Two finishes on Alpe d’Huez and an opening-day team time trial as challenging Tour de France 2026 route is unveiled
Updated 23/10/2025 at 17:05 GMT+1
Back-to-back summit finishes on Alpe d’Huez will conclude a tough 2026 edition of the Tour de France, which will be live on TNT Sports and discovery+. The race begins with a team time trial in Barcelona, followed by a tricky first week in the Pyrenees. Six summit finishes and forays into the Massif Central and the Vosges make for an arduous 113th edition as Montmartre returns for the climax.
Swiss start to Mont Ventoux battle - Tour de France Femmes avec Swift 2026 route revealed
Video credit: TNT Sports
A Grand Depart in Barcelona, two different ascents of Alpe d’Huez, the first team time trial in seven years, six summit finishes, one individual race of truth, six sprint finishes, and the return of the Butte de Montmartre on the final day in Paris.
It will certainly be a tough and intriguing 113th edition of the Tour de France in 2026, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
To celebrate the return to Alpe d’Huez after a four-year break, Tour de France general director Christian Prudhomme and his team at ASO have doubled down with back-to-back finishes on the legendary climb – the first via the mythical 21 hairpins and the second via the steep and sinuous Col de Sarenne.
All in all, the satisfyingly symmetrical 3,333km route features eight mountain stages, six summit finishes and 54,450m of vertical gain.
While there is just one 26km individual time trial in 2026, the team-time trial format opens the race for the first time since 1971 with a 19km blast around Barcelona.
Meanwhile, the fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift features a mouth-watering ascent of Mont Ventoux as well as four back-to-back ascents of the Col d’Eze on a challenging final day circuit race in Nice.
Here are the main takeaways from the official route announcements, which took place on Thursday in Paris.
Grand Depart in Barcelona
The Tour has gone all retro with a 19km team time trial kicking the 113th edition off in Barcelona, albeit with a modern twist to the format.
It is a largely flat course, save for the uphill grind to the finish at Montjuic where the general classification times will depend on each rider’s individual finish time.
A lumpy Stage 2 from Tarragona to Barcelona concludes with three circuits of the famous Montjuic hill climb above the city, before a tough third stage from Granollers to Les Angles features the best part of 4,000 metres of climbing.
The 196km route includes the Col des Toses ahead of the finish at the Pyrenean ski resort of Les Angles at 1,794m.
Hills, sprints and climbs in the south-west of France
The captivating Cathar Castles in the foothills of the Pyrenees feature in the fourth stage from Carcassonne to Foix, with the Col de Coudons and Col de Montsegur contributing to the 2,750m of climbing ahead of the otherwise-flat finish. Perfect ambush territory.
It’s not until Stage 5 that the sprinters will finally get their say, with a flat 158km ride between Lennemezan and Pau, where the likes of Marcel Kittel, Arnaud Demare and Jasper Philipsen have all won in recent years.
After this small concession to the fast men, it is back to the uphill grind with a sixth stage in the Pyrenees that features 4,150m of climbing – notably the Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet.
The 186km stage from Pau concludes with the big-ring climb up to the magnificent Cirque de Gavarnie (18.7km at 3.7%), where one of the race favourites could well take the fabled yellow jersey.
A sprint royale follows in Stage 7 from Hagetmau to Bordeaux, the 175km parcours boasting just 850m of vertical gain on a big day for the green jersey.
Massif Central and back-to-back sprints
Another sprint showdown in the Dordogne will see the peloton’s fastest riders do battle between Perigueux and Bergerac in a bid to emulate Marcel Kittel, who won a similar stage in 2017.
The opening week of the race concludes with a lumpy 185km Stage 9 from Malemort to Ussel. It’s prime breakaway terrain and features the Suc au May climb where Switzerland’s Marc Hirschi launched his audacious winning move in 2020 in his debut Tour.
After the first rest day, the race resumes with a real humdinger in the Massif Central. The 167km Stage 10 from Aurillac to Le Lioran features no fewer than seven climbs including the Puy Mary, Col de Pertus and Col de Font de Cere tryptic where Jonas Vingegaard battled back to pip Tadej Pogacar in the 2024 race.
Next up, the sprinters resume their battles for green jersey points and stage spoils in a largely flat 161km test from Vichy to Nevers followed by another opportunity at Chalon-sur-Saone, the 181km Stage 12.
Breakaway territory in Vosges and Haute-Savoir
Stage 13 is the longest leg of the race, a lumpy 205km ride from Dole to Belfort that should suit the breakaway specialists. The climb of the Ballon d’Alsace could provide the ideal springboard just ahead of the finish.
