The 2026 Tour de France begins on Saturday 4 July, with four-time champion Tadej Pogacar once again the hot favourite to retain his crown.The Slovenian is currently level on Tour titles with Chris Froome, who quietly announced his retirement from the sport on the eve of the race, and few would put it past him to go one better than the Briton at the close of this year’s race.Two-time champion and recent Giro d’Italia winner Jonas Vingegaard remains his biggest competition, while former third-place finisher and Vuelta a Espana champion Remco Evenepoel is back after a disappointing edition last year, when he withdrew partway through. French wunderkind Paul Seixas leads home hopes on his debut at the sport’s biggest race.The Tour gets underway with a team time trial in Barcelona on Saturday, with three stages of the Grand Depart in Spain before heading to France. Here’s everything you need to know to watch the race.When is the Tour de France 2026?The Tour de France begins in Barcelona on Saturday 4 July, and runs for 21 stages - plus two rest days - until the finale in Paris on Sunday 26th July. How can I watch it?This year marks the first without full free-to-air coverage of the Tour de France in the UK, after ITV failed to bid for streaming rights beyond 2025.The Tour de France will be shown exclusively and in full on TNT Sports and HBO Max, while there will be a free daily highlights show at 7pm BST on Channel 5. A TNT Sports subscription to watch the Tour starts from £30.99 a month.Tour de France 2026 routeStageDateStartFinishDistanceType1Saturday 4 JulyBarcelonaBarcelona19.6kmTeam time trial2Sunday 5 JulyTarragonaBarcelona168.5kmHilly3Monday 6 JulyGranollersLes Angles195.9kmMountain4Tuesday 7 JulyCarcassonneFoix181.9kmHilly5Wednesday 8 JulyLannemezanPau158.3kmFlat6Thursday 9 JulyPauGavarnie-Gedre186.2kmMountain7Friday 10 JulyHagetmauBordeaux175.1kmFlat8Saturday 11 July PerigueuxBergerac180.4kmFlat9Sunday 12 JulyMalemortUssel185.5kmHilly10Tuesday 14 JulyAurillacLe Lioran166.6kmMountain11Wednesday 15 JulyVichyNevers161.3kmFlat12Thursday 16 JulyCircuit Nevers Magny-CoursChalon-Sur-Saone179.1kmFlat13Friday 17 July DoleBelfort205.8kmHilly14Saturday 18 JulyMulhouseLe Markstein Fellering155.3kmMountain15Sunday 19 JulyChampagnolePlateau de Solaison183.9kmMountain16Tuesday 21 JulyEvian-les-BainsThonon-les-Bains26.1kmIndividual time trial17Wednesday 22 JulyChamberyVoiron174.7kmFlat18Thursday 23 JulyVoironOrcieres-Merlette185.2kmMountain19Friday 24 JulyGapAlpe d’Huez127.9kmMountain20Saturday 25 JulyLe Bourg d’OisansAlpe d’Huez170.9kmMountain21Sunday 26 July ThoiryParis Champs-Elysees133kmFlat