Barcelona, July 2, 2026 (AFP) - Tadej Pogacar will keep winning the Tour de France for many more years, as long as he retains his "desire and drive", fellow four-time winner Chris Froome told AFP.
The 41-year-old Briton is returning to the Tour, which begins on Saturday with a team time-trial around Barcelona, for the first time since retiring as a rider last year.
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He knows as much as anyone how tough it is to keep returning to the Grande Boucle as the favourite.
But Froome did not win his first Tour until he was 28, whereas 27-year-old Pogacar has already won it four times.
Tadej Pogacar Going For History At Tour de France 2026
If he wins again this year, he will equal the record of five Tour triumphs.
"Just looking at Tadej, he's a lot younger than I was when I was trying to go for my potential number five," Froome told AFP in an exclusive interview in Barcelona. "He's had an amazing season so far this year and it's going to be hard to see anything stopping him at this rate.
"If he's able to stay on his bike, if he can stay out of trouble, just the way he's moving this year, it looks as if he's got this one in the bag."
Froome was a seven-time Grand Tour winner, adding the Giro d'Italia in 2018 and the Vuelta a Espana in 2011 and 2017 to his impressive achievements.
His 2011 Vuelta success was the first by a Briton in a Grand Tour, and he was also the first British rider to win the Giro.
He was still at the top of his game when in June 2019 he suffered a horrific crash on a training ride during the Criterium du Dauphine stage race, after which he never again rediscovered his old form.
"I don't think you can ever count your chickens in this sport because it can change in the blink of an eye, as I found out," said Froome.
"Potentially, he (Pogacar) could keep going for another five years, but has he got the desire, the drive to do that? I don't know.
"At what point for him would enough be enough? He's definitely going to have to take it one day at a time during the Tour because cycling is just one of those sports that can change so quickly."
'Soak it all up'
Kenyan-born Froome suffered multiple broken bones in his crash and spent months in recovery, but always dreaming of one day winning the Tour again.
"It was tough. While I was in that moment, chasing that goal and just not seeing the progress that I would have hoped for, for sure those moments were tough, but that's part of sport," he said. "I'm so glad that I did at least come back and try, and that crash back in 2019 wasn't the end for me."
Froome will discover a new role at the Tour as an international ambassador for Skoda, the auto manufacturer that is one of the race's main commercial partners.
"It's really cool to be here in a very different capacity," said Froome, who will be in one of the cars that travel along the route each day close to the peloton.
"I'd always wondered what it would be like -- obviously as a rider racing the Tour, you see the race in a certain way, but there's so much that you miss because you're in the middle of it.
"So I'm really, really quietly looking forward to what the next three weeks have got in store and being able to follow the race purely from a fan's perspective."
He will have a close up view of the frenzy that will likely follow France's great hope, teenage prodigy Paul Seixas, who is riding the Tour for the first time.
Many people believe Seixas could challenge for a top three finish, or even the overall victory, but Froome cautioned against putting too much pressure on his young shoulders.
"I think he's a huge talent. He's got a massive future ahead of him," said Froome.
"He's obviously got an enormous engine but I do think he's still 19 years old. "If I were advising him, I would be saying, it's great that you're riding the Tour this year, but do just that, ride it, enjoy it as much as you can, learn from it, soak it all up.
"In his mind, he should probably be thinking his real goal is in two, three years' time, where he should be coming here to try and fight for the win."
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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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