Tour de France organisers have confirmed long・standing rumors that the 2026 Grand Department Store will be held in Barcelona, and the race will be held in Barcelona for 3 days.

The Catalan capital will host the race from 2026-7-4-6. It is reported that Stage 1 will run completely within the boundaries of the city, and Stage 2 will also start and end in Barcelona. After another start in the city of Stage 3, the tour will head to the more familiar terrain of France.

Negotiations about the start of the 5th Foreign Tour de France in 4 years have not progressed rapidly, but as early as May 5 it had already been reported as all but a deal made by local media.

Definitive confirmation from Aso came on Tuesday, followed by a ceremony at Barcelona's town Hall. After Copenhagen in 2022, Bilbao in 2023, Florence in 2024 and Lille in 2025, it will be the grand department store for men's cycling's largest bike race.

Barcelona has already held the opening stages of the Vuelta a España in 1962 and 2023.  Last year, the Vuelta's opening stage was an evening team time trial, overshadowed in part by controversy over poor lighting when the race route was unexpectedly affected by heavy rain showers and cloud cover, but automatic street lighting, which is not timed to start before complete darkness, could turn on itself. It was not possible to do so.

It was followed by a Stage 2 finish at Montjuic Park in Barcelona.It is widely seen as the epicenter of a city with established ties to road racing, which Tour de France coach Christian Prudhomme strongly hinted on Tuesday and is likely to also appear on the 2026 tour visit. 

Long host to one of the last day races of the season, won six times by the now defunct Subida A Montjuic-Edimelks - The whole finishing circuit of the last stage of Volta a Catalunya has always been held in Montjuic and it is often held by the Vuelta as well. It is equipped on stage. Montjuïc was also the site of the 1973 World Championships and the 1992 Olympic cycling events (both road and track).

Barcelona itself has been visited three times in the past by the Tour de France, most recently in 2009, with a bunch of uphill sprint stage wins for Thor Hushovd. The next day's stage ended in Andorra in Ordino-Arcalis and also started in Barcelona. 

The tour first reached Barcelona in 1957, when three stages were launched, including a personal time trial won by French legendary Jacques Anquetil, claiming the first of the overall victories. In 1963, the city witnessed an epic solo victory for the local star Jose Perez-Francis.

The start of the tour in 2026 coincides with the long-awaited completion of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, one of the most famous religious buildings in Barcelona, where work began in 1882, 1.

"We love big cities, whether they are French or foreign," Race director Christian Prudhomme told L'Équipe. "But on the condition that we also continue to visit the smallest places, too, French villages. It is non-negotiable. Barcelona had the political will to do it, but they were also interested in sports because of Montjuic.”