9 Key Takeaways from the 2026 Tour de France

After three long weeks traversing France (and Spain), the 2026 edition of the Tour de France concluded Sunday on the iconic Champs-Élysées.

By the numbers, over 180 riders across 23 teams competed across 21 stages for a total of 2,071 miles (3,333 kilometers), including seven flat stages, four hilly stages and eight mountain stages (including five summit finishes).

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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) secured his fifth yellow jersey, with Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG) rounding out the podium in second and third, respectively.

From shattered records to tenacious racing, here are nine highlights from this year's Tour de France, in no particular order.

Did we miss something? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

1. A New GOAT

With his win at this year's Tour, Pogačar joins the elite company of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin, who each also have five yellow jerseys to their name. Pair this with his dominance in the monuments and his do-it-all style of racing, and it'd be hard to argue he isn't the best to pin a number to his back. This year, Pogačar also shattered Marco Pantani's long-standing record up Alpe d'Huez during Stage 19 by over a minute.

It'd be hard to argue he isn't the best to pin a number to his back

Of course, Lance Armstrong and his "unofficial" seven yellow jerseys and Mark Cavendish's 35 total Tour de France stage wins loom in the shadows, but the 27-year-old is on pace to eclipse both in the next few years.

Let's see if he decides to compete in this year's Vuelta a España and complete the career Grand Tour trilogy, winning the Giro, Tour and Vuelta.

2. The Beauty of Barcelona

The scenic countryside, history and architecture are always a focal point of the Tour de France, and this year's Grand Départ didn't disappoint. Barcelona hosted the first three stages in this year's Tour. Between the beaches, interesting buildings and overwhelming show of support from the locals, the spotlight on the region couldn't have been brighter.

Next year the Tour heads to Scotland, England and Wales with big shoes to fill.

3. U-S-A, U-S-A!

Americans have a history of animating the Tour de France, and this year was no exception. Six riders across five different teams were front and center almost daily, helping protect their team leaders on the hardest stages and making the breakaways.

Most notably, peloton veteran Sepp Kuss (Visma Lease-a-Bike) nearly won the diabolical Queen stage (Stage 20) after surviving two crashes within minutes. Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) impressively completed his Tour debut, helping another first-timer and French phenom, Paul Seixas, finish fourth.

4. The Ecuadorian Wonder

While Pogačar's dominance is undeniable, it often leads to stages (and overall Tours) with very predictable outcomes. After Pogačar's main rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease-a-Bike), crashed out on Stage 15, we wondered who would step up and challenge the Slovenian for stage wins. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easypost) pulled a classic Carapaz move with a scrappy show of strength in the final, most difficult week to secure two wins on two of the hardest days (Stage 18 and 20) with a close third place finish from a breakaway on Stage 19.

Carapaz deservedly won both the King of the Mountains classification (polka dot jersey) and the most combative award for his crafty, explosive and powerful racing throughout this year's mountain stages.

5. The Mads Pedersen Show

Speaking of power, we need to recognize Danish superstar and former World Champion Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) for not just winning the green jersey, but how he won it. Not only did he secure a Stage 4 victory from a hard-fought breakaway, but he and his team managed breakaways and intermediate sprints with ultimate conviction. He climbed with elite climbers, finished amongst the elite sprinters and mathematically locked up the classification on Stage 20 with another aggressive breakaway performance.

What can't he do? Reports say he'll be competing at this year's Vuelta.

6. Young Talent

The future of the Tour de France has never been brighter, as the average age of the top 10 GC contenders is younger than ever before. The battle for the best young rider classification (white jersey) was one of the main focal points this year, with Seixas, del Toro and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) duking it out to the very end.

It helps when the world's best cyclist gifts you a stage win (Stage 2) and acts as a super domestique, but del Toro's podium finish and prowess on steep gradients were impressive, nonetheless. He'll be someone Pogačar relies on for the next few years.

7. What's Next for Jumbo Visma?

Team Jumbo Visma seems to be at a crossroads. Vingegaard showed up in the best shape of his life, posted PRs on some of the hardest climbs by a significant margin, and was still no match for Pogačar. This isn't a knock on the Dane, there isn't anyone in the sport who can put up a fight over three weeks, but for a team focused on the GC battle, what do you do now?

Besides settling for second place, does the team just prioritize the Grand Tours that Pogačar isn't competing in? Their other superstar (absent from this year's tour with injury), Wout van Aert, isn't getting any younger either, so it'll be interesting to see how the team adjusts strategies moving forward.

8. The Flying Dutchman

The last stage of the Tour de France is often ceremonial, where jersey classifications have all but been secured, and the sprinters have their moment of glory on the last lap of the Champs-Élysées.

Stage 21 this year was anything but, with four World Champions attacking off the front, and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Pogačar pulling away for a truly must-watch battle between the two strongest riders in the field. With just the eye test, it seemed as though Van der Poel was the only man who put Pogačar on the ropes over the past three weeks, dropping him in the final meters and just edging out the surging sprinters for a nail-biter of a finish.

9. (Dis)Honorable Mention: Anti-Doping Controls

Even non-cycling fans probably heard about the drama during this year's Tour when both Vingegaard and Pogačar were woken up in their hotel room in the early morning hours to provide a sample for testing.

This is unusual and outside the normal testing window, with Pogačar and others in the peloton speculating that the disruption to sleep might have had some influence on Vingegaard's crash on a major mountain stage and ultimate abandonment. It seems the sport's difficult past on this subject isn't truly in the past, but camaraderie and support amongst riders is at an all-time high.