Międzyzdroje > Szczecin 150km Seconds out, round 2. The good news for the commentators is that it’s only 150km!

Gevrey-Chambertin > Dijon 21km ITT The 4th stage is a 21km ITT finishing in Dijon, a certain Marlen Reusser will be keen as mustard for this one. Jokes aside, this is a huge day in the fight for the yellow jersey. Those climbers who have lost a lot of weight could well find themselves losing more than 90 seconds to the heavier GC contenders.

Geneva > Poligny 157km Lorena Wiebes got the expected win in stage 2, two out of two from the Dutch superstar. The 3rd stage has a very interesting profile, it kicks off with a challenging cat 1 climb, which will hopefully see lots of attacks. 

Gdynia > Koszalin 234km The race kicks off with a very long stage. 234km is rare these days in a stage race, throw in the 10km neutral section and most of the peloton will be wondering why, especially when it’s more than likely to end in a sprint. Anyway, good luck to anyone wanting to watch the whole stage.

Tour de Pologne is a race which is often used as prep for the Vuelta, but it also attracts a lot of sprinters due to opportunities offered to the fast men. The route this year is very straightforward, three sprint stages, three GC stages and an ITT. 

Aigle > Geneva 148km Starting at the south-east point of Lake Geneva, the 2nd stage takes the riders along the north shore of the lake before finishing in Geneva. With 1800m of climbing, it’s certainly not a flat stage, but most of the sprinters will be hoping for a calm day before a bunch kick, we’ll see if that’s what they get.

Donostia-San Sebastian > Donostia-San Sebastian 222km Changes to the opening half of the race compared to last year, increasing the climbing by around 300m and upping the distance by 10km. The race this year is 222km, with 4033m of climbing, as usual, this is a very hard race. The big question mark surrounds the form of riders coming out of the Tour de France, those who have been fighting for the overall podium rarely go well here, but will Remco change all of that?

Lausanne > Lausanne 138km The 2026 edition of the Tour de France Femmes kicks off in Switzerland, starting and finishing in Lausanne. The riders take on a big loop up towards Lake Geneva and then back down again to the finish. There’s a few lumps and bumps along the way, most people will look at the finish and wonder if the sprinters will be challenging for the win. Read on and I’ll explain all.

Holiday time is over (Madrid was brilliant, topped off with going to see Morrissey on Wednesday), it’s time for the women’s Tour de France. 9 stages, most of which are relatively long and demanding days in the saddle. All eyes will be on Ventoux, but most of the stages look well designed to me, perfect for attacking racing. In this preview, I’ll take a look at each of the stages and the different classifications you’ll see riders fight for over the next week.

Paris > Paris 89km The 21st and final stage of the 2026 Tour de France, and what a race it’s been. As usual, we end in Paris, and the organisers have persisted with the Montmatre climb in the lap circuit, but there’s been a route change as the emergency services are needed to help deal with the wildfires in the south. Most of the riders weren’t best pleased with this addition, but the watching fans loved it. They have tried to appease the sprinters a little bit, the distance from the last time up the climb to the finish is now...