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Follow us on GoogleNot long to go now. The 2026 Tour de France route is ready and waiting; the race is almost upon us. On Saturday 4 July, this year’s riders start a team time trial in Barcelona to get started, before finishing three weeks later in the French capital, Paris. What exactly does the route between those two points look like? IDL Pro Cycling brings you a full TdF route breakdown
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The 2026 Tour de France route:
Stage 1 - Saturday, July 4, 2026: Barcelona - Barcelona (team time trial, 19.7 km)
This year's Tour de France kicked off with a 19.6-kilometer team time trial in Barcelona, which hosted the Grand Départ during the opening weekend. The first 15.5 kilometers could be considered fairly flat, but then the teams had to climb Montjuïc twice. Incidentally, this was a new style of team time trial: the time of each individual rider counted. Jonas Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike won.
Winner:
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 2 - Sunday, July 5, 2026: Tarragona - Barcelona (178 km)
So, on day two we also finished in Barcelona, at exactly the same finish line. Along the way, the riders had to cross the Begues (6.1 km at 6.5%), to complete three laps in the finale with the Montjuic (1.6 kilometers at 9.3%) as the anchor point. After 168.5 kilometers, we then finished in front of the Olympic Stadium.
Winner:
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 3 - Monday, July 6, 2026: Granollers - Les Angles (134.2 km)
It looked like a perfect day for the breakaway, and indeed there was a fierce battle. But UAE Team Emirates-XRG wasn't having any of it: they set a very high pace. With an ideal lead-out from Isaac Del Toro, Tadej Pogacar then expertly finished it off. He took the stage victory, but also the yellow jersey.
Winner:
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Stage 4 - Tuesday, July 7, 2026: Carcassone - Foix (182 km)
A stage with 2,700 meters. For the breakaway, right? Nothing seemed certain after stage four, but they finally received the blessing of the peloton. A large group rode away and shattered on the tricky final climb. The superior climbing Mads Pedersen was put in a perfect position by teammates Quinn Simmons and Mathias Vacek, after which he finished it off overwhelmingly in the sprint.
Winner:
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
Stage 5 - Wednesday, July 8, 2026: Lannemezan - Pau (158 km)
Finally a chance for the sprinters, and they seized it with both hands. Baptise Veistroffer was the brave soul who went off on his own, but the fast men were finally allowed to do their thing. It was a chaotic finale, with crashes and strange lead-outs, but Olav Kooij was ultimately by far the best: his first stage victory in the Tour de France!
Winner:
Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 6 - Thursday, July 9, 2026: Pau - Gavarnie-Gèdre (186 km)
And so, from Pau, we head back into the Pyrenees. The riders face five climbs in stage six, with the Aspin (12 km at 6.5%) and the Tourmalet (17.1 km at 7.3%) standing out, both literally and figuratively. The finish in Gavarnie-Gèdre, with its 18.7 kilometres at 3.7%, is a pale imitation of what comes before it.
Winner
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 7 - Friday, July 10, 2026: Hagetmau - Bordeaux (175 km)
After the Pyrenees there is some breathing space for the riders, with a 175-kilometre transition stage from Hagetmau to Bordeaux. There, it will probably be back to the sprinters, as there are not many obstacles on this route.
Winner
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 8 - Saturday, July 11, 2026: Périgueux - Bergerac (182 km)
In the Dordogne, there is another flat stage on the menu, this time finishing in Bergerac. After 180 kilometres, whichever fast men are still left in the race will battle it out here.
Winner
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 9 - Sunday, July 12, 2026: Malemort - Ussel (185 km)
Up, down, up, down. That is stage nine of this year’s Tour de France in a nutshell. It never gets really hard anywhere, so on paper it is a stage made for the breakaway. But on days like this, with 3,300 metres of climbing, anything can happen.
Winner
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Rest day - Monday, July 13 2026
Stage 10 - Tuesday, July 14, 2026: Aurillac - Le Lioran (167 km)
Le Lioran, the place where Jonas Vingegaard last beat Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian therefore set off on the mountain stage with a mission. The breakaway riders were given no chance, and on the penultimate climb, the yellow jersey wearer showed who was boss: he rode solo to his third stage victory of this Tour.
Winner:
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 11 - Wednesday, July 15, 2026: Vichy - Nevers (161 km)
It was the sprinters’ turn again in the eleventh stage. It turned out to be a blistering stage, with an average speed of over fifty kilometres per hour. The sprint trains were only set up with two kilometres to go, after which the pace dropped to a standstill in the final few hundred metres. Soren Waerenskjold capitalised on this with a 350-metre sprint and narrowly held off the rest of the field.
Winner:
Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 12 - Thursday, July 16, 2026: Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours - Chalon-Sur-Saône (181 km)
Two sprint stages in a row! A sprint was expected in Chalon-sur-Saône, but it was not made easy for the fast men. With multiple attacks in the finale, it was a fantastic race, but it ended up coming down to a sprint. The final sprint was marred by a nasty crash, but Tim Merlier avoided everything and was clearly the fastest.
Winner:
Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 13 - Friday, July 17, 2026: Dole - Belfort (205 km)
This stage revolves mainly around the climb of the Ballon d'Alsace (8.9 km at 6.9%), which culminates thirty kilometers from the finish after a flat run-up. A classic case of too tough for the sprinters, too easy for the GC contenders?
