When the 2026 Tour de France kicks off in Barcelona’s streets on July 4th, there will be no soft introduction to the world’s biggest bike race. It was already known that the opening weekend would begin with a team time trial finishing on the Olympic mountain, Montjuïc, followed by a hilly road stage the next day, which will also feature the climb. But the tough start doesn’t end there.
Already on stage three, the race continues into the Pyrenees with a summit finish at 1,800 meters in Les Angles. More hilly stages follow before stage six finishes in Gavarnie-Gèdre, with the peloton tackling the mighty Col du Tourmalet along the way.
The first week concludes with a few flatter stages and a journey into the Massif Central, where week two begins with a stage that brings back fond memories for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. The finale in Le Lioran mirrors stage 11 of the 2024 edition, where Jonas Vingegaard claimed an emotional victory.
Stage 14 takes the riders on a loop through the steep Vosges Mountains, ending at Le Markstein just as in 2023, before the week wraps up in spectacular fashion. Stage 15 once again raises the difficulty level with a summit finish on the steep Plateau de Solaison, where Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič crossed the line hand in hand at the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné.
The third week features the race’s only individual time trial – a 26-kilometre test through rolling terrain, before the big finale awaits in the Alps.
Both stages 19 and 20 will, quite exceptionally, finish on the iconic Alpe d’Huez. The first Alpine day is relatively flat before the legendary climb, but stage 20 promises to be brutal: riders will face a staggering 5,600 metres of elevation gain as they tackle passes like Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe and Col du Galibier before climbing Alpe d’Huez again, only this time from the Col du Sarenne side.
The race will then conclude on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where Montmartre once again features on stage 21. This scene of Wout van Aert’s memorable victory in 2025. In 2026, however, the riders will do an extra lap on the Champs-Élysées after the climb.
If you’re already missing the Tour de France, you can relive all the action from this year’s Tour de France in our documentary Never Stop Fighting.