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Saturday, July 4: Stage 1, Barcelona 19-kilometer team time trial
Stage 1 profile
Monday, July 6: Stage 3, Granollers - Les Angles, 196 km
Stage three profile
Tuesday, July 7: Stage 4, Carcassonne - Foix, 182 km
Stage 4 profile
Sunday, July 12: Stage 9, Malemort - Ussel, 185 km
Stage 9 profile
Tuesday, July 14: Stage 10, Aurillac - Le Lioran, 167 km
Stage 10 profile
Saturday, July 18: Stage 14, Mulhouse - Le Markstein Fellering, 155 km
Stage 14 profile
Tuesday, July 21: Stage 16, Evian-les-Bains - Thonon-les-Bains 26 km individual time trial
Stage 16 profile
Thursday, July 23: Stage 18: Voiron - Orcières-Merlette, 185 km
Stage 18 profile
Friday, July 24: Stage 19, Gap - Alpe d'Huez, 128 km
Stage 19 profile
Saturday, July 15: Stage 20, Le Bourg d'Oisans - Alpe d'Huez, 171 km
Stage 20 profile
Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 1: 1903 - 1975 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
The 2026 Tour de France route was revealed October 23, 2025. Here's the organizer's description:
The challenge set for the field of the Tour de France between 4 and 26 July was unveiled before an audience of almost 3,500 at the Palais des Congrès de Paris.
Following the Grand Départ in Barcelona, the race will pay a visit to each of the five mountain ranges in France. The Pyrenees, Massif Central, Jura and Vosges will build up towards a climactic showdown in the Alps with two finishes on the Alpe d'Huez, including an unprecedented ascent from the Col de Sarenne on the eve of the finish in Paris.
Bolero may have struck its first notes in Spain, but the gradual build-up of the 2026 Tour de France brings to mind the tempo of Boléro, a masterpiece by the Parisian composer Maurice Ravel. Participants in the 113th edition will be among the first tourists to feast their eyes on the newly inaugurated tallest tower of the Sagrada Família in the course of the team presentation. In keeping with the wishes of its architect, Antoni Gaudí, the tower will not surpass the hill of Montjuïc as the highest point in Barcelona.
The beating heart of the 1992 Olympic Games, which has traditionally set the scene for the finale of the Volta a Catalunya, will be a test bed for two novel formats: a Paris–Nice style team time trial in stage 1 and a puncheur's paradise in stage 2, in which the favourites will have nowhere to hide. The Pyrenees, just a stone's throw away, are an invitation to hit the mountains straight away, but the slopes and profiles are more likely to whet the appetite of breakaway specialists than to spark a clash of titans among the top riders of the top teams, both in the first finish at the Les Angles ski resort (stage 3) and in a tougher climb leading to the heart of the Cirque de Gavarnie (stage 6). In fact, it would be no surprise for the first six days to yield six different race scenarios.
Sprinters who lose out in Pau (stage 5) will get a second chance in Bordeaux (stage 7) and even more in Dordogne (stage 8), Nevers (stage 11) and Chalon-sur-Saône (stage 12), although they will have to share the limelight with the breakaway specialists, who will definitely circle the stages to Ussel (stage 9) and Belfort (stage 13) in red. The journey north-east will take the field over the mountains in the Cantal department, with a stage finish at Le Lioran (stage 10), followed by the Jura and Vosges.
After two weeks of racing, Le Markstein will inaugurate a weekend in which anything can happen. The ascent to the ski resort will come at the end of a sufferfest featuring the brand-new Le Haag (stage 14), which could turn out to be as decisive as the Plateau de Solaison (stage 15), set to make its Tour debut right after the Col du Salève.
The only individual time trial will take place against the backdrop of Lake Geneva (stage 16) and has the potential to reshuffle the deck ahead of the climactic Alpine trilogy. The Yellow Jersey should be fine at Orcières Merlette (stage 18), but the double finish on the Alpe d'Huez (stages 19 and 20) will demand a laser-like focus and a robust defence.
