Tour de France drops Collserola from Barcelona stage after swine fever outbreak

The Tour de France stripped Collserola from its Barcelona stage after African swine fever restrictions closed the park, reshaping a route that had been meant to carry the race through one of the city’s most recognizable training grounds. The revised second stage still ran from Tarragona to Barcelona, but it no longer climbed into Collserola and instead finished at Plaça Espanya, trimming roughly 14 to 16 kilometres from the original 182-kilometre design.

That matters in Barcelona because Collserola is more than a scenic backdrop. For local cyclists and runners, the hills are part of the city’s daily training grammar, a place where tempo work, hill repeats and long weekend efforts unfold against a skyline that has become part of Catalonia’s sporting identity. Taking the race out of those slopes changes the feel of the day. The stage is still built to showcase the metropolitan area, but the narrative shifts from a mountain test to a more urban procession, one that can put more spectators along the course and reduce the pressure of pushing people toward a restricted park.

The change followed a wild boar in Barcelona testing positive for African swine fever, which triggered the closure of Collserola Park and movement limits around the area. Catalan authorities asked for the alteration, and the race organization accepted the request from the Generalitat de Catalunya. The aim was practical as much as sanitary: keep the event public, protect access rules around the park, and avoid forcing fans into a zone that could not safely absorb the Tour’s traffic.

The revision also shows how Barcelona is trying to stage a Grand Départ as both a sporting spectacle and a citywide business event. The 2026 route was unveiled on October 23, 2025, with the race set to begin in Barcelona on July 4, 2026, and stage 1 scheduled as a 19-kilometre team time trial, the first Tour opening with a TTT since 1971. The opening day will run from Fòrum past the Olympic Port to the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, while stage 2 now leans harder into the city’s streets, hospitality zones and broadcast-friendly centre. For Barcelona, the message is clear: the Tour is still coming, but this time the hills of Collserola will watch from the sidelines.