SNCF lines up for the Grand Départ
The Tour de France happens once a year, but millions tour France every day with SNCF! As an official supplier of the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, SNCF Group is teaming up with the world’s biggest cycling race to promote our shared ambition of connecting people and places throughout France.
SNCF teams up with the Tour de France
La France est belle
SNCF is nearly 90 years old, which makes lining up for the Tour de France no small feat. But teaming up with the Tour—now a dashing centenarian—is a no-brainer. Trace your finger along our 28,000 km of rail lines and the thousands of kilometres that make up the Tour’s route and you’ll discover a map of France made up of intersecting lives, a shared history of summer holidays and popular leisure pursuits. From the thin air at the summit of the Galibier pass to the jubilant crowds of Montmartre, from the bustle of a Paris station to the quiet of a country stop—the French landscape is as beautiful seen from the charging peloton as from the window of a holiday-bound train.
Making memories together
SNCF and the Tour de France often overlap in the French collective consciousness: nodding off amidst the relative calm of a flat stage or the clickety-clack of a passing train; savouring a picnic in the shade, while waiting for your connecting train or for the riders to charge past. The eager anticipation, perched along graffitied roads. The 10 million spectators yelling “Go! Go! Go!” The hopes of taking home the holy grail—a team water bottle tossed to the crowd by the elite men and women of summer.
A showcase for France
As the world’s 3rd largest sporting event and 2nd largest mobility company, the Tour de France and SNCF Group showcase the best of France abroad. One, by delighting fans with sport since 1903. The other, as an industrial innovator with expertise in rail transport.
What does an official supplier of the Tour de France do?
The agreement signed on 29 May 2026 makes SNCF an official supplier of the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift for the races’ 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions. This year we’ll make our presence felt along the route in a variety of ways:
- Supporting riders at every stage of the race
- Transporting riders from the penultimate stage finish at Alpe d’Huez to the final stage in Paris in a TGV emblazoned with the Tour’s iconic yellow, green and red livery
- Photo exhibitions highlighting the most exciting moments of the Tour at our stations in Chambéry and Bordeaux for the Tour de France, and in Dijon for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
10 million
average number of km travelled by a TGV during its lifetime—3,000 times the distance of the 2026 Tour de France
Check out the 2026 route here2,642 m
elevation atop the Col du Galibier mountain pass, the high point of the 2026 Tour
Check out the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift route here1,175 km
of racing over 9 stages for the 2026 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, a new record
A Tour de French lesson
Like railroads, the cycling world has its own colourful jargon, blending popular slang and mechanical metaphors. Test your cycling-specific French with our series of quizzes.
A rider who is “en chasse-patate” (literally, chasing potatoes) is:
Riding at the front of the race
Stuck between two groups of riders
Riding on a flat tire
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