Winner:
Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla)
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Stage 14 - Saturday, July 18, 2026: Mulhouse - Le Markstein (155 km)
By weekend three, we had arrived in the Vosges, and you know that means we would be dealing with elevation gain again. For the second day in a row, the Ballon d'Alsace (8.9 km at 6.9%) was on the course, but heading towards the beautiful finish in Le Markstein, it was primarily the Col du Haag (11.2 km at 7.3%) that would prove crucial. Tadej Pogacar won yet again.
Winner
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 15 - Sunday, July 19, 2026: Champagnole - Plateau de Solaison (184 km)
Now that’s a climb! In stage fifteen, the peloton will thunder towards the Plateau de Solaison, one of the tougher climbs in this Tour de France, with its 11.3 kilometres at a 9 per cent gradient. It’s likely that the general classification contenders will be going head-to-head here before the start of week three, so make a note of it in your diary!
Winner:
Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 16 - Tuesday, July 21, 2026: Évian-les-Bains - Thonon-les-Bains (26 km, time trial)
The time trial promised spectacle, and spectacle it was. Remco Evenepoel was the top favorite, and he struck mercilessly hard in the race against the clock. He beat Tadej Pogacar by nearly half a minute, but he had little other reason to cheer: teammate Florian Lipowitz crashed hard and had to abandon the Tour de France.
Winner:
Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 17 - Wednesday, July 22, 2026: Chambéry - Voiron (175 km)
The seventeenth stage took the peloton from Chambéry to Voiron, mainly through the valley. The climbing we faced was concentrated in the first section of around sixty kilometres. On paper, it looked more like a stage for the classic specialists than one for sprinters, but nothing could have been further from the truth. After a bizarre stage – with attacks from start to finish – Jasper Philipsen was able to strike.
Winner:
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 18 - Thursday, July 23, 2026: Voiron - Orcieres-Merlette (185 km)
We were approaching the final weekend, but not before we got a taste of what lay in store on Friday and Saturday on the climb to Orcières-Merlette (7.1 kilometres at an average gradient of 6.7 per cent). Richard Carapaz was rewarded for all his hard work in this Tour, riding solo up the final climb to claim a magnificent stage victory.
Winner:
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 19 - Friday, July 24, 2026: Gap - Alpe d'Huez (128 km)
We were there, the Alpe d'Huez! From the start in Gap, the riders were immediately faced with the Col Bayard (4.7 km at 7.2%), followed later by the Col du Noyer (7.2 km at 8.5%) and Col d'Ornon (5.4 km at 6.4%), but we were looking forward most to the first showdown on the 13.8-kilometer-long Alpe d'Huez after 128 kilometers of cycling. Tadej Pogacar triumphed, as it should have been.
Winner:
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 20 - Saturday, July 25, 2026: Bourg d'Oisans - Alpe d'Huez (171 km)
What a beast of a ride. The absolute queen stage of the 2026 Tour de France took place on the penultimate day, featuring a dizzying total of no less than 5,600 meters of elevation gain. The Croix de Fer (24 km at 5.2%), Télégraphe (11.9 km at 7.1%), Galibier (17.7 km at 6.9%), and Alpe d'Huez from Sarenne (12.8 km at 7.3%) successively delivered the final verdict after three weeks of cycling. Richard Carapaz added a second stage victory to his name, plus the mountain jersey.
Winner:
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Stage 21 - Sunday, July 26, 2026: Thoiry - Paris (130 km)
The stage was shortened due to forest fire response, so just 88km stood in the way of the riders and the end of the Tour de France. After the team photos, the racing began. The 3 accents of Monmartre were the difference, with Pogačar and Van der Poel getting away solo on the last climb. The Decathlon led bunch were about the reel the two in when Van der Poel kicked again for glory. The Dutchman just held on over the line, pipping his team mate Philipsen and green jersey Pedersen.
Winner:
Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin Premier-Tech)
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.
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Latest Comments
- One Lombardia doesn’t tell us how Seixas will handle a full Grand Tour. I’d rather see him develop steadily than have every result turned into a Pogačar comparison.samanthak12-11-2026
- Pogacar is 30 already? I thought he was younger. If he keeps winning like this, how long can he realistically ride at the top?jeremya12-11-2026
- Interesting that Thomas made the comparison while speaking to Rowe, given Decathlon’s hopes of keeping Seixas and the reports linking INEOS with him. Praise, or a subtle message to a potential signing?gearguru3312-11-2026
- Seixas winning Il Lombardia at this age is a huge statement. The Pogačar comparisons are inevitable, but Thomas is right to leave room for both of them to keep improving—Pog is still setting the bar.robert6512-11-2026
- A fascinating career, but the article leans heavily on his side of the story. Were the three disqualifications all for the same equipment rule, or were there different issues each time?michael5412-11-2026
- I’m still not sure how the handlebar rules work. If another rider can rest their wrists on the bars, why was Van Schip disqualified for his position?jennifer1912-11-2026
- The UCI really needs clearer, consistently enforced rules on bike setups and riding positions. If Van Schip was being told different things from race to race, no wonder he got fed up.patriciaw12-11-2026
- Two world track titles and three pro wins is a serious career, whatever the controversies. Shame he felt the sport stopped listening to him. Hope Rotterdam gives him the send-off he deserves.tourdeforce912-11-2026
- If he finished ninth at the Tour, why didn’t he get a stage win too? I’m still trying to understand how the overall standings work.julien11-11-2026
- No ‘cross at all this winter? That’s a shame, but with his road season starting in February, I can see why he’d want a proper break. Does stepping away mean he’s done with cyclocross for good?gearguru3311-11-2026