The Tour de France begins this year with a novel team time trial in Barcelona, a 19.6-kilometre opener that breaks with decades of tradition and promises immediate drama for the general classification. For the first time since 1971 the race has started with a team time trial, and the format itself is unlike any previous edition: riders will have their individual times recorded at an uphill finish, rather than the traditional method of taking the fifth rider across the line. The change is designed to encourage tactical racing, with teams expected to wear out non-climbers early and then have lighter men peel off one by one in the finale — effectively replicating the approach to a summit finish in a road race. Organisers have chosen a route that passes many of Barcelona’s prime tourist sites, including La Rambla and the Sagrada Familia. The bookmakers’ early attention will be on Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma team, Remco Evenepoel’s Red Bull squad, and Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Emirates, all of whom are regarded as masters of this discipline.
Early Stages: Sprints, Circuits and the Pyrenees
Stage two, from Tarragona back to Barcelona, offers a tough first day at the coalface. The Costes de Garraf provide a scenic start, followed by the second-category Côte de Begues 70 kilometres from the finish, which may produce an initial selection. The real spectacle will come on the three closing loops of the classic Montjuïc circuit — a little climb every 12 kilometres, with 2.5 kilometres to the line after the last ascent. The riders know the circuit by heart because it is the traditional finale of the Tour of Catalonia. The stage favours a punchy rider such as Mattias Skjelmose or Mathieu van der Poel, though Pogacar, Evenepoel and Primož Roglič have all won here in recent years.
Stage three sees the race cross into the south Pyrenean foothills, from Granollers to Les Angles over 195.9 kilometres. The route includes a first-category pass and a third-category climb that is longer than the first — “go figure,” as one insider put it. The finish at the top of a 1.7-kilometre ascent at 7 per cent presents a clear risk for overall contenders, because any gap in the bunch means seconds lost. A hectic fight for position approaching the finish is expected, with a tactical battle between teams wanting to win from the break and those with a sprinter who can climb. Biniam Girmay is the name that springs to mind, if his NSN team are strong enough to keep a break in check.
Stage four, from Carcassonne to Foix, is a gruesome run through the foothills on the other side of the Pyrenees, with two second-category climbs in the second half. For contenders it is a day for keeping out of trouble; for breakaway specialists it will have a big asterisk. A final little climb at Le Pradet with 12 kilometres remaining could still set up a sprint from the break. Magnus Cort is a master at this if he can get over the climbs, and it will suit other wily campaigners such as Michał Kwiatkowski.
Stage five passes the home of French rugby hero Antoine Dupont after 20 kilometres, but the big scrum comes at the finish in Pau, where the sprinters finally get a target. This year’s mass finishes look likely to be all-Belgian affairs: Jasper Philipsen, with ten Tour stages to his name, versus Tim Merlier, who has three. Philipsen has the best lead-out — Van der Poel and Kaden Groves — but Merlier’s Soudal team are the most seasoned operators irrespective of who they are dragging to the final 200 metres; they picked up three stages at the Giro with Paul Magnier.
Stage six is the final Pyrenean examination. Because the Spanish Grand Départ has meant paring down the classic climbs to avoid the race being settled as early as day six, organisers can reasonably argue that stages two, three and four are demanding enough to avoid claims the route is being watered down. This stage includes the Aspin and Tourmalet before the second-category drag up to Gavarnie-Gèdre, and that is it for the Pyrenees. One or two riders will stake an early claim in the King of the Mountains prize; the stage winner should come from the break, likely a climber who is no threat overall such as Lenny Martinez.
Stage seven delivers the sprinters to Bordeaux, a finish that historically was on a par with the Champs-Élysées. The roll of honour includes Mark Cavendish, Freddy Maertens, Erik Zabel, Rik van Looy and André Darrigade. With the Paris finale now jazzed up by the addition of the Montmartre climb, the Champs is no longer a guaranteed bunch gallop, making the Bordeaux finish the most prized sprint of this year’s Tour. Philipsen won here in 2023, pipping Cavendish, and he will be odds-on to do it again.
Stage eight, from Périgueux to Bergerac, is another day for the fast men, with only a couple of fourth-category molehills along the way. The usual pattern is a doomed early escape by teams lacking a sprinter or general classification rider — think Uno-X, TotalEnergies, Caja Rural. They will be swept up late, but the twist now is that sprint trains do not like to use up their riders until the last minute, so the final kilometres become a poker game, and Merlier’s Soudal are the masters of this. For a winner, pick Philipsen, Merlier, or an outside bet such as Girmay or Mads Pedersen.
