Two stages featuring Alpe d'Huez and another Montmartre finish? - These are the 2026 Tour de France route rumours

The only official certainties about the 2026 Tour at this point are that the race will start in Barcelona on July 4 and it will finish in Paris on July 26, with the climb to Montmartre again set to feature on the final day.

Some doubt has been cast on Barcelona’s hosting of the Grand Départ in the wake of events at the Vuelta a España, where Israel-Premier Tech’s presence was the subject of repeated protests amid Israel’s ongoing invasion of Gaza.

Barcelona city council has called for Israel-Premier Tech to be excluded from next year’s Tour, but as things stand, the Catalan capital will play host to the opening weekend of the La Grande Boucle.

The race will start with a 19.7km team time trial that finishes atop Montjuïc, where the finishing times will be taken individually. In other words, teams will provide an extended lead-out for their GC contenders ahead of the climb to the line. Stage 2 from Tarragona to Barcelona will again feature climbs up Montjuïc as part of the punchy 12km finishing circuit. 

Stage 3 will start from Granollers and, per ASO, will head “towards the French border for a destination which has not yet been unveiled.” Early rumours suggested a summit finish at La Molina, but ICI Occitanie last week reported that the race will instead cross into France for a summit finish at Les Angles in the Ariège, at 1,800m above sea level.

As ever, the Velowire website has done considerable heavy lifting in sifting reports from local media in France to piece together an overall picture of what next year’s Tour route might look like. Per Velowire, a touted summit finish at Guzet-Neige in the opening week now looks unlikely to feature, but the race will spend time in the Pyrenees beyond the summit finish at Les Angles. 

Sudouest reported earlier this month that stage 6 will be from Pau to the new ascent of the Col de Tentes, which brings the Tour to the spectacular Cirque de Gavarnie for the first time. The natural amphitheatre was described by Victor Hugo as ‘the Colosseum of nature’ and it will provide a most dramatic backdrop to the final day of action in the Pyrenees.

The same newspaper expects a stage finish in Bordeaux the following day. The precise picture for the second weekend of the Tour is less clear, but Velowire reports that the race will pass through the Dordogne ahead of the first rest day in Cantal.

The Tour resumes on Bastille Day, and multiple local outlets – most notably La Montagne – have reported that stage 10 in the Massif Central will start from Aurillac and tackle the Puy Mary and Col du Pertus ahead of the finish at Le Lioran, where Jonas Vingegaard beat Tadej Pogačar in 2024.

Details about the stages that follow are not complete, but Velowire expects the Tour to travel northwards towards the Vosges during the second week. The third weekend of the Tour is expected to feature a finish to Le Markstein, where Tadej Pogačar sprinted to victory from a small group featuring the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard on the penultimate stage in the 2023 edition.

The Dauphiné Libére suggests that the final stage of the second week could conclude at Plateau de Solaison, where Jakob Fuglsang sealed his first of two Critérium du Dauphiné titles with a stage win in 2017.

Local newspaper L’Est Republican reported the La Planche des Belles Filles would host a stage finish on either stage 14 or 15 in July and the news that the Ultra Trail du Grand Ballon running event has changed its date from that weekend “due to a potential conflict with ASO regarding the passage or finish of a stage of the 2026 Tour de France” seems to confirm as much. However, recent reports from L’Est Republican seem to indicate that this will not come to fruition for the 2026 edition.

The third week will see the Tour enter the Alps, and the race’s return to Alpe d’Huez for the first time since 2022 will be the centrepiece. 

Reports from the Dauphiné Libéré indicate that an individual time trial will kick off the final week, with Thonon-les-Bains and Evian-les-Bains set to host, though it is unclear which will be the start and finish location.

The touted inclusion of Alpe d'Huez generated ample headlines at the end of this year’s Tour, and Velowire’s own sources had originally reported that it would feature on stage 17 on Wednesday, July 22.

However, more recent updates, just days before the initial announcement, suggest the mythical mountain will more likely feature on stage 19 following a stage start in Gap, on Friday, July 24, and there's even potential it could feature once more on stage 20 too.

Velowire's own sources have stated that "it has been said here and there that there would be another climb of the Alpe d'Huez on the programme, the day after the finish of the stage coming from Gap." In what capacity this could be, whether another road stage, or time trial, remains to be seen, but the potential of two days featuring Alpe d'Huez is not completely out of the realm of possibility, according to Velowire.

Stage 21 of Le Tour will begin in Thoiry at the local zoo, according to Le Parisien, along with the Montmartre circuit that was introduced in 2025 set to feature yet again in 2026.

Despite all the carefully verified rumours, there might still be a surprise of two when the 2026 Tour is unveiled on October 23.