It’s summer 2025, a spectacular Tour de France is on TV next to my desk, perfect images and magnificent routes awaken my memories and direct my thoughts to the question: Again?
And so it started tingling
It started with an enquiry to Beat, we were buddies at the 2017 Tour. I thought we both will turn 65 next year, so I asked him if he could imagine riding the Tour again in 2026. His answer was as swift as always:
‘Roland, I’m a year ahead of you. I’m already 65, and I’m currently enjoying my rest day in Montpellier on my fourth Tour de France. Tomorrow, I’m heading to Mont Ventoux.’ – Beat
I was really stunned and my longing took wing, I floated on my virtual bike again over the experiences of 2017, remembered this being, thoses tree weeks in the French summer, in those fantastic landscapes, as I got wings in that third week, up to the Galibier, and my inner self screamed out loud and fancy: AGAIN.
So, I aksed my cycling friends in the UK:
What a spontaneous answer, less than an hour later it was agreed that we would do it. It’s like always, the things in life that are pending go without resistance, without hm, er and …, the things that are pending “flow”; they work immediately. Chris’ spontaneous answer was my confirmation, my YES. Chris said later on the phone that he had been carrying the same idea around with him and wanted to ask.
Of course there was also other feedback, for example Neil said:
Both certifiable but congratulations on your collective insanity. – Neil
We got confirmation today – Hey, we do a Tour de France in 2026
Our starting place has been confirmed. So, once again, we are among of the 40 mad riders, the Grand Loopers, who will complete the entire tour. The real adventure is the whole three weeks, the full 21 days.
Sarah, who works for the organisations, reports that all 40 places on the Grand Loop were fully booked within an hour. There is a long waiting list and many registrations are from repeat offenders. We would definitely recognise some of them. She said that it seems to develop into an ‘alumni meeting’. We are excited.
Le Loop (rideleloop.org) is organising this event again in its usual format. There is a core group of 40 cyclists, known as the ‘Grand Loopers’ or ‘Lifers’, who do all 21 stages over three weeks. Every day, an additional peloton of riders (guests) joins the group, riding either a section, a week, the Alps, three days, or just one stage. This means that around 150–180 cyclists come together every day. Looking back, I would say that the organisers do a really good job.
After a few days, the Lifers know each other and are amazed at which guests join them. Mostly equally cool men and women of all ages who put their sport into this event for a week. But we have also seen others who arrive with the latest and most expensive bike, dressed Monaco style and their parents (and wives) follow in their camper vans, catering and taking photos; well, as in life, there are all sorts.
We still fondly remember the Earl of ???, who came back to his quarters with his bodyguard after the tough Pyrenean stages, didn’t even exchange a word with anyone under his stand and was honoured as rider of the day at the end. That’s England. The Lifers were “well amused”.
I bet we will also see participants with an e-road bike. Nowadays, there are also racing bikes that no longer look like they provide 200 watts of assistance on the mountain. However, I don’t know whether the power lasts for 180 kilometres.
2026 – The Start in Barcelona
The full route of the tour will not be announced until October. So far, only the first two stages from the start in Barcelona are known. On day 3, the route then heads north of Barcelona to France.
The direction changes every year from “clockwise” to “anti-clockwise”, so in 2026 we should be riding with the hour hand again, but it will be exciting to see how the Pyrenees and the Alps will be packed into two different weeks from Barcelona.
So let’s be surprised and hope for new routes. Maybe I’ll finally get to Andora this time.
Rumours are circulating about the most probable start and end villages for the 2026 route.
The Tour Report comes live again
As soon as the route is announced in October, I will prepare the stage templates, which I only have to fill with the day’s content on the way and you’ll be there again, just like in 2017.
I hope my BackOffice takes care of the mistakes that inevitably occur in the evening after 200km and 4000 metres of climbing.
It is still the internet address: tourreport.org, which is then redirected to our cloud. That’s why you’ll see aveon.ddns.net/treport in the address bar, so don’t get confused.
So you can be there every day and follow how the favourites are doing, one week before the real tour. And I promise you great pictures, stories from the paddock and all the other goings-on of a three-week trip through France.
Preparation and Training
Of course, this is a huge goal that I have set myself. And of course I realise that the last tour was 9 years ago and I haven’t got any younger.
These one-day marathons are also not without their challenges, but here we are talking about 3 weeks of 180 – 200 kilometres every day, and then there are also mountains in between. That means I have to make sure that I arrive in Barcelona with a lower weight and superior preparation. I know myself well and so I know that even if I spend a month on the couch, I can flip a switch and be incredibly consistent from then on; which is how it has to be with this project.
Of course, I’m also honest with myself and recognise that I’m no longer 40. But I can already feel that I’m ready to muster up the energy and the will to get myself into the shape I need for the three weeks of a Grand Tour. I remember the first week in 2017 being the toughest and I don’t want it to feel like that this time, so I need to start better prepared.
Although there is also the reality that I can still do this now, because I probably won’t be able to when I’m 70. You can definitely talk about “now or not”, as final and depressing as that sounds.
How exactly I plan, organise and carry it out, with or without help, will be part of the next blog. But I’ll start in August.
What do you think?
Do you agree with Neil we are mad, out of our minds, as he put it?
The comments function has been activated, I look forward to your assessment.
