"A lot of mountains, which is good" - Visma react to Tour de France route that suits Jonas Vingegaard quite well
Cycling
The 2026 Tour de France is one that will feature a lot more diversity when it comes to mountain stages than this year's, and also some higher and more difficult peaks. After the route presentation Team Visma | Lease a Bike's DS Grischa Niermann shared his thoughts on the route and is quite satisfied with it.
”Overall the route looks nice. Of course we will have to analyse it further and dive into each stage, but there are definitely a lot of mountains, which is good," Niermann said in a press release issued by the team.
The route will feature over 56.000 meters of climbing accumulate, and is a race where the GC fight begins right on day 1, which will make for a very fatiguing race. All first three stages can see small differences whilst the riders enter the mountains on stage 6 with the Col du Tourmalet as the highlight of the day.
However it is also a backloaded race, which will certainly not make it easy for Tadej Pogacar to build a big gap in the first half of the race as happened this year. Into stage 14 this year, the Slovenian already had over 4 minutes to Vingegaard. In this case, there is only one high mountain stage before stage 14, and that is the day where it truly begins with the action in the Vosges.
"We start the race with a team time trial, and we always put focus on those, so that’s a good opportunity to go for the stage win and also hopefully win a little time. I also think the intermediate stages look quite interesting," he added.
Galibier and Alpe d'Huez
The race will truly be decided on the Alps, mainly on the Plateau de Solaison and then in the two stages up to Alpe d'Huez. The final colossal day in the mountains will be stage 20 with 5600 meters of climbing in only 171 kilometers, a queen stage packed with long climbs and altitude, just as Vingegaard thrives in.
”The mountains are spread out over the course, but it’s still quite backloaded with a hard last week. It looks like stage 20 will be the big queen stage of the race with multiple long climbs, so hopefully the fight for the yellow jersey will still be on by then," the German adds.
He does particularly keep a close eye on that final mountain stage, which as in the past, could be used by Visma to try and make the difference for Jonas Vingegaard. "Croix de Fer and Galibier are beautiful but really hard. Alpe d’Huez is indeed also a very iconic climb, but stage 19 will be more explosive with a big showdown there, as there are no major climbs before. The Tour de France is always a hard a race, and next year will be the same. It could suit Jonas well, but again, we have to look further into the stages.”
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- this is just stupid. you already have 23%, gravel is over the topabstractengineer03-11-2026
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- You despise him because he calls out the truth....OK clown !frieders303-11-2026
- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
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