Cancer survivor Torstein Træen claims yellow jersey

Torstein Træen is in yellow, just four years after being diagnosed with cancer. (Getty Images: Tim de Waele)

Torstein Traeen is the new leader of the Tour de France after a sizzling 181-kilometre stage from Carcassonne to Foix in the Pyrenees.

The 30-year-old Norwegian, riding for Uno-X Mobility, was part of a 10-man breakaway that contested the final sprint, won by Lidl-Trek's Danish rider Mads Pedersen.

Traeen, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2022 and underwent surgery to remove his left testicle, is just the third Norwegian to claim the famous yellow jersey.

"It's quite hard for me to understand how big it is," Traeen said at the finish.

"But I can see the face of my old coach, my seigneur, everybody, how special it is.

"I don't really understand what's going on at the moment; in a couple of days it will sink in. The Tour is the biggest race in the world, now I just have to enjoy it."

Norway-based Team Uno-X Mobility continued Scandanavia's excellent sporting summer. (Getty Images: Dario Belingheri)

Traeen noted that it had been a pretty big week for Norwegian sport, with the country's footballers beating Brazil (again) at the World Cup to reach the quarterfinals.

"We are just a group of guys who are friends doing this on this team."

The Norwegian is not considered a favourite for the overall race, but he is no mug, having briefly worn the red leader's jersey at the 2025 Vuelta a España before finishing ninth, his best result at a grand tour.

On a day when temperatures regularly hovered over 40 degrees Celsius, and after a three-day flurry of activity among the race's big favourites, the peloton was content to let a break escape as they survived the sweltering conditions.

The peloton, including all the main favourites, rolled across the line 12 minutes and 59 seconds behind Pedersen.

Mads Pedersen claimed stage honours, far too good in the final sprint. (Getty Images: Tim de Waele)

Previous race leader and big favourites Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard are now fourth and fifth overall, 7 minutes and 53 seconds down.

"I would say a masterpiece in teamwork," race winner Pedersen, who claimed his third Tour de France stage win and his 12th grand tour stage victory, said.

"Mathias [Vacek] and Quinn [Simmons] … were just machines from there to the finish line.

Traeen's success must have seemed a long way off in 2022, when he returned a positive test for hCG at the Volta a Catalunya.

Human chorionic gonadotropin, to give hCG its full name, is on WADA's banned list as it stimulates testosterone production.

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