The route for the 2026 Tour de France was revealed today, with the French Grand Tour beginning in Barcelona, Spain with an opening team trial for the first time, while the final stage in Paris will include the climb to Montmartre to spice up the final laps of the Champs-Elysees.
Riders will depart from Fòrum on the Mediterranean Sea coast, head down the Olympic Port and finish at the Estadi Olímpic Lluis Companys, the focal stadium for the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992.
The first three stages will take place in Spain before crossing over to France and Les Angles in stage 3, where the cyclists will traverse the Pyrenees and head west to Bordeaux.
Towards the end of the tour, there will be two stages in Alpe d’Huez before the final stage leads to the finish line at Paris Champs-Elysées on July 26, while the finish line will be 15km from Sacré-Cœur, set to create a similarly striking spectacle to the road race at Paris 2024.
Elsewhere, the race will visit the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Vosges and the Alps, with new climbs in all four French mountain ranges. In addition, there will be a 26km individual time trial along the shores of Lake Geneva on Stage 16
The battle for the yellow jersey may start as early as stage three, with a summit finish atop the ski station at Les Angles. A climbing-heavy second week through the Massif Central and Vosges ranges leads into a blockbuster Alpine final week, including two summit finishes on Alpe d’Huez on stages 19 and 20, before a long transfer to Paris for the final day’s racing.
As expected, the tricky, cobbled Montmartre addition to the usual iconic Champs-Elysees finishing circuit in Paris is here to stay after a well-received trial run in 2025 – albeit with a twist, as the final climb comes 15km from the finish rather than 6km as it was this summer.
The sprinters will get their first chance at glory on stage five, a 158km run from Lannemezan to Pau, another on stage seven in Bordeaux, with a lengthy wait before a trio of opportunities on stages 11, 12 and 13 and a final outing on stage 17 in Voiron. In total seven stages are classified as flat, four as hilly, and eight as mountainous, with five of those featuring summit finishes.
The route is also slightly different from normal in its emphasis on slightly shorter stages, with only one over 200km: stage 13’s 205km run from Dole to Belfort.
Additionally, the two ascents of Alpe d’Huez will be tackled differently: stage 19 runs from Gap and tackles three lesser climbs before the big one, while stage 20 is even more fearsome, with four Tour behemoths – the Croix de Fer, the Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier, and Col de Sarrene – and over 5,000m of elevation gain to surmount en route in a stage that could shake up the yellow jersey standings entirely.
At 2,642m above sea level the Galibier will once again be the Tour’s highest point, while the Sarrene will be approached from its south-eastern side for the first time.
In total, the riders will tackle 54,450m of elevation gain across 3,333km.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