Stage nine is a lumpy day through the Corrèze region with 3,300 metres of climbing. Only four ranked climbs, but a wealth of additional little ascents and probably blistering heat to boot. The climbs should not panic the overall contenders barring any issues such as punctures or crashes on twisting, narrow roads, so this is an obvious stage for a breakaway, and second-string teams will know there are not many such opportunities. The likely outcome is a solo move from the break off the final climb of Mont Bessou, with many potential winners including Pello Bilbao or Richard Carapaz.
The Mountain Heart: Massif Central, Vosges, Jura and Alps
After a first rest day in the Cantal region, Stage ten on Bastille Day is a short but vicious ride through the Aveyron and Cantal. A special steam train will convey fans to Le Lioran, and Pogacar may well get his personal locomotives moving over the seven categorised climbs, including the Puy Mary and the Col de Pertus, the latter coming at 14 kilometres to go. The ascents are short but steep, so the cumulative effect of so many efforts will be decisive. One or two putative contenders will lose the race here. It is the first test for Pogacar and Vingegaard’s rivals, including France’s bright young thing Paul Seixas, a 19-year-old generating huge excitement for his Tour debut; he will get plenty of reminders that it is Bastille Day.
Stage eleven heads northwards out of the Massif Central into the flatlands, and the sprinters will be feeling the pressure again. With stage-winning opportunities limited, the green jersey battle becomes acute; the sprinters will target the intermediate sprint if the terrain suits. Today’s is 27 kilometres into the stage, so the sprint teams will likely control the race until then, after which the day’s doomed breakaway will form. The only possible change to the script is if the wind gets up — some of the roads are exposed enough to split the race.
Stage twelve is the penultimate pure sprint stage, with nearly half the race left. Today may have a little twist, however. The three ranked ascents are fourth category, but team managers with sprinters who can climb a bit will look closely at the lumpy roads between 141 and 162 kilometres. The obvious tactic would be to pile on the pressure at that point and see if Merlier, Pedersen and Philipsen can be dislodged or discomfited, so at least they burn some matches before the finish. Girmay’s NSN team are the best candidates, depending on what reserves they have left.
Stage thirteen is the longest of the race at 205.8 kilometres, from Dole to Belfort, and the first of three climbing days in north-eastern France. The intermediate sprint is in the village of Mélisey, home to the retired French hero Thibaut Pinot. There is plenty of distance to build a lead, so a win from the breakaway is expected, likely by a climber who is also a superlative descender. The first-category Ballon d’Alsace — the first mountain pass to feature in the Tour in 1905 — sits less than 15 downhill kilometres from the finish. With a finale like this, supreme bike handler Tom Pidcock may fancy his chances. However, preparations for this stage have already sparked an environmental dispute, after over a thousand trees were removed on the Ballon d’Alsace; environmental groups have denounced the intervention.
Stage fourteen is a brutal day in the Vosges, with a 106-kilometre loop that goes through the finish line twice — once at the top of the first-category Grand Ballon after 43.9 kilometres, then finally via the Col du Haag, a steep, narrow climb of 11 kilometres at 7 per cent up what the route manual describes as “a forest path which has been converted into a cycle path”. That is after climbing the Ballon d’Alsace for the second time in two days. The trend on the Tour’s shorter mountain stages now is that early escapees do not get enough space to contest the stage win; this has Pogacar or Vingegaard written all over it.
Stage fifteen heads south-east through the Jura, flirting with the Swiss border for much of the 183.9-kilometre route. Two horribly steep climbs await in the final quarter: the first-category Col de la Croisette is five kilometres at an average of 11 per cent, and the super-category finish ascent is 11 kilometres at 9 per cent. This is a mountain stage where the break may stay away, as the overall contenders are unlikely to get moving until the Croisette, 131 kilometres in. Expect a pure climber who is not in contention overall to win — why not last year’s Mont Ventoux winner Valentin Paret-Peintre?
After a second rest day in the Haute-Savoie region, Stage sixteen is a 26.1-kilometre individual time trial between Évian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains. Time trials have been chopped in recent years to sex up the race; thirty years ago, with Miguel Induráin in his prime, a Tour might have included three against-the-clock stages totalling over 100 kilometres. This one lasts just over half an hour, with a second-category climb plus descent. It favours the select group going for the overall, led by multiple world champion Evenepoel. It will come down to seconds, the only drama if someone has a bad day, as Vingegaard did last year in Rouen.
