Barcelona will inaugurate the 2026 Tour de France with a modernist route

Cycling and architecture. These are the two concepts that, although rarely appearing simultaneously, Barcelona intends to harmonize with the Tour de France in 2026, the year in which the world's premier cycling competition will depart for the first time from the Catalan capital. It will do so with an event open to the public in which the participating cyclists will parade on July 2, two days before the tournament, from Sant Pau to the Sagrada Família.

This 900-meter route will mark the symbolic start of the Grand Départ and will allow the Catalan capital to showcase two of its greatest architectural jewels, built by two of the great figures of Catalan modernism: Lluís Domènech i Montaner, architect of the Sant Pau modernist complex; and Antoni Gaudí, architect of the Sagrada Família. In addition, it will also serve Barcelona to unite two of the events that will mark the city's agenda and international projection during the coming year: on the one hand, the sports tournament, and the World Capital of Architecture on the other.

The objective is for this event, free and open to the public, to serve as a grand welcome party, becoming an unforgettable experience for both cyclists and fans. On the final stage, at the foot of one of the city's most emblematic monuments, the Sagrada Família, the presentation of the different teams that, just two days later, will compete in the competition will take place.

"Barcelona will host the most spectacular team presentation in the history of the Tour de France, combining architecture and sport, two of the elements that make our city unique," said the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, recalling that "the city loves bicycles." Although the Catalan capital has previously hosted some stages of the competition, it had never achieved its goal of becoming the starting point of the tournament. A fulfilled objective that the city will now celebrate with a great public event, uniting two elements ---bicycle and modernism--- that they have also wanted to combine in the competition poster, taking as reference one of the most emblematic images of this artistic movement, the painting Ramon Casas and Pere Romeu in a tandem.

Two days after the team presentation, Barcelona will kick off the competition from the seafront, specifically from the Fòrum, in a stage of almost 20 kilometers. It will be a team time trial that, in addition to touring some of the most characteristic and visited places in the city, such as the Sagrada Família or Casa Batlló, will also feature sea and mountains, with demanding final kilometers climbing towards Montjuïc.

The following two stages, on July 5 and 6, will start from the cities of Tarragona, in a route that will culminate again in Montjuïc, and from Granollers, from where the competition will depart for French lands. Although the route is practically drawn, many details are still missing to finish defining the passage of the competition through the city, such as the exact route or the total budget, which already amounts to more than eight million contributed by the city council.

Barcelona takes the baton in the Champs-Élysées in Paris

After a Grand Départ in French lands, held this year in Lille, Barcelona takes over from cities such as Copenhagen (2022), Bilbao (2023), and Florence (2024). To demonstrate the testimony collected by the Catalan capital, Collboni traveled to Paris, and specifically to the Champs-Élysées to collect the competition trophy during the closing ceremony of this year's edition held last Sunday. The trophy, arrived directly from the French capital, will be installed in the coming weeks in the Museu Olímpic i de l'Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch located in Montjuïc.

A symbolic act, with the delivery of the trophy to the city, which Barcelona also took advantage of to begin to show its charms and virtues, through another of its great attractions: gastronomy. In a year in which the Catalan capital stands as the World Region of Gastronomy, Turisme de Barcelona organized a 12-course cocktail with Romain Fornell, a prestigious chef selected for his connection with both Barcelona and Paris.