Tour de France Tour de France 2026 route rumours

[RedheadDane]

Maybe cycling needs both ITTs and TTTs.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Maybe cycling needs both ITTs and TTTs.

Standalone events, velodromes, 100k at the Worlds, statues of Lenin.

 

[RedheadDane]

Standalone events, velodromes, 100k at the Worlds, statues of Lenin.

That's for the Track cycling section. This is about road racing.

 

[YavorD]

That's for the Track cycling section. This is about road racing.

At still it's an individual sport. In how many sports team events impact individual classifications?

 

[Ulle97]

Right, after the mental trauma endured by many during the recent Tour, is there anything that the organisers can do to improve spirits??

If we start in Barcelona it might lead us into the Pyrenees early like in 2023.
Would you like to see a couple of heavy climbing stages here to set the tone?
And of course, a mountain stage with the penultimate climb harder than the final climb 😄😄

 

[ashhutch1997]

Unipuerto to Arcalis HERE WE GO.

 

[jackbh]

Unipuerto to Arcalis HERE WE GO.

Actually it is not a bad climb (i know i know hit me)

1) It has a height... 2) usually it is very warm in the area 3) yes the false flat is annoying, but the first 4-5 km are the hardest. 4) Dieselwitz and Dieselmeida would love it

Just needs proper usage.

Either a stage 3/20 placement. (To clear up the GC cold legs or as the last roll of the dice)

Having it mistour is absolutely a disaster though.

130 km warm flat transfer - then gallina - cormela - beixalis and the mighty king itself.

Not intimidating enough for a long range and not so happy as for the desperadoes to do the waiting game.

Actually I like the stage 20 plan

 

[Jan the Man]

Pailheres before Plateau de Bonsacre or descent finish to Ax les Thermes pls

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Actually it is not a bad climb (i know i know hit me)

1) It has a height... 2) usually it is very warm in the area 3) yes the false flat is annoying, but the first 4-5 km are the hardest. 4) Dieselwitz and Dieselmeida would love it

Just needs proper usage.

Either a stage 3/20 placement. (To clear up the GC cold legs or as the last roll of the dice)

Having it mistour is absolutely a disaster though.

130 km warm flat transfer - then gallina - cormela - beixalis and the mighty king itself.

Not intimidating enough for a long range and not so happy as for the desperadoes to do the waiting game.

Actually I like the stage 20 plan

Arcalis just has a horrible negative aura. MTT is the only way to use it and have it be realistically decisive unfortunately.

 

[Ulle97]

I'd say the order of mountain chains will be:

1 Pyrenees
2 Massif Central
3 Vosges/Jura
4 Alps

 

[OlavEH]

I'd say the order of mountain chains will be:

1 Pyrenees
2 Massif Central
3 Vosges/Jura
4 Alps

If they do all the chains. They rarely do.

But an early intro to the mountains would be nice. A couple of big mountain stages in the Pyrenees already the first week, so the GC will be somewhat settled. That would make it easier with breakaway stages in the second week. Hopefully we'll see more than one stage where they barely touch Massif Central.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Unironically I think this TTT creates fewer gaps compared to the likes of Remco, Pogacar and Vingegaard smashing it alone in an ITT on the same course. Would be very surprised if it didn't help the less strong time trialists on the smaller teams. Personally, I have nothing against TTT since they are so few and far between anyways nowadays, and I like this "new" format. Better than the old one. I got bored of them in the Vuelta when they insisted on them more often than not, and very short and often irrelevant to the race. This one is a decent length for a stage 1, and it has some hills towards the end which should make the tactics pretty straightforward. An underrated aspect of team time trials is also the fact that you might lean another rouler/time trialist-type over a climber, especially as it is stage 1, so will be interesting to follow team selections. Also some teams might be rewarded for really training the TTT and really focusing the team selection around it like Garmin or GreenEdge in the past. I doubt anyone beats the likes of UAE, Jumbo and Bora, but hey, they wouldn't beat Jonas, Remco or Pogacar anyways on this course - and as I said, Im pretty sure it minimizes gaps, especially if you are a mediocre to bad time trialist like, say, Enric Mas, Carlos Rodriguez or Felix Gall.

Stage two is great. Perfect, real hard puncheur stage similar to the one in Italy in 2024, but probably even harder and will create bigger gaps. Two stages off the bat the sets the GC already, and possibly with some pretty decently sized gaps already. Can't ask for much more.

I hope they do the Pyrenees on stage 4 and 5, similar to what they did in 2023. That was great.

 

[jackbh]

Arcalis just has a horrible negative aura. MTT is the only way to use it and have it be realistically decisive unfortunately.

Well - it was like Formigal - then it started to deliver ☺️

 

[Valv.Piti]

Bring back Arcalis and enjoy the sights of REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMCO EVENEEEEEEEEEPUL grinding all the favorites out his wheel from the bottom in his new Bora Hansgrohe-kit at 7 w/kg

 

[Rob5091]

So we can look forward to Pogi being in yellow from stage 2, and will they finish in Paris?

 

[Red Rick]

Arcalis just has a horrible negative aura. MTT is the only way to use it and have it be realistically decisive unfortunately.

There's a single 10% ramp in the beginning which is just enough for Narvaez to launch Pogacar and decide the Tour on stage 4

 

[Krzysztof_O]

There's a single 10% ramp in the beginning which is just enough for Narvaez to launch Pogacar and decide the Tour on stage 4

I just wanted to ask when Teddy would drop the decisive watt bomb. Thanks for the answer!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

There's a single 10% ramp in the beginning which is just enough for Narvaez to launch Pogacar and decide the Tour on stage 4

Bold of you to assume UAE won't just destroy everybody in the TTT and then lead Pog out to a puncheursmash on Montjuïc and decide it on day 1. Doing a Bugno is about all he has missing from his GT repertoire for the moment, right?

 

[Valv.Piti]

So what we are saying is we can't have any interesting stages because Pogacar is pretty much the best at everything?

 

[Red Rick]

So what we are saying is we can't have any interesting stages because Pogacar is pretty much the best at everything?

How is a stage interesting if we already know a year in advance what's gonna happen on a stage?

 

[Krzysztof_O]

How is a stage interesting if we already know a year in advance what's gonna happen on a stage?

Hopefully next year in "Rate the Tour 2026" thread option 0 will be available so you could feel better when rating it.

 

[Peyroteo94]

How is a stage interesting if we already know a year in advance what's gonna happen on a stage?

This might be the worst post you ever wrote.
It's like saying RVV doesn't have an interesting profile because we already know Pogacar will win.

 

[Valv.Piti]

How is a stage interesting if we already know a year in advance what's gonna happen on a stage?

What is your solution then? I don't really get it.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Details of the last 3 laps in Barcelona:
Laps
Extremely hard.

 

[E_F_]

There's a single 10% ramp in the beginning which is just enough for Narvaez to launch Pogacar and decide the Tour on stage 4

Should be good for my electricity bill.