Tour de France 2026 unveiled

The Alpe d’Huez, the legendary climb of the Tour de France, will host not one but two stage finishes in the 2026 edition, including the very challenging one on the eve of the arrival in Paris, where the Butte Montmartre will be back on the route on July 26. This is the special feature that emerged from this morning’s presentation in Paris.

L’Alpe d’Huez will be on the program for two consecutive days, during the 19th and 20th stages. The first, on Friday from Gap, will end with the classic 21-turn climb; the next day, the peloton will cross the Col de Sarenne, a first for the Tour, to reach the ski resort of l’Isère (the last four kilometers will be the same) at the end of a 5600-meter stage that also includes Croix-de-Fer and Galibier.

“We wanted to arrive from the Col de Sarenne, but we told ourselves that we couldn&#8217t get to the Alpe d’Huez without riding the 21 hairpin bends. People wouldn&#8217t understand. So the’only way was to do it twice” explained Christian Prudhomme, Tour director.

There will still be nearly 55,000 meters of elevation gain in total, “within the limits of the norm” but “it is a mountain that was only pushed to the’extreme at the end” with three arrivals at the ;;summit in the last four days, summed up the Tour director.

In Paris, the triple passage through Montmartre, as in 2025, seemed “an obvious choice” for the leader of the Grande Boucle, comforted both by the spectacle offered and by last year&#8217s record audience of 9 million viewers.