Finally the Grand Depart, say the Barcelonians! The capital of Catalonia has hosted a stage of the Tour de France three times in 1957, 1965, and 2009 but has never started the race, which will finally happen on July 4th this year when the 23 teams will set off on a 19-kilometer team time trial to the foot of the Montjuic Olympic Stadium where the first yellow jersey of the 113th edition will be awarded.
“We are all excited to welcome the Tour. We had it in 2009 and I was in the peloton then. But a Grand Depart is something else. It will be a celebration for days. It will be fabulous,” said former Spanish rider Juan Antonio Flecha, who won a stage in Toulouse in 2003.
“More important event after the Olympics”
As every year, ASO organizers marked the event on Thursday evening with a ceremony under the red brick Arc de Triomphe on Passeig Lluís Companys in the presence of the city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, and Tour director Christian Prudhomme. “Barcelona has dreamt of the Tour for a long time,” highlighted Prudhomme. “When we came in 2009, the mayor at the time, Jordi Hereu, already had this project of a Grand Depart. But he was defeated in the following elections.”
The arrival in 2023 at the City Hall of Jaume Collboni (Socialist Party of Catalonia) brought back “this dream that Barcelona had been pursuing for more than a decade.” The mayor now proudly states that the Catalan city will become the first city to have hosted a World Cup (in 1982), Olympic and Paralympic Games (in 1992), America’s Cup (in 2024), and now “the biggest cycling race in the world.”
“It’s simple: after the 1992 Olympics, it’s the most important sporting event that Barcelona has ever hosted. It will be a great celebration of sport for the whole city,” said his sports deputy, David Escudé.
This will be the fourth time in the past five years that the Grand Boucle will start from abroad after Copenhagen in 2022, Bilbao in 2023, and Florence in 2024. This decision is still advocated by the Tour director who emphasizes the need to “showcase France” through this event broadcast in 190 countries.
“Projecting, imagining”
The 2026 Tour will begin with a team time trial, an exercise that has not appeared on the Grand Boucle since 2019 in Brussels, passing by the Sagrada Familia before an explosive finish.
On the second stage on Sunday between Tarragona and Barcelona, there will be a triple ascent of the steep climb of Montjuic castle for a new finish in front of the Olympic Stadium. “The terrain is suited for a battle right from the start. And there will be a huge crowd,” promises the Tour director. The third stage will start from Granollers, on the outskirts of Barcelona, heading to France until the circus of Gavarnie passing by the Tourmalet.
Thursday evening, the J-100 festivities, a tradition since 2010 and the departure from Rotterdam, allowed everyone to “get a taste of the Tour de France, to project, to imagine,” said the Tour director. “It helps to build up the atmosphere,” added Juan Antonio Flecha, “and remind everyone what awaits us in 100 days. The Tour de France is the greatest race in the world.”
