Tour de France 2026 – All the route rumours ahead of the official presentation
Tour de France 2026
Tour de France Femmes 2026
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Tour de France route presentation.
This day always has a feeling a bit like Christmas Eve for cycling fans - albeit one that precedes Christmas Day by over half a year. We’re given a host of reasons to get excited for the upcoming Tour de France, and the next eight months or so from now will be spent in eager anticipation of what is revealed and confirmed today.
The presentation is due to begin in about fifteen minutes, at 11:00 CET. As with pretty much any glitzy sporting ceremony like this, it’ll take a while to get to the point, but we’ll get to the juicy details of what’s on the Tour routes before long.
The routes for both the women’s Tour de France and the men’s race will be announced here, the former run by Marion Rousse and the latter Christian Prudhomme.
The routes might only be being officially announced today, but we already know lots of the details, plus many more rumours concerning them. We’ve rounded up everything we know already prior to today’s confirmation.
Tour de France 2026 – All the route rumours ahead of the official presentation
We’re just a few minutes away from the beginning of the presentation.
We’re underway! The lights go down, and the familiar song from the Tour de France podium ceremony plays.
The presentation is taking place at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.
Some of the peloton’s stars are brought on stage ahead of the Tour de France Femmes announcement, including Kasia Niewadoma, Maeva Squiban and Dominika Włodarczyk.
Squiban is from Brittany, which hosted the Grand Départ of this year’s race. In 2026, Switzerland has that honour.
Swiss Grand Départ announced for Tour de France Femmes in 2026
Now some of the men are being brought on stage, including Dylan Groenewegen, and Valentin Paret-Peintre.
Right, here we go. The parcours is about to be announced.
Well, any minute now. First a promo video for ASO, organisers of the Tour de France.
After the first speech of the day, we’re now seeing a highlights reel of last year’s Tour de France Femmes.
Zwift will again be sponsoring the Tour de France Femmes in 2026, and today announced that it will extend their partnership with the race to 2029.
“Growing women’s participation in cycling is a critical mission,” said the company’s CEO Eric Min in a press release. “We truly believe that to be successful, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is essential.”
The big names we’re here to are at least on stage - Marion Rousse and Christian Prudhomme.
Rousse is greeted with applause as she announces the news of Zwift’s extended partnership.
A video is now being shown of Swiss under-17 rider Valentine Rousseau, and her feelings about the Tour starting in her home country next year.
After some speeches from representatives of the Swiss Grand Depart, Marrion Rousse is back on stage. It seems, at last the route is to be announced!
We already know much of the Tour de France Femmes, and the three Swiss stages are confirmed.
The Mont Ventoux finish of stage 7 is also confirmed.
And the mystery of the final stage is at last revealed - it will start in Sisteron and finish in Nice.
Stage four’s time trial in Dijon will be 21km - apparently a reference to how many cantons there are in Switzerland.
Three climbs will be in store on a punchy stage five, starting in Mâcon and finishing in Belleville-en-Beaujolais.
Stage eight - the one succeeding the Ventoux stage - was the one we knew least about before today. It’s been announced that it will be 99km, and feature a loop around the iconic climb of Paris-Nice, the Col d’Eze.
That looks like more of a puncheur stage than a mountainous one, as had been expected, which will only serve to increase the importance of the summit finish atop Ventoux the day before.
Rousse and Prudhomme on stage.
Here's the parcours for each stage.
So there will be two stage finishing in Nice following the Ventoux stage: the first a mostly flat one with a couple of small late climbs, the second a short, punchy one centred around four ascents of the Col d'Èze.
The main take from this Tour de France Femmes route is the lack of climbing. While there are plenty of punchy efforts to keep us entertained and encourage the GC contenders to attack, aside from the Ventoux there are no high mountain passes to take on, with no additional stages in the High Alps.
See here our full write-up of the Tour de France Femmes route that’s just been announced.
The map for the 2026 Tour de France Femmes is revealed on stage.
Now, the focus turns to the men. At present a (long) video going over the highlights of last year’s race is being played in the arena.
Barcelona will, of course, host the men’s Grand Départ, and a video showcasing the city is currently being played.
The mayor of Barcelona is here and on stage to give a brief speech.
Prudhomme's back on stage, so it looks like we're poised to get some more announcements.
And indeed, here comes the video presentation of the route.
We already know the parcours for the first two stages, a team time trial and hilly road stage in Barcelona.
Stage three will, as rumoured finish atop the ski station in Les Angles.
It seems there will be no big montain stage in the Pyenees.
The second week routes are being announced, with plenty of climbing in the Massif Central and Vosges featured.
The big news - there will be two finishes atop Alpe d’Huez, on stages 19 and 20.
