Barcelona does not slow down with big events. One day before the arrival of Formula 1 in the center of Barcelona in the middle of preparation for the America’s Cup and in the midst of the controversy over the city’s tourism model the mayor, Jaume Collboni, insists on the same key and announces the arrival of another major event in the city: the start of the Tour de France.
This is what he announced this morning, when he explained that in July 2026 Barcelona will be the starting point, the Grande Bouche, of the most important cycling race in the world.
Collboni has signed with Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour, the agreement that will make the sporting event possible, after six years of negotiations that began, therefore, with the previous government of the commons.
Barcelona, a regular stop for Tour de France
The celebration of the Grande Bouche in 2026 will not be the tour’s first stop in Barcelona, in a Tour de France that doesn’t seem to mind leaving France to promote itself. Nor is it the first socialist agreement in this sense. On July 9, 2009, the socialist mayor Jordi Hereu made the sixth stage of the French Grand Tour be held between Girona and Barcelona. The following day, Barcelona was the starting city for a stage that ended in Andorra.
In 2014, an attempt was already made to make the Catalan capital the starting stage, but it has not succeeded until now, ten years later. Last year the city already hosted the Start of the Vuelta a España, an event that raised criticism for poor planning, as the rain darkened the sky before it had time to turn on the street lighting, so the cyclists entered the finish line in the dark.
As explained at the beginning, Collboni has announced this event on full controversy over the city’s tourism model that continues to seek to welcome more tourism despite the fact that part of the public is showing weariness with this growth, with a massive demonstration against tourism called on July 6 in Las Ramblas.