Tour de France 2026: Route and stages

Tour de France 2026

The 113th edition of the Tour de France starts on Saturday in Barcelona with a team time trial. The first three stages of La Grande Boucle will all take place on Catalan soil, with the Pyrenees already featuring in the opening week. Later in the race, Le Lioran, Le Markstein, the Orcières-Merlette ski resort and Alpe d’Huez all make their return to the Tour. The race will finish on Sunday 26 July, with a finale on the cobbles of Montmartre in Paris.

Tour de France 2026: Route

Tour de France 2026

The Tour de France serves up 54,450 metres of elevation gain over 3,321.2 kilometres. The Pyrenees feature in the opening week, while the Massif Central, the Vosges and the Alps also deliver significant climbing challenges over the course of the race. The final weekend includes two back-to-back summit finishes at Alpe d’Huez.

Tour de France 2026: Riders

Tadej Pogacar - Tour de France 2026: Riders

The best cyclists in the world go head to head in the greatest cycling contest on the planet. Paul Seixas, Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz and Jonas Vingegaard try to prevent Tadej Pogacar from claiming his fifth victory, while Mathieu van der Poel and Mads Pedersen are among those hunting for stage wins. Voilà, the start list for the 113th edition of the Tour de France, including race numbers.

Tour de France 2026 Route stage 1: Barcelona - Barcelona

Saturday, 4 July - The 2026 Tour de France gets underway with a 19.6-kilometre team time trial. After a flat opening section, the finale is hilly. Unlike in a traditional time trial, where the time of the fifth rider counts, each rider’s individual time is recorded.

Tour de France 2026 Favourites stage 1: Looking for the best finisher

Visma - Tour de France 2026 Favourites stage 1: Who is the best finisher?

The yellow jersey awaits the rider who posts the fastest time on the team time trial course. Given the 7% gradient over the final 800 metres, the punchy climbers will almost certainly drop their team-mates in the finale in an attempt to ride into yellow.

Tour de France 2026 Route stage 2: Tarragona - Barcelona

Sunday, 5 July - In stage 2 of the Tour de France, the riders face 2,500 metres of climbing over a 168.5-kilometre route. Almost all of the climbing comes in the second half of the stage, with the toughest part centred on the finishing circuit on and around Montjuïc, Barcelona’s iconic city hill.

Tour de France 2026 Favourites stage 2: A puncher’s paradise

Mathieu van der Poel tdf - Tour de France 2026 Favourites stage 2:

Stage 2 of the Tour comes to a head on a hilly circuit in Barcelona, tackled three times by the riders, each lap featuring two sharp, punchy climbs. The first is 1.6 kilometres at 9.3%, and the second, which doubles as the finish, is 600 metres at 7%.

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