And as expected, the finale in Paris will repeat last year’s climbs of Montmartre.
Now Prudhomme goes over each stage one by one. He confirms that the times for the opening team time trial will be taken individually rather than collectively, as has been the case in other stage races recently.
Stage three’s stage will feature almost 4,000m elevation - a lot of climbing so early in the race, even if it’s not a full blown Pyrenean stage.
Stage four is similar, featuring climbs but nothing too big, and won’t be an uphill finish.
Stage five will be flat, the first realistic chance for the sprinters.
Stage 6 is the biggest day in the Pyrenees, featuring the Tourmalet, and will be a summit finish, atop Gavarnie-Gèdre. This is the first proper mountain finish of the race.
Another day for the sprinters on stage seven in Bordeaux, the Tour’s second most visited town.
Another day for the sprinters await the riders on stage 8, in Bergarac.
Stage 9 to Ussel is an undulating, hilly affair, which looks good for the breakaway specialists.
Seven climbs await the riders on stage 10, a really testing day in the Massif Central, finishing atop Le Lioran.
Stage 11 is another chance for the sprinters, as they head out of the Massif Central for a finish in Nevers.
Stage 12 is also flat. The sprinters might have to wait a while at this Tour, but they're being thrown some bones during this middle phase of the race.
Stage 13 is the only stage longer than 200km, most of it flat, but with one climb towards the end.
Almost 4,000m of climbing is on the menu on stage 14 in the Vosges, where the GC race looks set to ignite again.
Stage 15 will be another mountain top finish, atop a new climb for the Tour - Plateau de Solaison
The only individual time trial at the 2026 race will be held on stage 16.
Another montain top finish on stage 18, Orcières Merlette.
Then comes the stages that will grab the headlines - the Alpe d’Hue double.
Of the two, the second will be the biggest, with over 5,000m elevation gain.
Finally, the Parisian finale will this time begin at Thoiry, before what will be a near-enough repeat of the Montmartre circuit that was so popular last year.
The route of the 2026 men's Tour de France.
Here's our write-up of that men's route that's just been announced.
2026 Tour de France route marked by double ascent of Alpe d'Huez in final weekend
One thing that stands out is the difficulty of that final stage to Alpe d'Huez which, as well as that iconic summit finish, also includes Alpine giants the Galbier,Télégraphe,Croix de Fer and Sarenne.
There isn’t much on offer for the GC contenders who depend on time trials. Stage 16 is the only individual stage, lasting only 26km, and starting with a 10km climb to make things easier for the climbers. Remco Evenepoel won’t be happy.
That's it for the presentation - Prudhomme has wrapped things up and left the stage. We've been left with plenty to digest and look more closely at.
Prudhomme and the map for the men's race.
The #TDF2026 :🚩 3 333 km📍 10 new stage towns and sites⛰ 8 mountain stages😱 54.450m of total vertical gain Le #TDF2026 :🚩 3 333 km📍 10 villes et sites étapes inédits⛰ 8 étapes de montagne😱 54.450 m de D+ total pic.twitter.com/G3geXmrGoiOctober 23, 2025
Alpe d'Huez looks set to be the definitive climb of the 2026 men’s Tour de France, featuring as not one but two stage finishes. Earlier, we had a look at what makes the climb so special, and the long history the riders will be adding to this coming summer.
Alpe d'Huez – A history of the most famous 21 turns of the Tour de France
Marion Rousse with the Tour de France Femmes route.
And Christian Prudhomme posing by the men’s route.
ASO haven't published parcours for every stage yet, but have for most. We'll post them imminently.
Now there’s been some time to absorb all the details and revelations from today’s route announcement, personnel from the cycling world have been responding to it.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Richard Plugge has been especially vocal, taking heart from the route and believing his team’s star Jonas Vingegaard will be able to challenge and possibly reclaim his title from Tadej Pogačar.
Plugge was less positive about the opening team time trial, and the fact it will incorporate the same format used in recent Paris-Nice editions, where each riders’ time is taken individually, and not collectively as a team.
“"For me, a team time trial is a team time trial, and the beauty of it is that you need the whole team, and even your number four or five has to be able to keep up.”
As for the Tour de France Femmes, race director Marion Rousse went into more detail about her thought process in coming up with the route, saying how she wanted every stage to have the potential for some GC action, by including at least one climb every day.
For an in-depth look at that route, have a read of our analysis, complete with profiles for every one of those stages.
And be sure also to look through our write-up on the men’s route.
2026 Tour de France route marked by double ascent of Alpe d'Huez in final weekend
Thanks for joining us today. We’ll have more news and reactions on the site as more responses come in to both routes.
The countdown to the Tours de France begins now!
