2026 Tour de France Race Preview & Stage Profiles
The details of this year's 2026 Tour de France are falling into place. Find the stage profiles and maps below, followed by our strategic preview of the race.
No other race can match the “hors catégorie” sense of anticipation generated by the Tour de France. Although it may very quickly develop into a predictable and even rather dull procession to Paris once it’s under way, levels of expectancy soar as it approaches, writes Peter Cossins.\n \nThis year, they’re rising even higher as most of the sport’s star names will not only be on the start line in Barcelona, but will arrive the Catalan city free of injury and in the peak of form. Four-time winner Tadej Pogačar (UEX) has breezed through his early season targets, picking almost all of them off with ease. Two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard (TVL) has been equally efficient, winning Paris-Nice and the Giro d’Italia at a canter.\n \nWhat’s more, the list of potential challengers looks longer and stronger than usual. Remco Evenepoel (RBH)’s form has been up and down through the spring, but he’s since pinned everything on being at his best for the Tour. His teammate Florian Lipowitz (RBH), third last year of course, looks well set to push for a podium place again. Significantly, the home nation finally has a realistic prospect for glory too in 19-year-old Paul Seixas (DCT).\n \nThe contest between the sprinters is shaping up very nicely as well. Jasper Philipsen (APT), Tim Merlier (SOQ), Biniam Girmay (NSN) and, if selected by Decathlon, Olav Kooij (DCT) were all in winning form in the lead-up to the Tour. Mads Pedersen (LTK) has had issues this season, but is sure to be competitive.\n \nWhen it comes to stage-hunters, the cast is also stellar, featuring Mathieu van der Poel (APT), Ben Healy (EFE), Filippo Ganna (NCI), Giulio Ciccone (LTK), Michael Matthews (JAY) and Tobias Johannessen (UXM) to name but half a dozen.\n \nThe race begins in Barcelona with a first rendezvous for the general classification favorites. The team time trial shouldn’t result in significant gaps between the big-hitters, but their names are likely to fill the top rank of the leaderboard at the finish on the Montjuic hill that overlooks the city. They’ll likely re-emerge the following day with a finish in the same location that’ll be familiar to many fans from the Volta a Catalunya’s final day circuit.\n \nThe Pyrenees come early and, as a consequence, aren’t as tough as usual. Stage 6 crosses the Aspin and Tourmalet on the road to Gavarnie-Gèdre, but the climb to the finish, while long, isn’t steep.\n \nThe sprinters should take center stage in Bordeaux and Bergerac before the first rest day. The Bastille Day stage through the Massif Central that follows it has real teeth. Four days later, a similar stage through the Vosges massif will also bring the strongest to the fore.\n \nThis is immediately followed by the first stage in the Alps. The finish at Plateau de Solaison was visited by the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in mid-June, although the approach to the final ascent isn’t as fierce as it was when Isaac Del Toro (UEX) took a solo win that was his first big step towards that title.\n \nIn the wake of the second rest day, the final week kicks off with a 26.1km individual time trial that climbs for almost 10km straight out of the gate. Three days later, the race begins its spectacular finale with the first of consecutive finishes on Alpe d’Huez, cycling’s greatest climb (as detailed here https://www.quarto.com/books/9781781314494/alpe-d-huez). First up for the riders is a finish via the 21 legendary hairpins.\n \nThe next day brings a brute of a mountain stage, featuring close to 5,500m of vertical gain. Crossing the Croix de Fer, Télégraphe and Galibier passes, it follows a new path into the ski resort via the remote and quite beautiful Col de Sarenne.\n \nThe race concludes with the traditional Champs-Élysées finish in Paris, but with a repeat of last year’s thrilling addition of La Butte Montmartre. Once again, the cobbled hill up to the magnificent Sacré Coeur Basilica will be tackled three times. Could the Tour be decided here? Probably not, but at this point we can still all believe that it will be.
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