Starting in Barcelona with a team time trial, this year's 3,333-kilometre Tour de France gets off to a spicy start, with two mountain stages on the first week. Unlike in previous editions, which have included the flatlands and rough roads of northern France, this route sticks to more mountainous territory, with the Pyrenees, Massif Central, Vosges, Jura and Alps all on the menu. It culminates in two ascents of Alpe d'Huez, before returning to Paris for the finish. And yes, Montmartre is back.
With 184 riders across 23 teams, the Tour de France is a race where competing storylines converge. And whatever we think might happen, there are always surprises along the way.
2026 Tour de France contenders
Tadej Pogačar
The World Champion remains the red-hot favourite for this year's Tour de France. He has won it four times — the record, held by four riders, is five wins — and finished second twice. Pogačar has 21 stage wins, winning four last year alone.
Pogačar in the rainbow bands of world champion (Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has been in imperious form so far this year. After a dominant Classics season, he won both the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse, winning seven out of 10 stages in the two races combined. In fact, Pogačar hasn't really had a bad day on the bike since his implosion on the Col de la Loze in 2023, which ultimately lost him the Tour. It seems unlikely that we'll ever see anything like it again — at least, not if UAE Team Emirates-XRG can help it.
This year, they have rolled out the big guns in support of their leader, with Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes winner Isaac del Toro — a contender in his own right — Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty and Classics stalwarts Nils Politt, Tim Wellens and Florian Vermeersch all making the selection.
Jonas Vingegaard
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider is in the best form we've seen him in for years. It has taken him almost two years to fully recover from his heavy crash at Itzulia Basque Country in 2024, with a concussion in Paris-Nice marring his Tour de France preparations last year.
Jonas Vingegaard is escorted to the 2026 Giro d'Italia title by his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates in Rome (Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
When Vingegaard won the Giro earlier this year, becoming the eighth rider in history to complete the Grand Tour trilogy, former teammate Nathan van Hooydonck likened him to "the Jonas of '22 and '23". "He's been a killer this Giro," he added. "He's been saying that he feels that he can still improve towards the Tour de France."
There have been some wobbles with Visma's Tour de France squad, with Wout van Aert pulling out after an infection and the team scrabbling for a replacement for Edoardo Affini, who crashed during the National Championships time trial (Affini, it's been confirmed, will start after all). Vingegaard, meanwhile, has been training in the Alps, sporting a sleeveless jersey and no socks. Ready, it seems. "A third Tour victory would be a dream come true," he said in a statement. "I believe in myself, and that confidence spreads throughout the team."
Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe have opted for a two-pronged leadership approach this year, with Belgian superstar Remco Evenepoel and bright young climber Florian Lipowitz. Despite all Evenepoel's accomplishments, the Belgian's Tour de France record is hit and miss. He finished third in 2024 but abandoned in the mountains last year, suffering from illness.
Remco Evenepoel at Amstel Gold 2026 (Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Evenepoel's last race was in April, skipping the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in favour of an altitude camp and targeted training so he could arrive at the Tour de France startline "completely fresh". As Zak Dempster, the team's chief of sports said in May: "We see greater benefit in a balanced alternative programme than in adding further race load."
Lipowitz, on the other hand, finished third — and winner of the young rider's jersey — in his first Tour de France last year. This year, he has claimed podium places at Catalunya, Itzulia Basque Country and Romandie, with a win at the Tour of Slovenia. With a stellar line up, including Jai Hindley and Maxim van Gils, Red Bull's leaders look likely to snap up some stage wins — and a potential place on the podium.
Paul Seixas
There is a lot of pressure on Paul Seixas' shoulders. The Frenchman has never done a Grand Tour before, let alone a Tour de France. And at 19, he's also the youngest starter in 89 years.
Paul Seixas marks Tadej Pogačar (Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Seixas, though, is clearly a generational talent. This year, he won Itzulia, La Flèche Wallonne and Faun-Ardèche Classic, proving the only rider to follow Pogačar in Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he finished second. Last month, Seixas was forced to abandon the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes after a crash, which will have scuppered some of his final preparations.
Just how much will he be able to achieve at his first Tour? Seixas himself has been coy about his ambitions, stating recently that he intended to "give it my all" and "achieve the best possible finish". He added: "I'm heading into the unknown — I've never competed in a race this long and demanding before… This is the race I've always dreamed of, and I realise how lucky I am to be able to compete in it so early in my career."
Other GC contenders
There's a very real chance that Isaac del Toro could finish on the podium alongside Pogačar this year, if he's let off the leash. As well as the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, he won Tirreno-Adriatico, and came close to a Grand Tour win at last year's Giro – before it was snatched in dramatic fashion by Simon Yates on the Finestre.
Isaac del Toro, runner-up at the 2025 Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Juan Ayuso is also making his first Tour de France appearance in Lidl-Trek colours. It'll be interesting to see what he can achieve as team leader, having pulled out in 2024 with Covid, and abandoning last year after an allergic reaction to a bee sting. He's supported by the likes of Mattias Skjelmose, Lidl-Trek's "second protected GC rider", Quinn Simmons, Derek Gee-West and Mads Pedersen.
And never rule out Richard Carapaz. The EF Education-EasyPost veteran is unlikely to win the Tour, but he won't go down without a fight. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar Team), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany-INEOS) will all be angling for a spot in the top 10. Although Tom Pidcock is a real GC contender for Pinarello Q36.5, it seems likely that he'll be stage hunting this year.
Sprinters
There's been a crucial change to the Tour de France's points system this year, with more points available for flat stage wins. This plays into the hands of out-and-out sprinters like Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Premier-Tech), who crashed out early last year, and will look to repeat his green jersey win of 2023. He'll have his work cut out, with Tim Merlier, often regarded as the world's best sprinter, looking to claim green for the first time.
Tim Merlier winning bunch sprint at the 2025 Tour de France (Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
Olav Kooij is finally making his Tour de France debut in Decathlon colours, but comes to it with just two stage races in his legs, after a virus wiped out his spring season. Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) won green in 2024 and has the dangerous ability to scoop up points up the road, much like Mads Pedersen, who is looking to complete his trio of points jerseys after previous wins in both the Giro and Vuelta.
Look out for Arnaud de Lie (Lotto Intermarché), Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), Pascal Ackerman (Jayco-AlUla) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) too.
Stage-hunters
"I know how much it can change your life, a Tour de France win," said an emotional Matej Mohorič after his stage victory in 2023. "I wish that everybody could win a Tour de France stage, but it's just not possible, and that's cruel, no?" Every team, whether they achieve it or not, will be dreaming of a stage win somewhere — including Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) himself. His teammate, the French climber Lenny Martinez, is in great form too.
Ben Healy took a Tour stage win last year (Image credit: Zac Williams / SWpix.com)
EF Education-EasyPost is stacked with potential stage winners, including Michael Valgren, who picked up wins in the Giro and Tirreno-Adriatico, Kasper Asgreen, who won a stage in 2023, and breakaway king Ben Healy, who got a stage last year and wore yellow for two days. Jayco-AlUla have adopted a similar strategy this year, with a team of Grand Tour stage winners in Michael Matthews, Ben O'Connor, Mauro Schmid and Luke Plapp.
Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) is a breakaway specialist, and finally got his Tour de France stage win last year, while Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) has six stage wins in his pocket. Last, of course, there's Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Premier-Tech), who'll be looking to attack on punchy terrain. Or, let's face it, whenever he feels like it. Last year, van der Poel and teammate Jonas Rickaert attacked from kilometre zero on a sprint stage, with van der Poel caught just 700 metres from the finish. That's the Tour de France: anything can happen.
