Tour de France 2026 to start in Barcelona with first-of-its-kind time trial
Organisers of cycling's most prestigious stage race have confirmed a thrilling route for the next edition, which will begin in Barcelona
The 2026 Tour de France will start in Barcelona next month with a team time trial that features a whole new ruleset to potentially shake-up the peloton.
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Stage one will see the 23 teams of eight riders tackle the 12 mile course around the Spanish city but, unlike previous team disciplines, individual riders will be timed and not the whole squad will not get the same time.
This alteration means that the overall favourites, likely leaders of their team, will need to choose whether their best chance of a lower time is to stay with their team mates, or race ahead on their own.
It will bring rules seen in the 2023 Paris–Nice race to the Tour de France for the first time and, unusually for the Tour, might see yellow jersey contenders at the top end of the general classification from the very start.
Barcelona will be the third Spanish city to host the Grand Depart after San Sebastián in 1992 and Bilbao in 2023, and will also host the second stages, before the race enters France on stage three, where it remains until the finale stage 21 in Paris on July 26.
Attention is now shifting to the second of the year's three grand tours, after Jonas Vingegaard won the Giro d'Italia, the two-time Tour winner taking his first maglia rosa on Sunday.
Here is what you need to know about the 2026 Tour de France.
When is the Tour de France 2026?
The Tour de France 2026 runs from July 4-26, starting in Barcelona and finishing in Paris - with time trials, mountain stages, flat finishes, and breakaway stages all along the way. There will be 21 stages and two rest days.
- Stage 1, July 4: Barcelona (Spain) (Team time trial, 19.7 km / 12.2 mi)
- Stage 2, July 5: Tarragona (Spain) to Barcelona (Spain) (Hilly stage, 178 km / 111 mi)
- Stage 3, July 6: Granollers (Spain) to Les Angles (Mountain stage, 196 km / 122 mi)
- Stage 4, July 7: Carcassonne to Foix (Hilly stage, 182 km / 113 mi)
- Stage 5, July 8: Lannemezan to Pau (Flat stage, 158 km / 98 mi)
- Stage 6, July 9: Pau to Gavarnie-Gèdre (Mountain stage, 186 km / 116 mi)
- Stage 7, July 10: Hagetmau to Bordeaux (Flat stage, 175 km / 109 mi)
- Stage 8, July 11: Périgueux to Bergerac (Flat stage, 182 km / 113 mi)
- Stage 9, July 12: Malemort to Ussel (Hilly stage, 185 km / 115 mi)
- Rest Day, July 13: Cantal
- Stage 10, July 14: Aurillac to Le Lioran (Mountain stage, 167 km / 104 mi)
- Stage 11, July 15: Vichy to Nevers (Flat stage, 161 km / 100 mi)
- Stage 12, July 16: Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours to Chalon-sur-Saône (Flat stage, 181 km / 112 mi)
- Stage 13, July 17: Dole to Belfort (Hilly stage, 205 km / 127 mi)
- Stage 14, July 18: Mulhouse to Le Markstein Fellering (Mountain stage, 155 km / 96 mi)
- Stage 15, July 19: Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison (Mountain stage, 184 km / 114 mi)
- Rest Day, July 20: Haute-Savoie
- Stage 16, July 21: Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains (Individual time trial, 26 km / 16 mi)
- Stage 17, July 22: Chambéry to Voiron (Flat stage, 175 km / 109 mi)
- Stage 18, July 23: Voiron to Orcières-Merlette (Mountain stage, 185 km / 115 mi)
- Stage 19, July 24: Gap to Alpe d'Huez (Mountain stage, 128 km / 80 mi)
- Stage 20, July 25: Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Alpe d'Huez (Mountain stage, 171 km / 106 mi)
- Stage 21, July 26: Thoiry to Paris (Champs-Élysées) (Flat stage, 130 km / 81 mi)
How to watch 2026 Tour de France on TV in the UK
After being shown on ITV 4 for years, fans of the Tour de France will need to find a new home for 2026 after Warner Bros. Discovery snapped up the rights for its brand TNT Sports.
But while watching the race in its full glory will come with a price tag, Warner Bros. boss Scott Young told Cycling Weekly there will be some coverage available for free.
He said: "It could entail having a partner that will show parts of the Tour de France to a free audience, but we're just working through how much [of the race], what duration, frequency, we're working through all the elements of that."
It has not said what its plans are for a highlights show or live coverage with an announcement expected this month.
TNT Sports has effectively gobbled up what was previously on Eurosport and the package costs £30.99 for subscribers.
Which riders are favourites for the 2026 Tour?
Vingegaard, Tour winner in 2022 and 2023, has shown with his Giro win that he is back to near his best following a major crash in 2024 which led to him suffering major lung injuries, but Tadej Pogacar remains the favourite.
Four-time yellow jersey winner Pogacar, who is the defending champion, also has good form, having won Liège–Bastogne–Liège at the end of April, after also tasting glory in Milan–San Remo and the Tour of Flanders.
Remco Evenepoel, third in 2024, will return to lead his new team Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe, a team which also contains last year's best young rider winner Florian Lipowitz.
French 19-year-old sensation Paul Seixas, who rides for Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale, and Britain's Olympic cyclo-cross champion Tom Pidcock, Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, are also podium contenders.
For the points jersey, which often rewards the best sprinter, favourites include Italy's Jonathan Milan, who won in 2025, Biniam Girmay, who took the maillot vert the previous year, and perennial contender Jasper Philipsen
