The Tour de France 2026 Startlist Takes Shape: Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel Headline a Loaded Barcelona Field
With the Grand Départ now just over a week away, the provisional startlist for the 2026 Tour de France has crystallised into one of the most stacked GC fields in recent memory. Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel will all line up in Barcelona on 4 July, renewing the sport's defining three-way rivalry on the biggest stage of all.
Pogacar arrives as the overwhelming favourite. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader has been imperious all season, capped by a crushing maiden Tour de Suisse overall, and will be backed by a deep roster that once again features Mexican sensation Isaac del Toro, whose own ambitions will be subordinated to the defence of his captain's yellow-jersey campaign.
Vingegaard leads a Visma-Lease a Bike squad that has been reshaped by a brutal run of injuries. The losses of Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte, and now a crash scare for Edoardo Affini at the Italian nationals, have forced the Dutch team to lean on Giro revelation Davide Piganzoli and the climbing core of Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss as they try to topple Pogacar in the high mountains.
Evenepoel spearheads a third genuine GC challenge, the Belgian double Olympic champion looking to convert his time trial dominance and improving climbing into a first Tour podium tilt. With 26km of individual time trialling on the route, the world's premier tester against the clock has terrain on which to take meaningful time out of his rivals.
Beyond the GC battle, the startlist sparkles with one-day firepower and youth. Mathieu van der Poel returns to chase stages and the early yellow jersey, Tom Pidcock arrives in rich form after his Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica win, and French teenager Paul Seixas makes a hugely anticipated debut after announcing himself with a stunning bronze at the French time trial championships.
The home crowds in Catalonia will roar for the Spanish contingent, while the sprinters' teams sharpen their lead-out trains for the rare flat days on a parcours stacked with 54,450 metres of climbing. After a spring and early summer dominated by Pogacar, the Tour offers his rivals their last, best chance to land a blow — and the field assembling in Barcelona suggests they intend to try.