Tour de France 2026 Route stage 16: Evian-les-Bains

Tour de France 2026 Route stage 16: Evian-les-Bains - Thonon-les-Bains

Tuesday, 21 July - The Tour de France’s final week kicks off with a 26-kilometre individual time trial. Starting and finishing by Lake Geneva, the course winds through the hills before plunging down to the shores. The route takes in around 500 metres of elevation gain.

Along the shores, it’s just 11 kilometres from Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains. But that road is flat and hardly a challenge, so the riders are sent up into the hills around the lake instead.

Straight from the start, the course climbs for 9.6 kilometres at an average gradient of 4.2%, reaching an altitude of around 800 metres. The riders then descend for 7 kilometres back down to the lakeside. With 9 kilometres remaining, the terrain flattens out all the way to the line.

The start town of Évian-les-Bains once had a rather curious claim to fame. In the early years, the Tour always began in Paris, but in 1926 the organisers suddenly broke with that tradition. To this day, no one knows quite why the Grand Départ was held in Évian-les-Bains that year. Perhaps it had something to do with the Aga Khan? As a regular visitor to the then hugely fashionable spa resort, it’s possible that the Islamic spiritual leader and his royal acquaintances wanted some entertainment laid on for them.

Incidentally, the 1926 Tour was the longest in history: 5,745 kilometres spread across just seventeen stages. Of the 126 riders who set off, only 41 made it to the finish.

Fancy riding the route yourself? Download GPX 16th stage 2026 Tour de France.