The 113th edition of the Tour de France gets underway on Saturday, 4 July in Barcelona, the Catalan capital, before concluding on 26 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. It marks the 27th time the race has started outside France — previous editions have launched from Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, and, in 1982, Basel in Switzerland. The 2026 route covers 3,333 kilometres and 54,450 metres of climbing across 21 stages, roughly 3,000 metres more ascent than last year, continuing a trend of the race growing harder with each edition.

The opening stage in Barcelona introduces a notable first: a team time trial, a format not used to start the Tour since 1971, when Eddy Merckx's squad won in Mulhouse on the way to overall victory. Unlike standard team time trials, times will be recorded individually rather than based on the fifth rider across the line, though all teammates will start together. The race moves quickly into the mountains — a Pyrenean summit finish arrives as early as Monday of the first week, leaving riders almost no time to find their rhythm. The route also passes through the Massif Central, the Vosges, and the Jura before the final week in the Alps, where riders will tackle the Col du Tourmalet (making its 87th Tour appearance), the Col du Galibier at 2,642 metres — the race's highest point — and, on two consecutive days, the famous 21-hairpin climb to Alpe d'Huez. The Paris finale again includes three ascents of the steep Montmartre hill rather than a flat sprint finish.

The favourites arrived in Barcelona projecting calm confidence. Tadej Pogacar, the Slovenian rider who won in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025, has been in formidable form this season, claiming three spring classics — Milan–San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Liège–Bastogne–Liège — as well as the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse. His Danish rival Jonas Vingegaard, winner in 2022 and 2023, arrives fresh from winning the Giro d'Italia in May, a race he dominated with five stage victories. Belgian Remco Evenepoel, 25, is also considered a serious contender, having spent two months away from racing to sharpen his preparation. "I have worked for it," Evenepoel said. "The training numbers were quite good."

Pogacar, relaxed and characteristically direct, dismissed suggestions he might target ten stage wins. "I want to win 21 stages," he said with a grin, before clarifying: "But I think that is not really achievable. Ten isn't either. The main goal is the whole thing." Vingegaard, speaking in the shadow of Barcelona's Sagrada Família basilica, said he had taken a week off after the Giro before returning to training. "I feel ready for the race, but the time will tell."

Adding a cultural footnote to the Barcelona start, former FC Barcelona and Spain footballer Andrés Iniesta — one of the city's most celebrated figures — now co-owns a professional cycling team, having taken over Israel–Premier Tech through his sport and entertainment company Never Say Never. Iniesta, who grew up watching the Tour during summer holidays and idolised five-time Tour winner Miguel Indurain, described his introduction to professional cycling's inner workings as a revelation. "Everything is done to the millimetre," he said. "It is a very special, unique world from the inside."

With more climbing, fewer easy days, and three generational talents at peak form, the 2026 Tour promises to be among the most demanding and closely contested in recent memory.