Tour de France organisers have officially unveiled next year’s route, with the race climax set to pit riders against one another on the queen mountain of Alpe d’Huez, not once, but twice.
Released in a presentation in Paris last week, the 2026 route will feature a total of 3,333 kilometres and begin in Barcelona on July 4 before ending in Paris on July 26.
The tour is expected to see cyclists race across seven flat stages, four hilly stages, and eight mountain ranges, including summit finishes at Gavarnie-Gèdre, Plateau de Solaison, Orcières-Merlette, and Alpe d’Huez.
New climbs, same gruelling battle
The 113th edition will welcome 10 new stage towns and sites as well as several new climbs, such as the Côte de Begues (stage 2), Montée de Gavarnie-Gèdre (stage 6), Col de la Griffoul (stage 10), Col du Page and Col du Haag (stage 14), Plateau de Solaison (stage 15), and Col de Sarenne through its south-eastern flank (stage 20).
What makes the route extra special is the Grand Départ in Barcelona, which will feature a rare team time trial stretching 19km.
The peloton is also in for a surprise as Alpe d’Huez hosts the finishes for stages 19 and 20 in what could become a showdown of cycling’s biggest climbers.
Race director Christian Prudhomme said the route incorporated an “in crescendo” design that places the hardest stages at the end of the tour – part of efforts to ensure tension and suspense.
“We’ll start strong in Barcelona, then cross the five major French mountain ranges, and end with an unprecedented finale,” he told France Info.
“Before the double Alpe d’Huez, no rider will be able to say they’ve won the Tour, even if they have a big lead.”
READ MORE: Tadej Pogačar concludes 2025 season with fifth-straight win at Il Lombardia
2026 route triggers mixed reactions
However, not everyone was keen on the route, with Visma–Lease a Bike boss Richard Plugge disagreeing with a team time trial kicking off the 2026 race.
“It takes away the ‘team’ aspect. A team time trial is a team time trial, and what makes it so great is that the time of the number four or five counts, so you have to take them with you to the finish,” Plugge told IDLProCycling.
Nevertheless, the chief of Visma, which boasts two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard, said they need to “adapt to it”.
Dutch former professional cyclist and now analyst Thijs Zonneveld also criticised the route of the final week, claiming organisers seemed to have taken a more cautious approach that strips the tour of its chaos and unpredictability.
“Last year, every stage could go in any direction,” he said in a report from CyclingUpToDate.
“That’s been completely abandoned now.”
Slovenian Tadej Pogačar will be the man to beat after he secured his fourth Tour de France title in July.
The world number one went on to make 2025 a very dominant year for him, securing both the world and European road race titles alongside victories in the classics, with the latest being Il Lombardia earlier this month.
Whether anyone can challenge Pogačar, including long-time rival Vingegaard, remains to be seen.
Pogačar dominated the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021 until Denmark’s Vingegaard outdueled him to claim the crown for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023.
The Slovenian took back the title again in 2024 and 2025, with Vingegaard coming second in both editions.
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TdF Femmes gets stand-alone date
Meanwhile, riders in the Tour de France Femmes will have their fair share of exciting changes as well when they race up Mont Ventoux for the first time.
The women’s tour will also move to a new stand-alone date, taking place from August 1 to 9.
This comes amid the growing popularity of the Femmes tour, a situation that race director Marion Rousse is particularly proud of.
“There’s no need to have the men’s race as a platform to launch the women’s race. Now people are waiting to see us,” Rousse told The Guardian.
The tour will boast nearly 19,000 metres of climbing in nine stages, starting in Switzerland and ending in the Côte d’Azur in central Nice.
Visma’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot secured the win at the 2025 Tour de France Femmes in dominant fashion, beating rivals Demi Vollering of FDJ–Suez and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney of Canyon–SRAM zondacrypto.
Ferrand-Prévot expressed her excitement for next year’s edition, describing it as “super nice” in a Visma press release as she gears up to defend her title.
“I’m already excited to work hard towards defending my title. Finishing in Nice is fantastic. It means a lot to me, since I live in the area,” she said.
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Adam Peaker 
Newsjustnews writers 
Carmela Calling