Barcelona, July 1, 2026 (AFP) - Former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas said on Wednesday that his Netcompany Ineos team would be targeting the first yellow jersey of the Grand Boucle in Saturday's opening team time-trial.
Now the British team's sporting director, Thomas is no stranger to time-trial success at the Tour.
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In 2017, he won the opening individual time-trial ahead of his team leader Chris Froome and wore the yellow jersey for four days.
The following year, he went on to win the Tour.
Netcompany Ineos have included several strong time-trialists in their eight-man team for the Tour, which begins in Barcelona.
Italian Filippo Ganna is a twice former time-trial world champion having succeeded Norwegian Tobias Foss, while Briton Josh Tarling is a former European champion in the discipline.
Asked at a press conference if he was aiming to win the opening 19.6km team time-trial, Thomas said: "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't."
With their overall contender Oscar Onley, who was fourth last year, forced to miss the Tour through injury, the team will be hunting stage victories more than anything else.
And none more so than the opening one.
He said that the team had been practising throughout the year with the Tour TTT in mind.
"It's like anything, you're not going to win the mountain jersey without going up a hill," he said.
"But it's just a great opportunity for us, why not just give it a good shot? The boys are motivated for it.
"We've got some world-class time trialists... we've got two of the best individually and in the team discipline.
"It's just an exciting goal. Let's get out there, start with a bang and give it the best we can."
New Format For TDF 2026
At the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes a month ago, the team finished just nine seconds behind Visma-Lease a Bike in a 28.4km team time-trial in which they lost significant time when Onley's chain dropped and the others had to slow down and wait for him to fix it before continuing their charge.
They will come into this weekend's race as one of the big favourites to take the first yellow jersey.
The new team time-trial format, which ends with a punchy climb, requires classic time-trialists to deliver a more explosive climber to finish off their effort.
In many teams case that will be their overall contender.
Each team's time is taken when their first rider crosses the line.
"Obviously there's been a lot of thought and a lot of discussion about the best strategy," said Thomas.
"You need a finisher that's able to go up that last climb quickly after the last 20 odd minutes.
"I don't think now is the time to discuss our strategy, but it's something we've put a lot of effort into."
The final climb is less than a kilometre long and not massively steep, but tough enough that larger, heavier specialist sprinters or time-trialists would be unable to keep pace with a lighter punchy climber.
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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.
The Tour de France 2026 Route Nobody Is Ready For
The Tour de France 2026 is finally here, and the route promises one of the toughest editions in years.
From the opening team time trial in Barcelona to a dramatic finale featuring back-to-back days on Alpe d’Huez, this route is packed with opportunities for attacks, time gaps and mountain battles.
We break down the overall route, key stages, major climbs and what it all means for the expected showdown between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard in July.
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