Four tough climbs pepper the route of the 155km Stage 14 from Mulhouse to Le Markstein, with the Ballon d’Alsace returning along with the Grand Ballon, Col du Page and Col du Haag for a total of 3,800m of climbing.
The last stage of the second week concludes at Plateau de Solaison, the unforgiving 11.3km climb and its 9.1% ramps making its first appearance in the Tour. It’s preceded by the Col de la Croissette and its savage average gradient of 11.2%, which could provide the focal point of a 184km test that features almost 4,000m of climbing and next to no flat roads whatsoever.
The race’s only individual time trial
Remco Evenepoel won’t be best pleased by a route that only includes 26km of individual time trialling, although the World, European and Olympic TT champion will be the outright favourite in this race of truth between Evian-les-Bains and Thonon-les-Bains on the banks of Lake Geneva.
A climb up the Cote de Larringes (9.7km at 4.3%) will add a challenging dynamic to a TT that’s one third uphill, one third downhill and one third flat.
The time trial is followed by what is likely to be the last opportunity for the sprinters, the 175km Stage 17 from Chambery to Voiron that nevertheless includes 2,200m of climbing.
Brutal Alpe d’Huez double in Alpine finale
The first of three days in the Alps channels the 1971 dust-up between Eddy Merckx and Luis Ocana with the 185km Stage 18 from Voiron to Orcieres Merlette.
More recently, Primoz Roglic pipped Tadej Pogacar to victory here on Stage 4 in 2020 to deny his compatriot a first ever Tour stage win – although Pogacar ultimately got his revenge just over two weeks later.
And, so, to the leg-sapping Alpe d’Huez double-header. The first comes in the short but sharp 128km Stage 19 from Gap, which features the Col Bayard, Col du Noyer and the Col d’Ornon ahead of the traditional 21 hairpins of the mythical mountain, where the Dutch fans will be out in their droves.
But the best has been saved until last, with a queen stage on the final Saturday that slaps the riders with a whopping 5,600m of climbing along a leg-sapping 171km route that includes the holy trinity of the Telegraphe, Croix de Fer and Galibier (the highest point in the race at 2,642m) ahead of a first-ever ascent to Alpe d’Huez via the narrow and uneven roads of the Col de Sarenne.
If you can only watch one stage next July, make it this one.
Montmartre returns in Paris finale
After the success of last year’s circuits on the Butte de Montmartre, the final day in Paris once again channels the spirit of the Olympics with a second reckoning on the cobblestones underneath Basilica of Sacre Coeur.
Last year Wout van Aert got the better of Tadej Pogacar on a sodden final stage in the French capital, although the Slovenian race leader was secretly nursing a knee injury. Can he make amends this time round – and, if he does, will he be in yellow, or will his big rival Jonas Vingegaard have that honour?
Mont Ventoux on the menu for Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
Also announced on Thursday was the route for the fifth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, which will see the women’s peloton tackle Mont Ventoux for a blockbuster summit showdown in Stage 7.
The race begins in Switzerland with a lumpy opening stage starting and finishing in Lausanne that takes in three climbs and a stretch along Lake Geneva. Stage 2 starts by the UCI headquarters at Aigle and finishes with a likely sprint in Geneva.
The race hits French soil in Stage 3 for a finish in Poligny ahead of a 21km individual time trial from Gevrey-Chambertin, famous for its red wine, to Dijon, where the rouleurs should cut the mustard, although an ascent of the Lacets de Marsannay will throw a cat among the pigeons.
An undulating fifth stage from Macon includes eight categorised climbs including a tough ascent of Mont Brouilly near the finish in Belleville-en-Beaujolais. Another lumpy test follows for the sixth stage between Montbrison and Tournon-sur-Rhone ahead of the race’s queen stage.
With 3,665 metres of climbing and a mouth-watering finale on Mont Ventoux, Stage 7 starts in La Voulte-sur-Rhone and features the Col de la Grande Limite and the Col de Suzette ahead of the major rendez-vous of the week – the race’s first ever finish on the Giant of Provence.
This is followed by the longest stage of the race, the 175km slog from picture-perfect Sisteron to Nice, which should reopen the doors to the sprinters on the Promenade des Anglais – provided they can get over two short but spicy climbs near the finish.
An intriguing final stage on the French Riviera packs in over 2,000 metres of climbing into 99km with four ascents of the Col d’Eze, the last of which tackled on an alternative route that ramps up to 16%.
A total of 18,795m of climbing over the nine stages is a record for the Tour de France Femmes.
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