ends here.
By ZealZag TeamTour Auvergne Stage 7: The Grand Colombier and the Race Before the Race
Stage 7 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes sends the peloton from La Bridoire to the Grand Colombier summit — 8.4 kilometres at 10.2 percent, a finish so steep it forces every rider within striking distance of Luke Tuckwell's yellow jersey to show their cards a day before the finale.
By ZealZag TeamThree Weeks to Barcelona: Tour de France 2026 Sets a Route Built for Climbers
The 2026 Tour de France rolls out from Barcelona on July 4 for the first Grand Départ on Catalan soil in race history — a 3,333-kilometre route across 23 days with 54,450 metres of elevation, 8 mountain stages, 5 mountain finishes, and Alpe d'Huez on two consecutive days. The opening team time trial is the first since 1971.
By ZealZag TeamTour Auvergne Stage 6: The Mountains Open and the GC Clock Starts Running
Stage 6 of the 2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes rolls into the Alps today — 182.3km from Saint-Vulbas to the ski station at Crest-Voland, the first mountain finish of the race and the first real test of Alex Baudin's yellow jersey lead against a field that includes Paul Seixas, Isaac del Toro, Juan Ayuso, and Matteo Jorgenson.
By ZealZag TeamTour Auvergne 2026 Stage 5: The Sprint Day Van Aert Has Been Waiting For
Stage 5 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes delivers the race's only true sprint finish — 195.8km from Saint-Chamond to the Parc des Oiseaux at Villars-les-Dombes, with all 2,200m of climbing front-loaded and a clean, flat run-in from the last bend 3km out.
By ZealZag TeamTwelve Seconds: Baudin and EF Roll Yellow Into Stage 4 at Montrond-les-Bains
Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) carries a twelve-second yellow jersey lead into Stage 4 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes today — a 167.5-kilometre transition stage from Le Puy-en-Velay into the Loire plain, with Vauquelin, Onley, and Jorgenson sitting just behind and Stage 5's first summit finish waiting tomorrow.
By ZealZag TeamYellow on the Clock: Alex Baudin's EF Squad Faces the TTT at Perreux
Stage 3 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is a 28.4-kilometre team time trial circuit in the Loire Roannais — the first direct GC test of the race, a Tour de France dress rehearsal, and the day EF Education-EasyPost must defend Alex Baudin's thirty-two-second yellow jersey against Visma, UAE, INEOS, and Decathlon.
By ZealZag TeamPogačar Arrives in Switzerland: Tour de Suisse 2026 Preview and Start List
The 2026 Tour de Suisse begins Saturday in Frauenfeld and finishes June 21 in Andermatt. Tadej Pogačar leads a UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad built around a one-week peak. The preview, the start list, and the three stages that will decide it.
By ZealZag TeamSkjelmose Slips the Leash on the Matheysine: Stage 2 Shifts the Tour Auvergne's GC Already
Mattias Skjelmose attacked from a six-rider move on the Col du Festre and held the line into La Mure to win Stage 2 of the 2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Paul Seixas kept the yellow jersey. Isaac del Toro lost 38 seconds. The race has begun.
By ZealZag TeamThe Old Race Opens Under a New Name: Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Stage 1 Sends the Tour de France Field Into the Chartreuse
The renamed Critérium du Dauphiné opens in Vizille today with an unprecedented opening-stage ambition — five categorised climbs and 3,000 metres of climbing over 146 kilometres into Saint-Ismier — and a startlist that includes Paul Seixas, Isaac Del Toro, Wout van Aert, and Juan Ayuso, all using Stage 1 to begin telling the Tour de France story four weeks early.
By ZealZag Team
Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026 Stage 1: The Alps Awaken at Vizille
Stage 1 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026 fires the race to life on the roads below Grenoble — 146.2km, 3,000m of Alpine climbing, and a field of Tour de France contenders finding their legs in the shadow of the Chartreuse.
By ZealZag Team
Critérium du Dauphiné 2026: Seixas, Del Toro and Van Aert Battle for Solaison
Paul Seixas leads the next generation into the renamed Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (June 7–14) — a wide-open GC battle over the Grand Colombier and Plateau de Solaison that will crown a Tour de France contender.
By ZealZag Team
BC Bike Race 2026: Schurter Seals the Final Seven-Day Crown on Vancouver Island
Nino Schurter wins the 20th and final edition of the legendary 7-day BC Bike Race, finishing on North Cowichan's trails as Ruth Holcomb claims the women's overall in the race's final hours.
By ZealZag Team