Tour de France, start outside the borders also in 2026

Another start outside the borders for the Tour de France

Soì as will happen in the 2024 edition, which will start next June 29 from Florence, also in 2026 the Tour de France will start outside the borders of the Hexagon, more precisely from Barcelona, Spain. The Catalan capital will host the 'Grand Départ' for the first time in history, while for Spain it will be the third occasion (in 1992 and 2023 respectively in San Sebastian and Bilbao, both in the Basque Country).

The ceremony in which è the news was made official took place on Tuesday in Barcelona itself: an appointment that featured the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme. The start of what will be the 113th edition of the Grande Boucle è scheduled for Saturday, July 4, 2026.

The host city of the 1992 Olympic Games has already welcomed the Tour de France on three occasions (1957, 1965 and 2009), and was the scene of the opening of the 2023 Vuelta. Catalan roads will host not only the first stage, but also the second and the first part of the third, before the race moves to French soil.

In 2024, on the other hand, the Tour will start from Italy: the first stage will run from Florence to Rimini (206 km) on Saturday, June 29: the 200-km stage from Cesenatico to Bologna and the 229-km stage from Piacenza to Turin will follow in the next two days. On July 2, after the start in Pinerolo, they will cross the border, with the stage arriving in Valloire. No other trespassing is planned except for one to the Principality of Monaco on the last stage: the 34-kilometer time trial that will conclude the Tour 2024 will in fact start from Monte Carlo to return after a few kilometers to France, in Nice.