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2026 Tour de France features Punishing back to back Alpe d'Huez Stages

The route of the 2026 Tour de France has been revealed with punishing back to back Alpe du Huez stages before finishing in Paris with three thrilling climbs of the cobbled Rue Lepic in Montmartre

2026 Tour de France features Punishing back to back Alpe d'Huez Stages

The 21-day race will start from Barcelona on July 4 and cover 3,333 kilometres before finishing beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on July 26, organisers revealed at Thursday's unveiling in Paris

Barcelona Grand Depart: Team Time Trial

After an opening Team Time Trial in Barcelona, Spain, riders will down Mediterranean Sea coast on Stage 2 and finish at the Estadi Olímpic Lluis Companys, the focal stadium for the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992

First Week: 2 Spanish Stages before the Pyrenees

The first three stages will take place in Spain before crossing over to France where the peloton will traverse the Pyrenees and head west to Bordeaux.
 
The first uphill finish awaits in the home country on Stage 3 at the ski village of Les Angles, but this is not a really tough mountain stage yet, it will follow a few days later. First, there is a stage through the middle mountains from Carcassonne to Foix, after which the sprinters will be featured for the first time on stage five from Lannemezan to Pau. The day after the first bunch sprint, the first serious mountain stage follows, starting in Pau and finishing on Gavarnie on stage 6. This is the only Pyrenees stage, and also a classic. Before the final climb, the riders will first go over the Col d'Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet.

Second week: Massif Central, Vosges and Alps

The day after the rest day, a stage in the Central-Massif is on the programme, with a finish in Le Lioran. The final is almost the same as that of the tenth stage of 2024, when Jonas Vingegaard tadej Pogacar Defeated in the sprint. After this, it goes via two flat stages, with arrival in Nevers and Chalon-sur-Saône in the direction of the Vosges.
 
Stage thirteen ends in Belfort, after the climb of the Ballon d'Alsace. The next stage goes straight through the Vosges. The riders will go over the Grand Ballon and again the Ballon d'Alsace. The main meal of the day is the Col du Haag, with the summit just a few kilometers from the finish in Le Markstein.
 
At the end of the second week, there will be a tough uphill finish in the Alps. Stage fifteen ends on Plateau de Solaison, a climb of more than 12 kilometers at just under 9 percent average. Along the way, the riders will also cross the steep Mont Salève.

Third week: Brutal back-to-back Alpe d'Huez before Paris

The third week starts with an individual time trial from Evian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains. The race against the clock is 26 kilometers long and goes over a rolling course. The next day, a transition stage from Chambéry to Voiron is on the program, with plenty of opportunities for attackers.
 
In stage eighteen we definitively head into the Alps. That starts carefully, with a stage from Voiron to Orcières-Merlette. After this, it is the turn of the Alpe d'Huez, where the finish is two days in a row. In stage nineteen, the riders ride up the classic climb, with the 21 bends.
 
A day later, the penultimate stage also finishes on the Dutch mountain, but then. via a totally different mountain stage. Stage 20 is the Queen Stage in 2026. The riders will start from Bourg d'Oisans, then go over the Col de la Croix-de-Fer, Col du Télégraphe and Col du Galibier towards the narrow and steep Col de Sarrenne. This is followed by a short descent and the last few kilometers of the traditional climb to Alpe d'Huez.
 
Stage 20, the Queen Stage, also doubles up as the Etape Du Tour. The 2026 Etape du Tour will be one of the most demanding, a brutal 171 km route with 5,400 meters of climbing. Registration opens on Monday November 3rd at 2pm CET with over 16,000 amateurs to participate.

Paris Champs-Elysées: Rue Lepic cobbled climb

The final stage leads to the finish line at Paris Champs-Elysées on July 26th. In 2026, the finish line will be 15km from Sacré-Cœur, set to create a similarly striking spectacle to the road race at Paris 2024 with the the thrilling Rue Lepic cobbled climb!
 
Olympic bronze medallist Tadej Pogacar is the double defending champion, and the Slovenian is aiming to become the joint-most successful man in Tour de France history with five general classification victories.
 
You can follow our daily coverage of the 2026 Tour de France here.

2026 Tour de France Stage Map

 
2026 Tour de France Stage Map
 

2026 Tour de France Stages

Stage

Date

Start

Finish

Type

Distance

1

July 4

Barcelona

Barcelona

 Team Time Trial 

19 km

2

July 5

Tarragona

Barcelona

Hilly

182 km

3

July 6

Granollers

Les Angles

Mountain

196 km

4

July 7

Carcassonne

Foix

Hilly

182 km

5

July 8

Lannemezan

Pau

Flat

158 km

6

July 9

Pau

Gavarnie-Gèdre

Mountain

186 km

7

July 10

Hagetmau

Bordeaux

Flat

175 km

8

July 11

Périgueux

Bergerac

Flat

182 km

9

July 12

Malemort

Ussel

Hilly

185 km

July 13

Rest Day

Cantal

 

10

July 14

Aurillac

Le Lioran

Mountain

167 km

11

July 15

Vichy

Nevers

Flat

161 km

12

July 16

Magny-Cours

Chalon-sur-Saône

Flat

181 km

13

July 17

Dole

Belfort

Hilly

205 km

14

July 18

Mulhouse

Le Markstein Fellering

Mountain

155 km

15

July 19

Champagnole

Plateau de Solaison

Mountain

184 km

July 20

Rest Day

Haute-Savoie

 

16

July 21

Évian-les-Bains

Thonon-les-Bains
Individual Time Trial

162 km

17

July 22

Chambery

Voiron

Flat

175 km

18

July 23

Voiron 

Orcières-Merlette

Mountain

185 km

19

July 24

Gap

Alpe d’Huez

Mountain

128 km

20

July 25

Grenoble

Alpe d’Huez

Queen Stage

171 km

21

July 26

Montmartre

Arc de Triomphe

Flat

130 km

 

 
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