The 2026 Tour de France begins on Saturday 4 July, with four-time champion Tadej Pogacar once again the hot favourite to retain his crown.
The Slovenian is currently level on Tour titles with Chris Froome, who quietly announced his retirement from the sport on the eve of the race, and few would put it past him to go one better than the Briton at the close of this year’s race.
Two-time champion and recent Giro d’Italia winner Jonas Vingegaard remains his biggest competition, while former third-place finisher and Vuelta a Espana champion Remco Evenepoel is back after a disappointing edition last year, when he withdrew partway through.
French wunderkind Paul Seixas leads home hopes on his debut at the sport’s biggest race.
The Tour gets underway with a team time trial in Barcelona on Saturday, with three stages of the Grand Depart in Spain before heading to France.
Here’s everything you need to know to watch the race.
When is the Tour de France 2026?
The Tour de France begins in Barcelona on Saturday 4 July, and runs for 21 stages – plus two rest days – until the finale in Paris on Sunday 26th July.
How can I watch it?
This year marks the first without full free-to-air coverage of the Tour de France in the UK, after ITV failed to bid for streaming rights beyond 2025.
The Tour de France will be shown exclusively and in full on TNT Sports and HBO Max, while there will be a free daily highlights show at 7pm BST on Channel 5. A TNT Sports subscription to watch the Tour starts from £30.99 a month.
Tour de France 2026 route
|
Stage |
Date |
Start |
Finish |
Distance |
Type |
|
1 |
Saturday 4 July |
Barcelona |
Barcelona |
19.6km |
Team time trial |
|
2 |
Sunday 5 July |
Tarragona |
Barcelona |
168.5km |
Hilly |
|
3 |
Monday 6 July |
Granollers |
Les Angles |
195.9km |
Mountain |
|
4 |
Tuesday 7 July |
Carcassonne |
Foix |
181.9km |
Hilly |
|
5 |
Wednesday 8 July |
Lannemezan |
Pau |
158.3km |
Flat |
|
6 |
Thursday 9 July |
Pau |
Gavarnie-Gedre |
186.2km |
Mountain |
|
7 |
Friday 10 July |
Hagetmau |
Bordeaux |
175.1km |
Flat |
|
8 |
Saturday 11 July |
Perigueux |
Bergerac |
180.4km |
Flat |
|
9 |
Sunday 12 July |
Malemort |
Ussel |
185.5km |
Hilly |
|
10 |
Tuesday 14 July |
Aurillac |
Le Lioran |
166.6km |
Mountain |
|
11 |
Wednesday 15 July |
Vichy |
Nevers |
161.3km |
Flat |
|
12 |
Thursday 16 July |
Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours |
Chalon-Sur-Saone |
179.1km |
Flat |
|
13 |
Friday 17 July |
Dole |
Belfort |
205.8km |
Hilly |
|
14 |
Saturday 18 July |
Mulhouse |
Le Markstein Fellering |
155.3km |
Mountain |
|
15 |
Sunday 19 July |
Champagnole |
Plateau de Solaison |
183.9km |
Mountain |
|
16 |
Tuesday 21 July |
Evian-les-Bains |
Thonon-les-Bains |
26.1km |
Individual time trial |
|
17 |
Wednesday 22 July |
Chambery |
Voiron |
174.7km |
Flat |
|
18 |
Thursday 23 July |
Voiron |
Orcieres-Merlette |
185.2km |
Mountain |
|
19 |
Friday 24 July |
Gap |
Alpe d’Huez |
127.9km |
Mountain |
|
20 |
Saturday 25 July |
Le Bourg d’Oisans |
Alpe d’Huez |
170.9km |
Mountain |
|
21 |
Sunday 26 July |
Thoiry |
Paris Champs-Elysees |
133km |
Flat |
