Tour de France 2026

The latest installment in the rivalry that has defined the decade: Tadej vs the people who map the route.

Ok, I will duplicate this link on this thread, as it's a useful overview

Tour de France 2026: full team-by-team guide
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jul/02/tour-de-france-2026-full-team-by-team-guide

love to tour the france

I haven’t tuned in in a few years, I think I’m back in this year!

My friend recently did the Camino pilgrimage through France/Spain & her scenic photos weirdly got me jonesing for the TDF

for the moment it's a pog pog pog pog world. until it isn't.

it would almost be cool for pog to have to stop so we could see idt vs vingo vs seixas vs lipo etc. i'd bet vingo based on giro for sure.

it's weird the 2025 thread was locked while i typed this ha

my rooting interest would be for it to be idt vs seixas i'm ready for new players

team presentation live on YT is fun

Anyone been watching? Stage 4 was p fun once the breakaways all started to uh breakaway

And Norway Yellow Jersey!

Stage 6 absolute all-timer, Pogassaince is here, was already here, if Pog wasn’t a GOAT he’s for sure in the conversation now

Amazing to watch that ride

i like to think i know way more about pro cycling than anyone in my ten person tdf fantasy league, in which i’m in last place. it’s because reality is so fuckin boring and lame lol.

Big news today! If you haven’t seen it I’ll let you catch up but that shakes up the podium race for sure.

is someone getting the Tour De France peace prize?

... oh, THAT news. Yeah.

as someone who’s broken about everything including my skull, i tend to be “hey riders are reasonably responsible for managing foreseeable, perhaps even merely imaginable, course risks.” but that, that was unacceptable course furniture imo.

yeah thats a pretty gnarly lil spot to ask the peloton to squeeze through

Quite the wild morning! And yeah that was a terribly fussy section of traffic furniture

tbc there’s ARE ways of marshalling that shit— i’ve raced and marshalled stuff worse than that lol. but i would need to know more of what the marshalling was there— I saw none. I mean— you can fucking neutralize an insane section that is new or hadnt been seen properly til raceday.

Arensman finished five seconds off the fastest pace set by Mattia Cattaneo (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), missing out on the hot seat by a margin much smaller than his start delay.

Oof. But Remco narrowed the gap between him and Pogacar by like half a minute

And Lipowitz out in turn. Wild week.

I found this piece of interest:

https://defector.com/intensified-doping-investigations-at-tour-de-france-threaten-cyclings-delicate-balance?giftLink=140755ac0c20faf60b4488733e95093e

Guys, I really love the Alps

Stage 20 seems like anything can happen.

And it will be a blast I’m sure!

Man what a telenovella of a stage <3

Good LORD that was insane. And man I don't want to think about what would have happened if Kuss had that spill just five feet further.

Truly pantswetting

his comments are v in tune w my expectation of his thoughts at the time “i GOTTA keep richie out the back as far as possible, he’ll attack like the f’ing undead up the finish climb.” it’s nice to get to like both of them in the struggle.

^not actual quote

I was pleasantly stunned by how chipper Kuss seemed in the interview afterwards “like yeah couple of dumb crashes, pretty crazy, anyway all good sorry for scaring my wife at home!”

I have loved Carapaz these past few stages, always amazed by the way you think he’s full gas up a hill but he has SO many reserve tanks! Like he can always push more, it’s v enjoyable to see how much fight he has in him.

Also: Pog pulling for Del Toro was a classy move, I like how much he enjoys his teammates.

you guys miniphinny and kasia make good content

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbOlXMmI78D/?igsh=MWV0d2dsOXBmZ2h5YQ==

Yeah Carapaz being great and earning Education EF crazy kudos at the end of it all, a real treat. Dude has earned his laurels many times over now.

And as said, Pogacar being this kinda brilliant magnanimous figure to del Toro et al is cool, and smart. I still can't believe he's only his twenties still! His utter dominance was long clear (frankly I love Jonas, he's kept Pogacar's achievements honest, if you will, since he'd be running rampant himself if Pogacar wasn't there) and it leads to some people to say it's boring and all, but I'm more taking this in a "Man, Ned, you could never have been aware of Merckx at his prime, appreciate this level of genius likely to be rarely repeated in your lifetime." (My dad's icon is Merckx still -- he has an amazing poster of him up in the garage -- and given that example from youth I have dismissed all pretenders since, but if Pogacar can pull off a sixth TdF and finally win Paris-Roubaix -- no shade, when Wout van Aert is there like this year you are Olympian just to contest him -- then I'll say he's at the throne's right hand without reservation. Still needs to just go for it and at least get a Vuelta though, and if he ever ends up getting twelve Grand Tours in total no matter in what proportion, well.)

right now boredom seems his biggest annoyance, so getting to honch for idt is good for his mentals or whatever. he seems legit happy in the job for now.

nothing stays forever. for anyone.

except trump maybe

Especially if he wins the vuelta this year he’s going to try and do all 3 in a single year. It’s the only peak that hasn’t been climbed yet - and probably the only thing that can make him (almost)the undisputed greatest. (Cue grumbling by people saying scheduling meant mercx could never compete in 3 in a single year).

