Tour de Romandie
The 79th Tour de Romandie covers 851.9km across six days (April 28 - May 3) through the French-speaking regions of Switzerland, with 14,183m of total elevation gain and 17 classified climbs. The 2026 edition swaps last year's two time trials for a single opening prologue in Villars-sur-Glâne, adding 165km to the road-racing total. The sole mountaintop finish comes on the concluding Stage 5 at Leysin overlooking the Rhone Valley and Lake Geneva. Each road stage offers three or four classified climbs, creating a punchy, aggressive race that traditionally serves as the final Giro d'Italia tune-up for Grand Tour contenders.
Where to watch
⚠️ Spoiler warning: live streams and broadcaster home pages may show current standings. Disable autoplay & avoid sidebar recommendations on YouTube.
The route, day by day
QUEEN
Who to watch & what to watch for
Top Starters
Jerseys
Fight for the overall
Narratives to watch
- Pogačar–Roglič reunion — first Romandie meeting since 2020 Tour de France drama
- Pogačar's first Romandie start — validation of the race's prestige and a new Tour-prep template
- No long ITT in 2026 (just 3.2km prologue) tilts everything toward Leysin summit finish — pure climbers favoured
- Red Bull duo Roglič/Lipowitz outnumbers UAE — tactical question of who attacks Pogačar first
Form book & lore
First held in 1947, the Tour de Romandie is one of Switzerland's premier stage races and a staple of the WorldTour calendar. Past winners form a who's who of cycling: Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Stephen Roche, Tony Rominger, Tyler Hamilton (later voided), and in recent decades Simon Špilak, Chris Froome, Primož Roglič, Geraint Thomas, Aleksandr Vlasov, Adam Yates, Carlos Rodríguez, and João Almeida. The mountaintop finish at Leysin has become iconic - in 2024 Juan Ayuso's GC lead famously collapsed there, with Carlos Rodríguez taking over and winning the race.
When to tune in
Tune in for the Leysin mountain finish on Stage 5 - it's almost always GC-decisive. Stage 1 (Martigny) features a 12km 9.1% climb at Ovronnaz that could create early gaps. Stage 4 (Broc-Charmey) is the second hardest day with back-to-back Jaunpass climbs. The prologue is typically decided in fractions of a second. Spoiler caution: GC results can leak via sidebar recommendations - disable YouTube autoplay.