The most famous cycling race in the world begins on Saturday, and once again, two Durangoans will compete in front of viewers from around the world.
Durango’s Sepp Kuss and Quinn Simmons are racing in the Tour de France once again, representing Durango, the United States and their teams as the cyclists compete over three weeks and two countries. It’s Kuss’ six Tour de France start and Simmons’ fourth. Once again, Kuss will ride in a domestique role for his team leader, Jonas Vingegaard, as he tries to win again. Simmons might have the chance to win a stage for the first time in his Tour career.
There’s a lot to cover on the 3,000+ kilometer route and 54,000 meters of climbing. Whether it’s how the 2026 Tour route goes from Barcelona, Spain and will end in Paris, the favorites to win the general classification (GC), or how Kuss and Simmons will fare in their roles for their respective teams, let’s look at what’s important to watch in the 2026 Tour de France.
One hundred and eighty-four cyclists will begin the Tour de France on Saturday in Barcelona with a 19.6 km team time trial. It’s the first time since 2019 that the Tour has had a team time trial, with a different concept of the individual times being taken across the finish line, not the team.
This route also returns the Tour to multiple countries after it was entirely in France last season. There will be 21 stages over 23 days, totaling 3,320.7 km (2063.3 miles), with eight mountain stages, seven flat stages, four hilly stages and two time trials. The two rest days are on Monday, July 13 and July 20. The route is rated as the most mountainous in 20 years, making it the climbers’ tour and giving a mountain man like Kuss plenty of opportunities.
After the team time trial in Barcelona, the riders will have a few more stages in Spain before heading north and hitting the border with France. The Pyrenees mountain range will be visited earlier than normal, with the start in Barcelona.
The second week will be a traditional trek on the southwest coast of France to eastern France. The final week of the Tour will be brutal, with three consecutive mountain stages in the Alps before the flat finish in Paris on July 26.
Stage 13 on July 17 will be the longest non-time trial stage at 205.8 km, and the shortest non-time trial stage will be the mountainous Stage 19 on July 24 at 127.9 km.
Any conversation about who can win the general classification at the Tour has to start with reigning champion Tadej Pogačar.
The four-time winner and UAE Emirates XRG rider easily won the 2025 Tour by over four minutes, and he has looked dominant this season, winning the two most recent events he competed in. Pogačar didn’t race in the Giro d’Italia, but he’s the overwhelming favorite by pundits and the betting market alike, with Pogačar a -340 favorite on DraftKings Sportsbook, meaning if someone bet $5, they’d only get $6.47 back if he won.
Pogačar is 27 years old and in his prime. He’s great in the mountains and he has 13 race-winning days out of 16 race days in 2026. He has 21 career Tour stage wins and has won the GC four out of his six starts. It would be surprising if he didn’t win.
If the Slovenian star doesn’t win, it’ll likely be his rival this decade, Jonas Vingegaard. Leading Kuss and Visma-Lease a Bike, Vingegaard won the Tour in 2022 and 2023 and finished second behind Pogačar in 2021, 2024 and 2025.
It was a disappointing Tour last season for Vingegaard as he failed to win a single stage. However, his supporters will say that he’s in incredible form after winning the last two Grand Tours, the 2025 Vuelta a España and the 2026 Giro d’Italia. However, Pogačar wasn’t racing in either of those events, making it tough to judge how close Vingegaard is to Pogačar.
Outside the top two, the rising star to watch is Paul Seixas. At only 19, he’s been hailed as a future Grand Tour winner and one of the most talented riders ever at his age. Seixas, riding for Decathlon CMA CGM Team, narrowly lost to Pogačar earlier in the season, and a lot of pressure will be on the French rising star. This will be his first Grand Tour, so there are questions about how he’ll hold up.
Remco Evenepoel is an Olympic champion and his fellow Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe teammate Florian Lipowitz is held in high regard, but it’s unclear how well Evenepoel will do with the more mountainous layout this year.
Kuss and Simmons are back in the Tour for the second consecutive year after both missed out in 2024. Kuss’ role as one of the premier mountain domestiques for Vingegaard ultimately wasn’t enough against Pogačar. Kuss finished 17th in the general classification last year in the Tour, with his best stage finish of 10th.
Simmons had lower expectations with Lidl-Trek not having a premier GC contender. However, he had some stellar moments in last year’s Tour with two top-10 stage finishes, with the highlight being his second-place finish in Stage 6. Simmons finished 59th in the GC and 10th in the sprinters’ classification.
This year, Kuss is expected to be a strong domestique for Vingegaard once again. Kuss looks like he’s in strong form coming off a Giro d’Italia where he guided Vingegaard to an easy victory. Kuss also won a stage at the Giro, completing the trilogy of Grand Tour stage wins.
Visma-Lease a Bike will be down one of its strongest domestiques, Wout van Aert, who’s dealing with an infection from a crash. That means more could be on Kuss’ shoulders. He’ll be working with teammates Victor Campanaerts, Bruno Armirail, Edoardo Affini, Per Strand Hagenes, Davide Piganzoli and Matteo Jorgenson to support Vingegaard. However, Kuss could still break away and win a stage for the first time at the Tour since 2021.
“Alongside those two (Piganzoli, Haganes), Victor, Bruno, Edo, Sepp, and Matteo give us a very versatile team to support Jonas in the fight for the general classification,” Visma-Lease a Bike Leading Race Coach Marc Reef said. “We are not only prepared for the toughest climbs, but we have also carefully selected powerful riders who can position Jonas during the flat stages. I’m really looking forward to the coming month.”
Simmons doesn’t have a GC contender at Lidl-Trek like Vingegaard to support. Lidl-Trek’s main GC rider is Juan Ayuso, who came over from UAE Emirates XRG after spending the last five seasons there. He’s seen as a talented rider, but has yet to put it together and hasn’t finished a Tour yet. Ayuso has the seventh-best odds on DraftKings Sportsbook to win the GC.
Mattias Skjelmose is Lidl-Trek’s second GC rider and a quality team around the two GC riders of two-time Tour stage winner Mads Pedersen, Derek Gee and Carlos Verona should help Lidl-Trek in the team standings. Then comes Simmons and Toms Skujiņš, who are expected to use their power and aggression to chase stage victories from breakaways while still protecting Ayuso and Skjelmose in the opening week, according to a Lidl-Trek press release.
Simmons has the chance to win a stage to win a stage at the Tour for the first time, which he said would be a dream for him with the stars and stripes national championship jersey on.
The race will be broadcast on Peacock and local USA Network and NBC Sports stations.