The XL Tour de France 2026 Preview | Part Two | The Route | Barcelona > Paris

The 113th Tour de France starts in Barcelona on Saturday, and makes its way to Paris via the Pyrenees, Massif Central, Vosges, Jura and Alps.

In this episode, Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss take an in-depth look at the route, picking out some highlights along the way. There's also some French flavour from François Thomazeau, who has covered the Tour for the past four decades and writes the official tourist's guide for the race.

Join us for the journey when our daily episodes get underway after the opening team time trial on Saturday.

Part one of The XL Preview series is online now. Part three, covering all the other contenders to look out for, will be released soon.

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Our Tour de France preview series is sponsored by MyWhoosh.

MyWhoosh is a serious indoor training and racing platform, built for riders who love cycling, and it’s free. It’s built for anyone who wants to ride indoors with purpose, whether that’s staying fit, following a training plan, joining a community ride, racing hard, or exploring virtual roads and it’s free to ride, just like outdoors. 

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The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.