In contrast with the previous stages, none of which will have exceeded an elevation gain of 5,000 metres, the one starting in Le Bourg-d'Oisans will smash past the 5,600-metre barrier, turning the screws on the riders on the Col de la Croix de Fer, the Col du Télégraphe and the Galibier before tackling the ski resort in the Isère department from the Col de Sarenne. After this vertigo-inducing challenge, the final weekend has one last thing in store for the riders and fans: the peloton will have to go over the electrifying hill of Montmartre to get to the Champs-Élysées in stage 21.
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ROUTE
Grand Départ in Barcelona, then back to France until the final stage in Paris.
This will be the 27 th Grand Départ take place abroad and the 3rd in Spain.
In France, the race will visit 7 regions and 29 departments.
STAGES
There will be 21 stages: 7 flat stages, 4 hilly stages, 8 mountain stages including 5 summit finishes at Gavarnie-Gèdre, at Plateau de Solaison, Orcières-Merlette and Alpe d’Huez (twice),1 team time trial and 1 individual time trial. There will be 2 rest days.
MOUNTAINS
In route order, the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Vosges, the Jura and the Alps will be on the programme in this 113th edition.
The Tour’s long history in the mountains will feature several new climbs: the Côte de Begues (stage 2), Montée de Gavarnie-Gèdre (stage 6), Col de la Griffoul (stage 10), Col du Page and Col du Haag (stage 14), Plateau de Solaison (stage 15) and the Col de Sarenne via its south-eastern flank (stage 20).
The Col du Galibier (2,642m) will be the “roof” or high point of the 2026 Tour.
ELEVATION GAIN
The total vertical gain during the 2025 Tour de France will be 54,450m.
2 TIME TRIALS
The 2026 Tour will kick off with a 19km team time trial in Barcelona. It will have been 55 years since the Tour last started with a TTT, back in 1971.
Stage 16 between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains will be a 26km individual time trial.
TIME BONUSES
Time bonuses will be awarded at the finish of each stage, with 10, 6 and 4 seconds awarded to the first, second and third riders, respectively.
RIDERS
184 riders representing 23 teams will line up for the start on Saturday 4 July in Barcelona.
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List of stages:
| Stage 1 | 7/04, 19 km, Barcelona > Barcelona |
| Stage 2 | 7/05, 182 km, Tarragone > Barcelone |
| Stage 3 | 7/06, 196 km, Granollers > Les Angles |
| Stage 4 | 7/07 182 km, Carcassonne > Foix |
| Stage 5 | 07/08 158 km, Lannemezan > Pau |
| Stage 6 | 07/09 186 km, Pau > Gavarnie-Gèdre |
| Stage 7 | 07/10 175 km, Hagetmau > Bordeaux |
| Stage 8 | 07/11 182 km, Périgueux > Bergerac |
| Stage 9 | 07/12 185 km, Malemort > Ussel |
| Rest day 1 | 7/13 Cantal |
| Stage 10 | 7/14 167 km, Aurillac > Le Lioran |
| Stage 11 | 7/15 161 km, Vichy > Nevers |
| Stage 12 | 7/16 181 km, Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours > Chalon-sur-Saône |
| Stage 13 | 7/17 205 km, Dole > Belfort |
| Stage 14 | 7/18 155 km, Mulhouse > Le Markstein Fellering |
| Stage 15 | 7/19 184 km, Champagnole > Plateau de Solaison |
| Rest day 2 | 7/20 Haute-savoie |
| Stage 16 | 7/21 26 km, Évian-les-Bains > Thonon-les-Bains |
| Stage 17 | 7/22 175 km, Chambery > Voiron |
| Stage 18 | 7/23 185 km, Voiron > Orcières-Merlette |
| Stage 19 | 7/24 128 km, Gap > Alpe d'Huez |
| Stage 20 | 7/25 171 km, Le Bourg d'Oisans > Alpe d'Huez |
| Stage 21 | 7/26 130 km, Thoiry > Paris Champs-Élysées |