Tour de France 2026 begins with Barcelona team time trial

sportsJul 3, 202621202

The 116th Tour de France opens Saturday with a Stage 1 team time trial in Barcelona, where forecasters expect temperatures well above 30 degrees Celsius and humidity over 60 percent. After the TTT and a hilly coastal stage in Spain the route sends the peloton into the Pyrenees on Monday, where temperatures are forecast to drop. Tour director Christian Prudhomme told France24 that "adaptation" will be the code word and pointed to the heat protocol introduced in 2024, which allows measures such as more water from neutral and team motos, moving starts to shaded locations, and widening time limits. French authorities recorded more than a thousand excess deaths during a recent national heatwave that broke temperature records, raising urgency around rider safety. A study led by Ivana Cvijanovic of the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement combined 50 years of stage routes and historical weather and found that although temperatures at Tour locations have risen, the race until now has largely avoided truly dangerous single-day heat. Scientists and race organisers warn that this luck may end, which is why the protocol could be activated this weekend to change feeding, neutral support, or timing if conditions demand it.

Michael Baumann

@baumann.bsky.social

The Tour de France starts tomorrow, and ESPN let me go long on Tadej Pogacar, and why he's the greatest bike racer who ever lived

3745d ago

Michael Baumann8

This whole thing was @chrisalmeida.bsky.social's idea so if you like the story tell him he did a good job

Peppa Pig Destroyer2

@surber.bsky.social pair up with Baumann and call it "Michael and Michael Talk Bicycles"

the Inner Ring blog

@inrng.com

Start order and times for tomorrow's Tour de France Stage 1 team time trial

2645d ago

Domestique

@domestiquecycling.com

🌡️ Extreme heat now a factor in 🇫🇷 Tour de France route design, says 🇫🇷 Prudhomme 🗣️ “But that doesn’t mean there won’t be any more Alpe d’Huez, Galibier, Tourmalet, or Ventoux tomorrow." 📰 www.domestiquecycling.com/en/news/extr... 📸 Cor Vos

1045d ago

Defector

@defector.com

Patrick Redford previews each stage of the Tour de France and rates them on a scale of one to seven radishes:

1545d ago

CemeteryGatesMcFadden1

Should be rated by hams

Velon CC

@veloncc.bsky.social

Jonas in training mode until the last minute 😅 Jonas Vingegaard completed his final Tour de France training ride in Barcelona in usual style with ankle socks, rolled sleeves and unshaven legs 👀 📸 Getty Images

1545d ago

Tour d'Ambiance

@go.tda.zone

TdA Black Card™ houders kunnen wederom genieten van 25 extra sterren voor de Tour de France. Heb jij nog geen TdA Black Card™? Dien je kandidatuur in bij de GO via DM en geef de naam en het rijksregisternummer van je eerstgeborene op. #TdA26

1445d ago

ArneQ6

Ik kende enkel de #TdA blacklist (Hirschi, Gaudu,...)

Stephan Fiers4

Ik werd net gebeld door iemand van Pano over dit type lidmaatschap. Ik heb nog voor de eerste vraag gezegd dat ik niets weet van dat kasteel, de steekpenningen en de plannen van een vijandige overname van Sporza en Golazo. Goed?

mie b mol4

heeft meneer de organisator iets tegen mensen zonder eerstgeborene?

Fredje Fleece3

Ik heb twee eerstgeborenen. Wat nu?

@Denoppe Mark Noppe2

Dat is iets voor zwartwerkers zeker??

Maurice Dommicent1

Is dat ook met tips als extra dienstverlening? “Neen” incoming in 3 … 2 … 1

The European Correspondent

@eurcorrespond.bsky.social

This weekend, the Tour de France is kicking off in Spain. It may surprise you, but this is the 27th time the tour has kicked off outside of France. In fact, over 80% of all tours have crossed a border, most of them to Switzerland and Belgium.

645d ago

Intervals.icu

@intervals.icu

Following the Tour de France? Our guide covers all the stages with the likely decisive points identified, climb profiles, weather forecast overlay is coming soon! #tdf #cycling www.intervals.icu/tour-de-fran...

745d ago

Cyclingnews

@cyclingnews.com

'I don't think he's going to wait and see' – Juan Ayuso expects fireworks from teenage debutant Paul Seixas at Tour de France as he takes aim at podium finish with Lidl-Trek www.cyclingnews.com/pro-cycling/...

945d ago

Tim Bonville-Ginn

@timbonvilleginn.bsky.social

EF Education-EasyPost are taking their aggressive tactics to the Tour de France after it brought sucess in Tirreno, Giro and Dauphiné and a podium at Suisse... veloracycling.com/news/ef-tour...

1145d ago

MaschBasch

@maschbasch.bsky.social

🇪🇸 Tour de France stage 1 (TTT) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Netcompany INEOS ⭐⭐⭐ UAE Team Emirates, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe ⭐⭐ Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Lidl - Trek ⭐ EF Education - EasyPost, Team Jayco AlUla #TDF2026

1045d ago

go loud

@stillicides.bsky.social

inspite of being unable to go a bike, the Tour de France is the sporting event that I care about more than any other. T and I have been watching it together longer than we've been married (he got me into it) and it very much feels like Our Thing.

844d ago

Ian Laidlaw

@saturdaykids.bsky.social

Just finished the new Poggi book from @andy-mcgrath.bsky.social . Slots in nicely alongside Merckx ! #tdf26 #tourdefrance

846d ago

DnlBenson

@dnlbenson.bsky.social

Tour de France: The Andy Schleck era at Lidl-Trek starts now 🇫🇷 'Looking back over the last 15 years, I wasn’t sitting on the couch playing PlayStation.' In Barcelona, Andy Schleck discusses Lidl-Trek's changing ambitions, the departure of Guercilena and more dnlbenson.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

345d ago

Andy McKay 🇨🇦

@mckay.pub

Julian Alaphilippe, stage 5 of the 2025 Tour de France in Caen #photography #tdf #tdf2025

445d ago

3 sources

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Tour de France 2026 begins with Barcelona team time trial

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