Tour de France 2026

The 113th Tour de France begins on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Barcelona hosts the Grand Depart on July 4 with a 19.7 km team time trial through the city. Three days in Catalonia and the eastern Pyrenees set up an unusually aggressive first week before the race crosses into France via Les Angles on Stage 3.

This is a climber's Tour. Eight mountain stages spread across three distinct ranges give pure climbers more opportunities to gain time than in any recent edition. The four hilly stages add transitional danger, and two time trials (a TTT opener and a 26 km individual test at Evian-les-Bains) ensure the race rewards versatility.

Stage 6 from Pau to Gavarnie-Gedre is the first week's centrepiece. Pau has been a Tour de France city since 1930, and the road south to the Cirque de Gavarnie is among the most dramatic in all of cycling. Stage 10 begins on July 14, Bastille Day, with a mountain finish at Le Lioran in the Cantal mountains.

Stage 19 from Gap to Alpe d'Huez (128 km) is the Queen Stage. The 21 hairpins of Alpe d'Huez have defined Tours since 1952, and the relatively short distance means the pace will be brutal from the start. Stage 20 finishes at the same summit via a longer route (171 km), giving the climbers a second consecutive day at altitude.

Stage start times follow the standard Tour pattern: flat and hilly stages depart around 13:05 CEST (UTC+2), mountain stages at 12:15 CEST, and the Paris finale at 16:30 CEST. The Barcelona TTT starts at 17:30 CEST, placing the finish in prime-time viewing across Europe.

For viewers in the UK, stages finish between approximately 16:00 and 19:00 BST. North American fans face a morning schedule: 13:05 CEST is 07:05 EDT and 04:05 PDT. For East Asian and Australian viewers, 17:00 CEST is 00:00 JST (midnight into the next day) and 01:00 AEST. All 21 stage times on the hub page automatically convert to your local timezone.