The 113th Tour de France starts in Barcelona on Saturday, and makes its way to Paris via the Pyrenees, Massif Central, Vosges, Jura and Alps.

In this episode, Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss take an in-depth look at the route, picking out some highlights along the way. There's also some French flavour from François Thomazeau, who has covered the Tour for the past four decades and writes the official tourist's guide for the race.

Join us for the journey when our daily episodes get underway after the opening team time trial on Saturday.

Part one of The XL Preview series is online now. Part three, covering all the other contenders to look out for, will be released soon.

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Will it be Tadej Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard? There's more to this year's Tour de France than these two, of course, but it's undeniable that the race for the maillot jaune will focus on the sport's two heavyweights (or should that be lightweights?)

The 2026 Tour de France starts here. There are just a few days to go until the Grand Départ in Barcelona and The Cycling Podcast kicks off a three-part preview of the greatest race in the world by weighing up the two outstanding riders – the champion, Tadej Pogačar and the challenger Jonas Vingegaard.

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they find out about the two men who have dominated the Tour de France since 2020. Graham speaks to journalist Andy McGrath, author of Unstoppable, a biography of the Slovenian, about the man aiming to join the five-time winner's club. And Lionel talks to a man our listeners will be very familiar with, Brian Nygaard, who has followed Vingegaard's career from the beginning.

Part two and three of The XL Preview series will cover the route, and all the other contenders to look out for, and will be released soon.

TITLE SPONSOR – MyWhoosh
Our Tour de France preview series is sponsored by MyWhoosh.

MyWhoosh is a serious indoor training and racing platform, built for riders who love cycling, and it’s free. It’s built for anyone who wants to ride indoors with purpose, whether that’s staying fit, following a training plan, joining a community ride, racing hard, or exploring virtual roads and it’s free to ride, just like outdoors. 

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Donkeys beware, there’s enough chat about recent racing from Rose Manley and Lizzy Banks that they’re at risk of losing their hind legs.

Rose and Lizzy tackle some major talking points from the Tour de Suisse and beyond. Like how might Zoe Backstedt shape up against Lorena Wiebes in future? What might Kasia Niewiadoma’s rumoured transfer to Lidl-Trek mean for the Polish champion and for Canyon-SRAM? And who should Team UAE-ADQ pick for the Tour de France Femmes considering their huge roster of climbing talent?

Plus there’s a message for our listeners from co-host Rebecca Charlton after she made her cancer treatment public last week.

Also on the agenda: legless donkeys, Lizzy the richest-woman-that-never-was and how a poo could disrupt the Canyon-SRAM team camp.

With the Tour de France now just ten days away, the Tour de Suisse was one of the final competitive opportunities for riders to impress their team management and earn selection for La Grande Boucle.

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they complete their own countdown to the 113th edition of the greatest race in the world.

After Jonas Vingegaard impressed at the Giro d'Italia, it was over to Tadej Pogačar to show what sort of condition he's in as he aims for a record-equalling fifth Tour title. In a shorter, but by no means less intense, edition of the Swiss stage race Pogačar left few people in any doubt that he's the number one favourite for the Tour.

Who else impressed in Switzerland, Slovenia and Belgium as the Tour beckoned? And which big name star will miss the race and what impact will that have on his team? We get deep into all that in our final episode of The Cycling Podcast's Attitude Camp.

Next week we complete our final preparations for the Tour de France with a bumper three-part preview, kicking off on Tuesday.

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With the Tour de France just three weeks away, the mountain stages at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (aka the Dauphiné) was set to be a big test for two young riders who are set to make their debut appearances in La Grande Boucle.

Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss wrap up an enthralling week of racing in the French Alps as Mexico's young pretender Isaac Del Toro continued his development into one of the finest stage racers in the world. We know he'll be a huge help to his UAE Team Emirates leaders Tadej Pogačar at the Tour but might he be podium material in his own right?

