Barcelona to the Alps: The 2026 Tour de France Saves Its Cruelest Punch for Last

PARIS, France (23 October 2025) — The organisers pulled back the curtain on the 113th Tour de France on Thursday evening, presenting a route that builds toward a savage Alpine finale like Maurice Ravel’s Boléro gathering momentum toward its thunderous conclusion. Nearly 3,500 spectators packed the Palais des Congrès to glimpse the challenge awaiting the world’s best riders from 4 to 26 July.

Barcelona will host the Grand Départ, opening with a 19-kilometre team time trial in the Paris-Nice mould. The riders will parade past the newly completed tower of the Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí’s architectural vision finally realised—though respecting his wish that it not surpass Montjuïc as Barcelona’s highest point. That Olympic hill will serve up stage two’s finish, a punchy parcours from Tarragone designed to expose the favourites with nowhere to hide.

The race wastes little time hitting the Pyrenees, but the early mountain stages look tailored for breakaway specialists rather than general classification warfare. Les Angles welcomes the peloton after 196 kilometres on stage three, while the Cirque de Gavarnie—a Tour debutant as a finish—crowns stage six’s 186-kilometre journey from Pau.

The sprinters get their chances. Pau opens the door on stage five, followed by opportunities in Bordeaux, Bergerac, Nevers and Chalon-sur-Saône. But they’ll share the limelight with escape artists circling Ussel on stage nine and Belfort on stage 13 in red marker.

The Massif Central muscles into the narrative on Bastille Day, when 167 kilometres through the Cantal culminate at Le Lioran. The Jura and Vosges follow, building pressure through stages 13 to 15. New climbs proliferate: the Col du Haag debuts on stage 14’s 155-kilometre sufferfest to Le Markstein, while the Plateau de Solaison—arriving immediately after the Col du Salève on stage 15—could fracture the race as decisively as any Alpine giant.

The only individual time trial runs 26 kilometres along Lake Geneva’s shore from Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains on stage 16, offering one final chance to reshuffle the general classification before the Alps deliver their verdict.

Orcières-Merlette on stage 18 serves as overture. Then Alpe d’Huez delivers the knockout punch—twice. Stage 19 covers a relatively civilised 128 kilometres from Gap. But stage 20 unleashes hell: 171 kilometres and 5,600 metres of climbing, the only stage to breach 5,000 metres of elevation gain. The riders will grapple with the Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Télégraphe and Galibier—at 2,642 metres the roof of the race—before ascending Alpe d’Huez via the Col de Sarenne, an approach the Tour has never before used.

After that vertigo-inducing challenge, one final twist awaits: the peloton must crest Montmartre before rolling onto the Champs-Élysées for stage 21’s traditional finale.

The 3,333-kilometre route accumulates 54,450 metres of vertical gain across 21 stages, visiting all five French mountain ranges in geographical progression: Pyrenees, Massif Central, Vosges, Jura and Alps.

Amateur cyclists will tackle stage 20’s course on 19 July at L’Étape du Tour de France, giving 16,000 riders the chance to conquer the Col de Sarenne descent to Alpe d’Huez a week before the professionals. Registration opens 3 November. L’Étape du Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will pit riders against Mont Ventoux on 6 August.