10 Things You Must Know About the 2026 Tour de France as Pogacar Nears Historic Fifth Title in Paris

Tadej Pogačar is on the verge of one of the most dominant performances in modern Tour de France history, with the Slovenian all but locking up his fifth yellow jersey as this year’s race enters its final two days. Here are 10 things to know about the 2026 edition of cycling’s biggest event.

1. The race started in Spain for just the third time ever

The 113th Tour de France opened in Barcelona on July 4, marking the first time the Grand Départ has been held in Catalonia and only the third time Spain has hosted the race’s start, following San Sebastián in 1992 and Bilbao in 2023. Barcelona is the most southerly city ever to launch the Tour. Race director Christian Prudhomme said the route was built to keep the overall competition unsettled deep into the final week. “It’s designed to maintain the suspense until the end,” Prudhomme said when the route was unveiled last October.

2. It opened with an unusual team time trial

Stage 1 featured a 19.7-kilometer team time trial through Barcelona, including two climbs up Montjuïc — a rare choice for a Tour opener. It was the first time the race began with a team time trial since 1971, when Eddy Merckx’s Molteni squad won an 11-kilometer test in Mulhouse. This year’s version also introduced a new scoring wrinkle: rather than every rider on a team receiving the same time, each individual’s own time counted toward the general classification. Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma–Lease a Bike squad won the stage.

3. The route covers 3,333 kilometers and finishes in Paris

Running from July 4 to July 26, the race spans 21 stages and roughly 3,333 kilometers, with about 54,450 meters of total climbing — a genuine test of endurance built around the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Vosges and the Alps. After skipping northern France almost entirely this year, the route finishes, as it has since last year, beneath the Arc de Triomphe following three ascents of the cobbled Rue Lepic in Montmartre.

4. Pogačar has been nearly untouchable

The UAE Team Emirates–XRG rider seized the yellow jersey on stage 3 with a decisive move on the climb to Les Angles and never relinquished it. He extended his advantage through the Pyrenees, the Massif Central and the Alps, and comfortably held off his closest challengers in the race’s lone individual time trial. Pogačar is chasing his fifth Tour title in six years, a run interrupted only by Vingegaard’s back-to-back victories in 2022 and 2023.

5. His stage-win total is closing in on cycling history

Pogačar’s victory atop the brutal, mountain-heavy 20th stage — his fourth stage win of this year’s race — pushed his career Tour de France stage tally to 24, leaving him one shy of the all-time record shared among the sport’s most prolific winners. With one more opportunity in Paris on the final day, Pogačar has a chance to add to that mark before the race concludes.

6. Remco Evenepoel has emerged as the clearest challenger

While Vingegaard entered the race as Pogačar’s most credible rival, a crash mid-race dropped the Dane out of serious GC contention. Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel capitalized, winning the race’s individual time trial and consolidating second place overall. Mexico’s Isaac del Toro, Pogačar’s UAE teammate, has held third, giving the team a rare shot at a 1-2 finish in Paris.

7. A teenager has been one of the breakout stars

Paul Seixas, a 19-year-old from Lyon riding for Decathlon CMA CGM, became the youngest rider in the Tour in nearly nine decades and quickly established himself as a legitimate climbing talent. Seixas arrived off a breakthrough spring that included a win at La Flèche Wallonne and the Tour of the Basque Country, and he has spent the mountain stages trading blows with the sport’s biggest names while targeting a podium finish in the young rider’s white jersey classification.

8. Alpe d’Huez was climbed twice in as many days

For the first time, organizers routed the Tour up the legendary Alpe d’Huez on both stage 19 and stage 20, part of a brutal Alpine finale designed to reward attacking racing over defensive tactics. Stage 20, a 170.9-kilometer route from Le Bourg-d’Oisans finishing atop the Alpe, included more than 5,600 meters of elevation gain and was widely described by riders and organizers as one of the toughest single days in the race’s modern history.

9. Sprinters and breakaway riders still found their moments

Even with the general classification battle dominating headlines, sprinters including Mads Pedersen, Jasper Philipsen and Olav Kooij collected stage wins along the flatter and rolling stages, while riders such as Richard Carapaz and Mathieu van der Poel scored victories out of breakaways. Pedersen has held the green points jersey for much of the race, while Carapaz has led the mountains classification, giving the race multiple storylines beyond the yellow jersey fight.

10. The race wraps up with a decisive final weekend

With Pogačar’s overall lead considered all but insurmountable heading into the final stages, attention has shifted to the fight for the remaining podium spots and the young rider’s classification, along with the traditional processional-turned-competitive finale into Paris. The 21st and final stage on July 26 will once again send riders through Montmartre before the traditional sprint finish on the Champs-Élysées, closing out a race that has been defined by an unusually southern start, a punishing mountain-heavy back half, and another commanding performance from cycling’s dominant rider of the decade.