The 2026 Tour de France is to start with a team time trial in Barcelona, Spain, for the first time in the race’s history.
The Tour organisers, ASO, confirmed some of the details of the Spanish Grand Départ on Tuesday evening. It was also confirmed that rules first seen in the 2023 edition of Paris-Nice will be used on the opening 19.7 kilometre stage.
Traditionally, in a team time trial riders will be given the time of the fourth rider to cross the line in their group, although each rider will be given individual times in Barcelona, meaning the GC action could potentially begin from day one.
The new setup will allow the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar to accelerate and achieve a potentially better time than their teammates. Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike team won the Paris-Nice time trial using the new ASO rules in 2023, before UAE Team Emirates did the same last year.
Barcelona last played host to the beginning of a Grand Tour in 2023 when the Vuelta a España began in the city. On that occasion the race also started with a team time trial, but the more typical rider timing rules applied. ASO said that the finish line on the opening day of the Tour will be in the shadow of Barcelona’s Olympic stadium on Montjuïc hill.
The first three stages of the race will be held in Spain. After the first stage in Barcelona, the race will head south to start in Tarragona on stage two, before then returning for a hilly finishing circuit back in the streets of Barcelona. Tarragona will mark the southernmost point that the race has ever visited. Stage three will start in Granollers, but the finishing location has not yet been revealed.
Discussing the finish of the second stage, race director Thierry Gouvenou said the course should provide plenty of entertainment for roadside spectators and those watching on from home. "There are many roads in this district and as a result plenty of possibilities for drawing up a circuit," he said. "I think we have managed to find the most difficult combination possible."
