The Tour de France 2026 is days away, but before the race gets underway, nearly 80,000 spectators are expected to converge on one of the most iconic areas of Barcelona, Spain, to celebrate the arrival of the event and meet this year’s teams and riders.
The backdrop for the festivities on July 2 will be the Sagrada Família, an architectural marvel that has been a work in progress since 1882 and now is known as the world’s tallest church.
The event is free for those who can be there in person, and it will be broadcast live on FloBikes and the FloSports app for viewers in Canada, with coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. Eastern.
The Tour de France itself will run from July 4 through July 26, and every stage will be broadcast live for Canadian subscribers.
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The team presentations Thursday will be part of a multi-day Grand Départ that includes the first three stages of the Tour de France 2026.
The race has 23 confirmed teams of up to eight riders. The list includes 18 UCI World teams that earned automatic entry, three Pro teams that earned their spots based on UCI rankings and two wildcard teams that were invited by organizer ASO.
Saturday’s opening stage will mark the 27th foreign start in the race’s 113 editions, and it will be the third time the 21-stage journey has started in Spain. The other two were San Sebastian in 1992 and Bilbao in 2023.
Barcelona previously hosted stages of the Tour de France in 1957, 1965 and 2009 and is known for successfully welcoming the Summer Olympics in 1992. The main Olympic stadium from that year will have a noteworthy presence in the first two days of this year’s TDF.
Stage 1 will be even more historic, as it will be the first time since 1971 the race will begin with a team time trial, and that will come as a 19.6-kilometer trek across Barcelona.
The last two editions of the of the Tour de France were won by Tadej Pogačar, a 27-year-old Slovenian superstar who now has four titles overall (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025) and will be looking to become the fifth rider in history to win five times.
Pogačar’s biggest rival is Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, who won the TDF in 2022 and 2023 and has been the runner-up to Pogačar on three occasions.
Both riders will arrive at the Tour de France coming off big wins.
Vingegaard won this year’s Giro d’Italia to become the eighth rider to win all three Grand Tours, and he’ll look to complete the Giro-TDF double, a feat Pogačar accomplished in 2024 and had last been done in 1998.
Pogačar has been on a tear this season, and his most recent win came in his debut at the Tour de Suisse.
Don’t miss the team presentation now that the rosters have been finalized, and remember to tune in July 4 for the first day of racing.
FloBikes and the FloSports app also will have replays, highlights, interviews, recaps, results, previews and more through the 21 days of competition.
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How To Watch The Tour de France 2026
For Canadian viewers, the Tour de France 2026 is streaming on FloBikes and the FloSports app.
Stage highlights, replays and more breaking news, including recaps and rider interviews, will be on both platforms.
In the United States, the Tour de France will be on the NBC family of networks and will stream daily on Peacock. Select stages will air on local NBC affiliates, while others, plus stage reruns, will be shown on the USA Network.
In February 2023, NBC Sports, Peacock and ASO announced a six-year deal that will keep NBC Sports as the home of the Tour de France in the United States through 2029.
When Does The Tour de France 2026 Start?
The Tour de France 2026 starts July 4 and will conclude July 26.
The schedule includes 21 stages and two rest days (July 13 and July 20).
Every day, the cyclists start together. Every stage varies in distance and physical demand, and the characteristics of each stage determine what type of rider should excel or how the race should finish.
For example, some stages feature flat finishes, and that means the sprinters likely will be battling for those stage wins.
The three weeks of racing across Barcelona and France will feature eight mountain stages, including five summit finishes, seven flat stages, four hilly days, an individual time trial and a team time trial to kick things off on July 4.
How Long Is The Tour de France 2026?
The course for the Tour de France 2026 is 3,333 kilometers or just over 2,071 miles.
The race is 21 stages.
A map of the entire route can be found here.
What Is The Schedule For The Tour de France 2026?
