The route for the 113th edition of the Tour de France, running from July 4–26, 2026, builds on the route announcement for the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Following a Grand Départ for the Tour de France in Barcelona, Spain, the elite men’s race will visit all five mountain ranges in France, building towards a decisive climax in the Alps that includes an unprecedented double finish on Alpe d’Huez.
The race is structured with a gradual build-up, drawing comparison to the tempo of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, with the early stages favouring specialists before the final week’s high mountains.
At the Grand Départ in Barcelona the team presentation will be held near the newly inaugurated tallest tower of the Sagrada Família. The first two stages will be a test bed for two novel formats:
- Stage 1: A Paris–Nice style team time trial
- Stage 2: A puncheur’s paradise stage in the city, where the General Classification (GC) favourites will be tested immediately
The Pyrenees, while close, are set to favour breakaway specialists over a major GC clash in the early mountain stages to the Les Angles ski resort (stage 3) and the Cirque de Gavarnie (stage 6).
The first six days are expected to feature varied race scenarios before the sprinters get chances in Bordeaux (stage 7), Dordogne (stage 8), Nevers (stage 11), and Chalon-sur-Saône (stage 12). Breakaway specialists will mark stages to Ussel (stage 9) and Belfort (stage 13) in red.
The race will travel through the Cantal department, including a stage finish at Le Lioran (stage 10), and will tackle the Jura and Vosges. The ascent to Le Markstein (stage 14) and the Plateau de Solaison (stage 15) – making its Tour debut after the Col du Salève – will define the end of the second week.
The sole individual time trial takes place on the shores of Lake Geneva (stage 16), which has the potential to reshuffle the overall standings ahead of the final Alpine trilogy.
The race will culminate in the Alps with an immense challenge:
- Stage 19: The first of two finishes on Alpe d’Huez.
- Stage 20: The second Alpe d’Huez stage, which will smash past the 5,600m elevation gain barrier. This stage starts in Le Bourg-d’Oisans and will tackle the Col de la Croix de Fer, the Col du Télégraphe, and the Galibier before ascending Alpe d’Huez via the unprecedented climb from the Col de Sarenne.
The final weekend wraps up with the ceremonial stage 21, which will see the peloton tackle the hill of Montmartre before the finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
As in previous years, and also organised by A.S.O., amateur cyclosportive events run on courses aligned with the professional races:
- L’Étape du Tour de France will be held on the course of the second Alpe d’Huez stage one week before the professionals, on July 19, 2026.
- L’Étape du Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will pit amateur cyclists against Mont Ventoux on August 6, 2026.
