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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
- Mayor Jaume Collboni, present at the final stage of the world’s most important cycling competition, received the trophy from Christian Poiret and Antoine Sillani, in a gesture symbolizing the relay to Barcelona, the city that will host the start of the Tour next year
- Collboni has predicted that «it will be very exciting and spectacular» and has highlighted that it will be an opportunity to promote a sport, cycling, which is growing in popularity, and will also help to consolidate the commitment to being a bike-friendly city
Mayor Jaume Collboni received the official Tour de France trophy on Sunday in Paris on behalf of Barcelona, as the organizing city for the Grand Départ 2026. The handover took place during the closing ceremony of the cycling race on the Champs-Élysées in the French capital, once the last stage of the race had finished.
Also present at the event were the Sports Councillor, David Escudé; the Sports Councillor of the Generalitat, Berni Álvarez; the President of the Diputació de Barcelona, Lluïsa Moret, as well as representatives from other municipalities that will host the first stages of the Tour 2026.
After Copenhagen, Bilbao, and Florence, the official start of the next edition of the world’s most important cycling race will once again take place outside of France, and this time the city chosen by the organizers of the race is Barcelona. Thus, the Grand Départ 2026 of the Tour will take place on July 4 with a team time trial covering a 19.7-kilometer circuit starting at the Fòrum Park and finishing at Montjuïc mountain.
The second stage, starting in Tarragona and finishing in Barcelona, will take place on July 5 with a route of 178 kilometers. Finally, the third stage will start on July 6 from Granollers, following a route that will end in French territory.
Mayor Jaume Collboni expressed from Paris that they are «very excited and honored» that the Tour has entrusted Barcelona with the start of next year’s edition, «an event that we had been dreaming of for years,» and he predicted that «it will be very exciting and spectacular.»
Collboni highlighted the unique features of the Barcelona edition with «a lot of presence of the sea, as we are a Mediterranean city, a bit of mountain, because the first stage will pass through Montjuïc mountain, a lot of culture and the monumentality of the city,» taking care of how the Tour handles the historical, heritage, and landscape aspects.
He also emphasized how in Barcelona «we will give our best so that all cycling fans, who are numerous throughout the country, as well as in Catalonia and Barcelona, can enjoy it,» and he highlighted that «it is an opportunity to promote a democratic sport, which is the sport of cycling, which is growing in popularity, and is a well-established mode of transportation in our city.» The mayor recalled that «more than 15 years ago, Barcelona started an irreversible path to be a bike-friendly city, which is a way to strengthen the human scale of a city. In the end, a bike-friendly city is a quieter, more peaceful city with a more natural pace of mobility.»
In conclusion, he expressed his conviction that the Grand Départ in «the most beautiful city in the world will allow the people of Barcelona to experience one of the most beloved and participated sports events, and for the rest of the world to see us from a different perspective,» with an event «that will not only help promote the practice of sports but also to see the city from a bicycle, which is also an original and unique perspective.»
Barcelona, the global epicenter of cycling
With the official start of the Tour 2026, one of the top 10 international sports events of reference, Barcelona will become the global capital of cycling. The Tour de France is the most relevant cycling competition in the world, a unique event with the participation of the best riders on the international scene, being one of the most followed sports spectacles worldwide.
To keep up with all the news about the Grand Départ 2026, a website letour.barcelona has been launched this July, available in four languages (Catalan, Spanish, English, and French) so that all cycling enthusiasts can follow the updates related to the start of the major sporting event next year.
The website not only provides information about the 3 stages that will take place in Catalonia on July 4, 5, and 6 with all the technical details (route maps, altimetry, etc.), but also gives a historical overview of the three editions that have passed through Catalonia so far, as well as key figures in Spanish cycling. It also offers tourist, sports, and cultural information about the three Catalan locations that will host the stage starts and details of the upcoming milestones related to the event.