Stage seventeen is nominally the final sprinters’ stage, but the first 50 kilometres are basically uphill through the Chartreuse, and this is a rare opportunity for non-climbing breakaway specialists. Expect a very intense first hour, when the sprinters will be under pressure; by this point their domestiques will be fatigued and possibly low on numbers, making the stage a nightmare to control. If the fast men do get to the finish, they have to get over a nasty little pull of 2.6 kilometres at 4 per cent with 5 kilometres to go. It all points to Girmay or the Australian Michael Matthews.
Stage eighteen heads south to Orcières-Merlette, a famous location in Tour history. It is 55 years since Luis Ocaña put Eddy Merckx to the sword on these roads and 37 years since Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond duelled here. The stage is not tough enough to concern Vingegaard and Pogacar, so the winner will likely emerge from a break. Two serious climbs come early, but the final ascent to Orcières is more nagging than steep. A climber who is an astute tactician should win: if Ben Healy is out of the overall picture, this will suit the Irishman.
Stage nineteen offers the most prestigious mountain finish of the Tour: l’Alpe d’Huez, reached via a short 127.9-kilometre stage from Gap. With a stage this short, it will be touch and go for the day’s escape to make it to the finish. The opening 25 kilometres over the Cols Bayard and du Noyer are tough enough to allow a decent move to get established, and then there are 60 kilometres until the Col d’Ornon, where Pogacar and Vingegaard will probably get their teams moving. If the big two give a move some leeway, the 21 hairpins to the finish will suit a pure climber such as Netcompany’s Thymen Arensman, a double stage winner last year.
Stage twenty is the hardest stage of the race — 170.9 kilometres that go up the Alpe for a second time in two days, but using the barely used back way up the narrow and equally tough Col de Sarenne. This has already defied protests from local ecologists concerned at the race passing through an environmentally sensitive area; a petition has been launched against its use. The Sarenne is preceded by the classic Alpine super-category double whammy of the Croix de Fer and Galibier (the highest point of the race at 2,642 metres). This stage could be decisive for the overall, or, assuming Pogacar and Vingegaard have an iron grip on the race, at least a final reshuffle of the standings before Paris.
Paris Finale: Montmartre Returns
The experimental inclusion of the Butte Montmartre climb last year proved a success, with an epic win for Wout van Aert in spite of rain — a stage that did not count for the overall. It is back again for Stage 21, but the circuit has been extended so there are 10 kilometres from the top of the climb to the finish on the Champs-Élysées. No Van Aert this year, so watch out for Classics specialists such as Pedersen or Van der Poel, if he is still in the race. That assumes Pogacar takes a back seat — but the commentator hedged his bets on that.
Race organisers have revealed that this 113th edition covers a total of 3,321.2 kilometres over 21 stages, comprising seven flat stages, four hilly stages and eight mountain stages including five summit finishes. It is the third time Spain has hosted the Grand Départ, following San Sebastián in 1992 and Bilbao in 2023. The economic impact for Catalonia has been estimated at more than €100 million, with hotels in Barcelona nearly fully booked; host towns typically pay €60,000–€120,000 to the race organiser ASO, but short-term economic benefits can reach €20–€50 million per host city, not counting long-term tourism gains from global media exposure, though some local businesses in towns like Tarragona have expressed caution because they are already at high occupancy during peak season.
Environmental scrutiny of the Tour continues to intensify. Beyond the tree removal on the Ballon d’Alsace and the Col de Sarenne controversy, ASO has implemented sustainability initiatives including reducing plastic packaging, distributing recycled rubbish bags and promoting waste sorting. A study analysing 50 editions of the Tour found a steady increase in heat stress risk, with the fastest rate occurring in the past decade; organisers have narrowly avoided disruptions due to extreme heat, and researchers warn it is only a matter of time before riders face conditions of maximum health risk.
The media operation surrounding the race is vast: it will be broadcast in 190 countries by 100 channels, with 60 showing live coverage. All stages will be shown in full, providing 110 hours of live international feed. Approximately 3,500 media representatives are expected to cover the event. The official Tour de France app recorded 41 million sessions in 2025, and more than 1.3 billion videos were viewed on official platforms in the year leading up to the 2026 race.
Among the contenders, Pogacar aims for a fifth Tour victory, while Vingegaard looks to rebound after a strong Giro d’Italia performance. Evenepoel is considered a serious outsider with his new team’s focus on GC success. Emerging talents include Frenchman Paul Seixas, making his Tour debut at age 19, and Isaac del Toro of UAE Emirates, highlighted as a dangerous young climber and potential podium contender. On the sprint front, Olav Kooij of Decathlon CMA CGM is another name to add to the list alongside Philipsen, Merlier, Girmay and Pedersen. One notable absence: David Gaudu has announced he will not start the 2026 Tour due to a lack of preparation.