Meanwhile, the French sensation Paul Seixas and his Decathlon team endured a setback – perhaps a timely reality check to temper the already sky-high expectations ahead of the Tour?

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Who would have thought it possible to take such a deep dive into a team time trial stage? Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they recap the story of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – the race formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné – so far.

After two entertaining wins from the breakaway to kick things off, the 'new' team time trial format finally captured the imagination, perhaps because it's a dress rehearsal for the opening stage of the Tour de France in Barcelona in a few weeks' time.

How did the teams stack up against each other? Which squads got it right and who still has work to do?

And, now they have reached the halfway mark, who is poised to seize the yellow jersey in the mountains?

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Daniel Friebe and Michele Pelacci answer a final round of 2026 (Men's) Giro-related listeners questions.

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2026 Girovagando selection:
You can buy this year’s Girovagando wine selection here: https://dvinecellars.com/products/cycling-podcast-giro-26. 
The wines with corresponding stage numbers are as follows: 
Stage 3: Mixtape Red, Georgiev & Milkov, Plovdiv (red) 
Stage 4: Tenuta del Conte, Calabria Rosso, Calabria (red)  
Stage 5: Vigneti del Vulture, Pipoli, Aglianico del Vulture, Basilicata (red)
Stage 10: Bianco 'il Terraio’ Paterna, Tuscany (white)
Stage 14: Les Crêtes Mon Blanc, Valle D’Aosta (white)
Stage 20: Braida Antica Blanc, Russolo, Friuli Venezia-Giulia (white)

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Could this really be the end? Join Rebecca Charlton and Lizzy Banks for one final instalment from the Giro d’Italia Women as the winner of the maglia rosa is finally decided on an explosive day.

We also hear from key names in that GC battle, Lidl Trek’s Isabella Holmgren and Canyon Sram’s Antonia Niedermaier, who was virtual leader on the road earlier in the stage. 

And don’t forget to catch up on our whole race's worth of podcasts as The Cycling Podcast Féminin brings you daily coverage from the race.

Also on the agenda: Heart over legs, wonky helmet straps and, of course, cheese.

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Bow down before your queen! Yes indeed, it’s time for the queen stage at the Giro d’Italia Women on a route that was due to take in the Colle delle Finestre and end in Sestriere, however best laid plans went a bit frosty and chaos ensued. Join Rebecca Charlton and Lizzy Banks as they take a closer look at all the happenings of Stage 8, where it was all drama, a sheet of ice and a makeshift finish line. 

We also hear from Dani Rowe MBE from the top of a mountain, and Marlen Reusser drops in for a chat.

Don’t forget to listen in all week as The Cycling Podcast Féminin brings you daily coverage from the race.

We hear all the ‘what if?’ theories ahead of the final stage and also on the agenda is our angel of cheese, Denny Gray. Will he have deviated from the mainstream? Tune in to find out.  

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Close up that deeply unreliable road book and listen in as Rose Manley and Lizzy Banks take you through Stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia Women, which offered up all kinds of drama and chaos.

We also hear from breakaway superstar Alison Jackson on her day at the front of the race.

And don’t forget to listen in all week as The Cycling Podcast Féminin brings you daily coverage from the race.

Also on the agenda: Gerytales, phantom triathlons and cheese larvae

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The build-up to the 2026 Tour de France starts here. It's not the Dauphiné because the race has been rebranded the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, which may take us a while to get used to.

Join Lionel Birnie and Graham Willgoss as they are reunited to look ahead to the first big preparation race for the Tour, which starts on Sunday. With Jonas Vingegaard resting after a convincing victory at the Giro d'Italia, and Tadej Pogačar focusing on the Tour de Suisse, that puts the spotlight on the young French sensation Paul Seixas.

The Decathlon rider won Itzulia earlier in the spring to amplify the growing hype around him. France is starting to believe they finally have a successor to Bernard Hinault, the last French man to win the Tour.

But who stands in his way next week, and what other clues will we gain about who's on track for the Tour?

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