- Stage 1 (TTT) - July 4: Barcelone - Barcelone (19.6km)
- Stage 2 - July 5: Tarragone - Barcelone (168.5km)
- Stage 3 - July 6: Granollers - Les Angles (195.9km)
- Stage 4 - July 7: Carcassonne - Foix (181.9km)
- Stage 5 - July 8: Lannemezan - Pau (158.3km)
- Stage 6 - July 9: Pau - Gavarnie-Gèdre (186.2km)
- Stage 7 - July 10: Hagetmau - Bordeaux (175.1km)
- Stage 8 - July 11: Périgueux - Bergerac (180.4km)
- Stage 9 - July 12: Malemort - Ussel (185.5km)
- Rest Day - July 13: Cantal
- Stage 10 - July 14: Aurillac - Le Lioran (166.6km)
- Stage 11 - July 15: Vichy - Nevers (161.3km)
- Stage 12 - July 16: Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours - Chalon-sur-Saône (179.1km)
- Stage 13 - July 17: Dole - Belfort (205.8km)
- Stage 14 - July 18: Mulhouse - Le Markstein Fellering (155.3km)
- Stage 15 - July 19: Champagnole - Plateau de Solaison (183.9km)
- Rest Day - July 20: Haute-Savoie
- Stage 16 (ITT) - July 21: Évian-les-Bains - Thonon-les-Bains (26.1km)
- Stage 17 - July 22: Chambery - Voiron (174.7km)
- Stage 18 - July 23: Voiron - Orcières-Merlette (185.2km)
- Stage 19 - July 24: Gap - Alpe d'Huez (127.9km)
- Stage 20 - July 25: Le Bourg d'Oisans - Alpe d'Huez (170.9km)
- Stage 21 - July 26: Thoiry - Paris Champs-Élysées (133km)
How Many Teams/Riders Compete In The Tour de France?
Traditionally, there are 22 or 23 teams and up to 184 competitors in the Tour de France. This year, there will be 23 teams.
Here’s the list for 2026:
- Alpecin - Premier Tech
- Bahrain - Victorious
- Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
- Cofidis
- Decathlon CMA CGM Team
- EF Education - EasyPost
- Groupama - FDJ United
- Netcompany INEOS
- Lidl - Trek
- Lotto Intermarché
- Movistar Team
- NSN Cycling Team
- Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
- Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
- Soudal Quick-Step
- Team Jayco AlUla
- Team Picnic PostNL
- Team Visma | Lease a Bike
- TotalEnergies
- Tudor Pro Cycling Team
- UAE Team Emirates - XRG
- Uno-X Mobility
- XDS Astana Team
Who Won The Tour de France In 2025?
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar added to his growing legacy by winning the Tour de France in 2025.
It was his second consecutive victory at the event, and fourth overall (2020, 2021), making him the sixth rider in history to win four times.
Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain all have won five times, while Chris Froome joins Pogačar with four.
On his way to securing the yellow jersey in 2025, Pogačar was the pre-race favorite.
His title defense featured four stage wins (4, 7, 12, 13), and he finished more than four minutes ahead of runner-up Jonas Vingegaard. Florian Lipowitz was third, 11 minutes behind Pogačar, who also won the King of the Mountains jersey.
Pogačar owns five Grand Tour victories overall, including the Giro d’Italia in 2024, which was part of a historic Giro-TDF double, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since 1998.
In 2026, Vingegaard, a two-time Tour de France winner, will be looking to match the effort after claiming the GC title at the Giro d’Italia in May and becoming the eighth rider to win all three Grand Tours at least one time.
Merckx has the most GC wins in Grand Tours with 11, followed by Hinault, who has 10.
Pogačar has maintained his elite form in 2026 and started the year with four wins in his first five events. He then added four stages wins on the way to the GC crown at the five-stage Tour de Romandie.
This Tour de France 2026 Has Everything
The Tour de France 2026 is shaping up to be one of the most exciting editions in years.
Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Isaac del Toro and Paul Seixas are set to battle across three weeks of racing from Barcelona to Paris.
With Grand Tour champions, Monument winners and cycling's brightest young stars all lining up, the storylines are endless.
We break down why this year's TDF could be a classic and how Canadian fans can watch every stage, live and on demand, on FloBikes, with both the world feed and French feed available throughout the race.
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