- The challenge set for the field of the Tour de France between 4 and 26 July was unveiled before an audience of almost 3,500 at the Palais des Congrès de Paris.
- Following the Grand Départ in Barcelona, the race will pay a visit to each of the five mountain ranges in France. The Pyrenees, Massif Central, Jura and Vosges will build up towards a climactic showdown in the Alps with two finishes on the Alpe d'Huez, including an unprecedented ascent from the Col de Sarenne on the eve of the finish in Paris.
- The 2026 edition of L'Étape du Tour de France, a red-letter day for cyclosportive riders, will be held on the course of the second Alpe d'Huez stage a week before the professionals, while L'Étape du Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will pit amateur cyclists against Mont Ventoux on 6 August.
Bolero may have struck its first notes in Spain, but the gradual build-up of the 2026 Tour de France brings to mind the tempo of Boléro, a masterpiece by the Parisian composer Maurice Ravel. Participants in the 113th edition will be among the first tourists to feast their eyes on the newly inaugurated tallest tower of the Sagrada Família in the course of the team presentation. In keeping with the wishes of its architect, Antoni Gaudí, the tower will not surpass the hill of Montjuïc as the highest point in Barcelona. The beating heart of the 1992 Olympic Games, which has traditionally set the scene for the finale of the Volta a Catalunya, will be a test bed for two novel formats: a Paris–Nice style team time trial in stage 1 and a puncheur's paradise in stage 2, in which the favourites will have nowhere to hide. The Pyrenees, just a stone's throw away, are an invitation to hit the mountains straight away, but the slopes and profiles are more likely to whet the appetite of breakaway specialists than to spark a clash of titans among the top riders of the top teams, both in the first finish at the Les Angles ski resort (stage 3) and in a tougher climb leading to the heart of the Cirque de Gavarnie (stage 6). In fact, it would be no surprise for the first six days to yield six different race scenarios.
Sprinters who lose out in Pau (stage 5) will get a second chance in Bordeaux (stage 7) and even more in Dordogne (stage 8), Nevers (stage 11) and Chalon-sur-Saône (stage 12), although they will have to share the limelight with the breakaway specialists, who will definitely circle the stages to Ussel (stage 9) and Belfort (stage 13) in red. The journey north-east will take the field over the mountains in the Cantal department, with a stage finish at Le Lioran (stage 10), followed by the Jura and Vosges. After two weeks of racing, Le Markstein will inaugurate a weekend in which anything can happen. The ascent to the ski resort will come at the end of a sufferfest featuring the brand-new Le Haag (stage 14), which could turn out to be as decisive as the Plateau de Solaison (stage 15), set to make its Tour debut right after the Col du Salève.
The only individual time trial will take place against the backdrop of Lake Geneva (stage 16) and has the potential to reshuffle the deck ahead of the climactic Alpine trilogy. The Yellow Jersey should be fine at Orcières Merlette (stage 18), but the double finish on the Alpe d'Huez (stages 19 and 20) will demand a laser-like focus and a robust defence. In contrast with the previous stages, none of which will have exceeded an elevation gain of 5,000 metres, the one starting in Le Bourg-d'Oisans will smash past the 5,600-metre barrier, turning the screws on the riders on the Col de la Croix de Fer, the Col du Télégraphe and the Galibier before tackling the ski resort in the Isère department from the Col de Sarenne. After this vertigo-inducing challenge, the final weekend has one last thing in store for the riders and fans: the peloton will have to go over the electrifying hill of Montmartre to get to the Champs-Élysées in stage 21.
L'Étape du Tour de France: become part of the legends
No mountain resort has hosted more Tour de France stage finishes (31) than the Alpe d'Huez, which also holds the record for the most L'Étape du Tour de France finishes. This one will be the fifth, but that will not stop the event from serving up a fresh challenge on 19 July, when 16,000 amateur cyclists tackle the course of stage 20, rolling out of Le Bourg-d'Oisans and conquering the never-used-before Col de Sarenne even before the champions get the chance to do so. Entries open at letapedutour.com on 3 November.
Cyclosportive riders will also blaze a trail for the champions of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, but just 24 hours in advance. Mont Ventoux, the terminus of stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, will give them the opportunity to bag a second legendary climb. 5,500 amateur cyclists tested their legs on the stage to the Col de la Madeleine in the inaugural edition. The next prize awaits. More info on letourfemmes.fr.