I’m not sure even Pog can do it but I’d love to see him try.

Definitely would be a hell of a thing.

nah i do agree with common wisdom that he shld pass on the vuelta this year. with worlds in montreal this year it makes sense. reload and go for triple grand tour next year. be fresher, and worlds are flipped to the tour side of the gt schedule. the sequence and hierarchy of needs match up. well, how i imagine his needs.

Stage 20 seems like anything can happen.

I was a little off because EVERYTHING happened.

More footage of fans wrestling each other over gifts from the caravane publicitaire and climbing over moving race vehicles – including the Guardian’s – further fuelled the notion of a race that was out of control. The French national champion, Romain Grégoire, said spectators were “so drunk that it was more like being slapped on the arse, than getting pushes”.

Evenepoel’s Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe sports director, Klaas Lodewyck, said: “As long as they’re cheering on the riders and creating a good atmosphere, it’s fine. But when they start punching in side mirrors and banging on the windows, that’s crossing the line.”

Sounds like I missed all the fun

we promised you a good time, you kept wanting a fucking revolution

A great wild chase to the line there to wrap it up.

omg that was an incredible finish. Van der Poel put his skeleton over the finish line, he burned everything he had left to get there. chapeau lads!!

McNulty with his newly bleached hairdo looking like he walked off the Trainspotting movie

Did anyone hear details of the crash right before the finish? I saw a bike fly up in the air & a tangle of limbs & helmets but never heard who was involved?

Hagenes and Bittner crashed, but seemed ok. Incredible stage.

Especially if he wins the vuelta this year he’s going to try and do all 3 in a single year. It’s the only peak that hasn’t been climbed yet - and probably the only thing that can make him (almost)the undisputed greatest.

― Ed, Saturday, July 25, 2026 8:18 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

never considered that hed even try but now i firmly believe he must do it

The embedded clip of the roar going up in Montmartre here is a hell of a thing:

https://bsky.app/profile/gravelinfluencer.bsky.social/post/3mrnbfvecnc2e

Per a follow-up comment, apparently Alaphilippe also got that level, rightly.

I do idly find myself thinking what if Bernal had never had that 2022 crash how things would look now. Nothing guaranteed but the Ineos afterglow from the 2010s combined with his own evident skill and victories to that point might have meant a more up-for-grabs situation in the Grand Tours beyond Tadej/Jonas for the most part. Still, Nicolas Portal's sudden death in 2020 may have been more of the turning point for the team as a whole in the end, regardless of the 2021 Giro and various Olympic gold wins.

bernal would likely have proved a worthy foil for vingegaard (and latterly remco, it seems) but pogacar’s W/KG figures on alpe d’huez (2026) and plateau de beille (2024) are otherworldly

holy shit that clip thx ned

also bernal is such a complete racer. teeny but echelons, dirt, elbows he’ll do it. love his way.

That montmatre clip is amazing.

My wife has a conference in Liverpool next year, a few days after the tour comes through, so we’re planning on following the grand depart for a day or two. It may be too much for a 3 year old but I’d like to try.

so sez pog is gonna go to vuelta 26 i say he should do it on a unicycle or limebike or something he’ll win won’t he?

Probably.

Women’s tour has been good (I haven’t seen stage 3 yet)

Lotte Koppeky has got such a griepel like presence in the yellow jersey, I’m not even sure she’s the biggest Dutchwoman, but she looks about 30% bigger as she surfs around the bunch. There was comment from Lizzie Deignan saying that when you catch sight of her behind you you move aside and let her clear a path to the front for you.

And of course I mean Lorena Wiebers.

Wiebers power is unreal. Pogi tour for the record books was fun I actually liked the route. Pour one out for Roglic, re: la Vuelta (not sure he had a real shot regardless)

Yeah been watching the TdF Femmes, good races so far. Classic breakaway win today, Uno-X having fun this year.

For any Vuelta and other talk we do have this!

Rolling Pro Cycling Thread