Date: Saturday, July 4, 2026 - Sunday, July 26, 2026
Start: Barcelona
Finish: Paris
Total distance: 3,333km
Elevation: 54,450 metres 
Stages: 21
Riders: 176
Teams: 22
Defending champion: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 

Key information:

• Tour de France 2026 route analysis

Tour de France overview

The Tour de France is unquestionably the world's biggest bike race. While many other races on the cycling calendar hold historic and exceptional prestige in their own right, there is nothing quite like the Tour. It reaches beyond dedicated cycling followers and permeates the consciousness of millions of sports fans around the world and is, for many people, their only engagement with professional cycling each year.

Read more: How does the Tour de France work?

As such, the race and its trademark elements have almost taken on a life of their own. The yellow jersey – the signifier of the leader of the race's individual general classification and at the end, the overall winner – for instance, is an item of sacred sporting status that is instantly recognisable. Likewise, many of the race's most famous climbs including Alpe d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, and the Col du Tourmalet are revered landmarks of their respective mountain ranges.

Read more: How long is the Tour de France?

But while the status of the Tour is unique, it is not the only race of its kind in cycling. Taking place over three weeks and 21 stages, it is one of cycling's three Grand Tours along with the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. Winning any of these races is an exceptional physical challenge, and few riders are capable of achieving it, let alone winning multiple editions.

However, winning the Tour catapults a rider's career into the highest echelons of cycling and sporting history. Now in its 113th edition, only 64 riders have etched their names into the roll of honour at the Tour, the most recent of whom was Tadej Pogačar, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider, who won his third Tour title in 2025.

The Tour is much more than just the yellow jersey however, with riders chasing individual stage wins throughout the race, as well as victory in the race's other classifications; the points classification (green jersey), the mountains classification (polka-dot jersey), and the best young rider classification (white jersey).

Tour de France route 2026

With a Grand Départ in Barcelona featuring a team time trial, 10 locations appearing for the first time, and most of the route in the south, race director Christian Prudhomme has built a new-look Tour de France route. But there are some iconic climbs en route, like the famous Alpe d'Huez, which will be the summit finish on consecutive days (stages 19 and 20). Prudhomme will be hoping for gripping battle between defending champion Tadej Pogačar, two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard and the up-and-coming French star, Paul Seixas.

Read more: The 2026 Tour de France promises suspense until the end

Stage one: Barcelona to Barcelona / 19km (TTT)
Stage two: Tarragona to Barcelona / 182km
Stage three: Granollers to Les Angles / 196km
Stage four: Carcassonne to Foix / 182km
Stage five: Lannemezan to Pau / 158km
Stage six: Pau to Gavarnie-Gèdre / 186km
Stage seven: Hagetmau to Bordeaux / 175km
Stage eight: Périgueux to Bergerac / 182km
Stage nine: Malemort to Ussel / 185km
Stage 10: Aurillac to Le Lioran / 167km
Stage 11: Vichy to Nevers / 161km
Stage 12: Magny-Cours to Chalon-sur-Saône / 181km
Stage 13: Dole to Belfort / 205km
Stage 14: Mulhouse to Le Markstein / 155km
Stage 15: Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison / 184km
Stage 16: Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains / 26km
Stage 17: Chambéry to Voiron / 175km
Stage 18: Voiron to Orcières-Merlette / 185km
Stage 19: Gap to Alpe d'Huez / 128km
Stage 20: Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Alpe d'Huez / 171km
Stage 21: Thoiry to Paris / 130km

Read more: How are the Tour de France climbs classified?

Tour de France teams 2026

• UAE Team Emirates XRG
  
• Visma–Lease a Bike
  
• Soudal–Quick-Step
  
• EF Education–EasyPost
  
• Lotto–Intermarché
  
• Team Bahrain Victorious
  
• Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team
  
• Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe
  
• Lidl–Trek
  
• Groupama–FDJ United
  
• Alpecin–Premier Tech
  
• Tudor Pro Cycling Team
  
• Team Jayco–AlUla
  
• Movistar Team
  
• Decathlon CMA CGM
  
• Cofidis
  
• XDS Astana Team
  
• Team TotalEnergies
  
• Team Picnic–PostNL
  
• NSN Cycling Team
  
• Uno-X Mobility
  
• Caja Rural–Seguros RGA
  
• Pinarello–Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team

Tour de France history

The Tour de France will be in its 112th edition in 2025, first starting in 1903. Having only stopped for the two world wars, the Tour rose to become the premier event of the cycling calendar and is now one of the most-watched sporting events in the world. The Tour has changed significantly since its first iteration, but at its heart, it remains a gruelling test of physical and mental endurance for the participants.

Read more: Tour de France winners: A brief history

Such is the Tour’s prestige, overall wins and stage wins are defining moments in the careers of riders. Some riders, however, have shaped the history of the Tour through their exceptional exploits, winning the general classification multiple times throughout their careers. Jacques Anquetil (1957 - 1964), Eddy Merckx (1969 - 1974), Bernard Hinault (1978 - 1985) and Miguel Indurain (1991 - 1995) hold the joint record of five for the most Tour wins, while Indurain is the only rider to win his titles in five-consecutive years. American Lance Armstrong held the record of seven until he had his titles stripped in 2012 after admitting to doping. 

Read more: Tour de France prize money: How much does the winner receive?

As for stage wins, Mark Cavendish did share the title with Eddy Merckx, having 34 stages to their names. However, in the 2024 edition of the race, the British rider from the sprint on stage five from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas, writing himself into the history books as the rider with the most Tour de France stage wins. 

In the other classifications, Peter Sagan has a record seven victories in the green jersey points competition, while former French rider Richard Virenque has the same number in the polka-dot jersey of the King of the Mountains.

Read more: What is the Tour de France time cut and how does it work?

Most Tour de France wins: 

Five wins: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain 

Four wins: Chris Froome and Tadej Pogačar

Three wins: Philippe Thys, Louison Bobet and Greg LeMond

Recent Tour de France winners: 

2025 - Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates-XRG

2024 - Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates 

2023 - Jonas Vingegaard, Jumbo-Visma

2022 - Jonas Vingegaard, Jumbo-Visma

2021 - Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates

2020 - Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates

2019 - Egan Bernal, Team Ineos

2018 - Geraint Thomas, Team Sky 

2017 - Chris Froome, Team Sky

2016 - Chris Froome, Team Sky

2015 - Chris Froome, Team Sky