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Tour de France 2026 Stage 2: Tarragona - Barcelona 168.5 km

Sunday, 5 July - Stage 2 of the Tour begins in the city of Tarragona and will take the riders through the Catalan coast throughout the first 85 kilometers. The riders will return to Barcelona, and on its outskirts they will have the ascent to the Côte de Begues - which is around 6 kilometers long at 6%. This climb ends with 74 kilometers to go, but is only a warm-up for what's to come after.

A stage that would ordinarily be planned for the classics specialist, but ultimately most modern GC men are some of the best puncheurs in the world, meaning that this will be the second consecutive day that will be important for the overall classification.

The riders reach Barcelona and will take on a circuit that is well familiar to them... Or is it? On paper it looks virtually the same as the Volta a Catalunya one, however there are a few differences. Firstly between laps, there is an extension of the 'flat' section meaning that there is more rest inbetween climbs. This makes it less likely for there to be long-range attacks, because they cannot benefit as much from the explosive nature of the circuit.

Secondly, whilst the climb to the Montjuic castle ends on the same location, it begins on a different road, which effectively makes it harder. Whilst the climb is mostly just the final ramp in Catalunya, at the Tour they take up a whole 1.6 kilometers at 9.3%.

This is meaningful. The final ramps of the climb go up to 13%, but now the riders won't necessarily wait for them. The fight for positioning will be crucial, and the first part of the climb also features several switchbacks which makes attacks and/or splits more viable.

The riders go through it with 27 and 15 kilometers to go. But they will go through the final circuit on three occasions. The last lap sees the riders summit the hilltop with a mere 2.5 kilometers to go. What is left until the finish is the very short and fast descent; and the same final ascent to the line (only slightly shortened) which on this day will be a 600 meters long at 5.5% - hence, an uphill finish.

Stage 2 of the Tour de France gets under way at 13:45 and the race is expected to finish around 17:35 - both local times (CEST).

The Tour de France 2026 start list isn't final yet, but it's updated every day as teams officially announce their selections.