It’s almost go time!
The 2026 Tour de France gets underway Saturday with something the race hasn’t seen since 2019—a team time trial. But this isn’t the traditional version. Instead of every rider sharing the same time, each rider will receive their own finishing time, opening the door for late attacks and early gaps among the overall contenders. The new format has been used in other ASO races–using the so-called “Paris-Nice format” including the race formerly known as Critérium du Dauphiné, the Tour Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes.
Stage 1 of the Tour de France
The 19.7-km route through Barcelona starts at Parc del Fòrum before sweeping past the city’s waterfront. After a mostly fast opening, the finale heads up Montjuïc. That’s a nasty little 800-metre drag averaging around seven per cent to the Olympic Stadium. It’s most likely going to decide both the stage and the first yellow jersey.
The revised rules make the TTT much more interesting than previous ones at the Tour. Teams will still need to work together, but riders chasing the general classification may choose to leave teammates behind in the closing kilometres if they have the legs to gain a few extra seconds. It also means that you don’t have five or eight guys on the same team crowding the top-10 after the first day.
Visma vs. UAE?
Visma–Lease a Bike arrives as one of the favourites thanks to a squad packed with proven engines, including Jonas Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson, Victor Campenaerts, Bruno Armirail and Edoardo Affini. Affini had a nasty crash at the Italian nationals, but thankfully he’s good to go.
Defending champion Tadej Pogačar also has a pretty damn good team cast at UAE Team Emirates XRG. Brandon McNulty, Nils Politt, Florian Vermeersch and Isaac Del Toro mean that they will be contenders for an early jersey–but you may see them give it away if Pogi takes it.
Three weeks is a long time to defend. (But who knows anymore.)
Derek Gee-West has entered the chat
Another team that must be mentioned is Lidl-Trek. The German WorldTour team is stacked–being led by Spaniard Juan Ayuso who hopes to take his first podium at the Tour. If you just arrived back from a trip from Jupiter, you will be pleased to know that Osgoode, Ont.’s Derek Gee-West is doing the Tour.
The newly crowned national TT champ was a last minute addition to the Tour team. He’ll be sporting a spiffy new maple leaf skinsuit, and will be an invaluable addition to the team. Mads Pedersen (who won the Danish ITT champs in 2025) is there, along with Mattias Skjelmose and Quinn Simmons, to mention a few. You never know, if Lidl-Trek wins the TT and Gee-West finishes with Ayuso…he may go for yellow in the first week. That is, if he’s allowed to, given that Ayuso’s GC is the main goal.
You can tune into Stage 1 on Saturday on Flobikes.com at 12:30 p.m EDT. Canadian Cycling Magazine will have a full report after with photos, too.
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