The Tour de France 2026 could start in Barcelona

The Barcelona City Council has confirmed that it is working to host the start of the Tour de France 2026. Negotiations are progressing in the right direction after six years of discussions, and the organization considers the Catalan city as one of the most serious candidates. Barcelona thus reinforces its commitment to major sporting events after hosting La Vuelta 2023.

The Tour organization is considering starting the 112th edition in Barcelona

The Tour de France is the ultimate cycling race. And the biggest cycling stage is also a global showcase for municipalities to showcase their cities. Barcelona, aware of the power of major sporting events, has shown interest in becoming a global reference. The City Council announced a few days ago that it will open the city doors to Formula 1, while also finalizing preparations to host the America's Cup of Sailing.

Cycling also holds a place of honor for the City Council: the city was responsible for hosting the start of La Vuelta 2023 -in a controversial stage marked by weather conditions-, a few weeks ago the UCI Eliminator World Cup took place, and it is a regular finish line for La Volta.

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Now, the Barcelona City Council acknowledges that it is in talks with the Tour organization -ASO, which also organizes Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Paris-Nice, and La Volta, among others- to bring the start of the race to the city in 2026.

The Sports Councilor, David Escudé, explained that negotiations began about six years ago and that this time has been used to "build trust" with Christian Prudhomme -Tour's general director- and position Barcelona well. In fact, although "it is a slow process because obviously Barcelona is not the only city aspiring to host a major Tour start," Escudé states that "we are in the final sprint and we will see who reaches the finish line first."

Despite being cautious and clear in stating that "nothing can be taken for granted," he showed some optimism by explaining that "there are many things we are working on and we hope they will bear fruit as well." He also mentioned that "we have two great ambassadors" referring to Javier Guillén and Rubén Peris, Directors of La Vuelta and La Volta, respectively.

If the news is confirmed, this would be the first time that Barcelona hosts the start of the Tour. Throughout history, there have been 25 starts of the race outside French borders; Amsterdam was the first (1954) and in recent times it has become more common, as seen in starts in Copenhagen (2022), Bilbao (2023), or Florence (2024).

Nevertheless, the Tour has passed through Barcelona six times, the last one being both the finish and start of a stage in 2009.