Tour de Zwift [January 2026]

Are you ready to party? Back for its 8th lap around the sun, thousands of riders, racers, and runners will come together across nine worlds for the unmissable event that kicks off the year. It’s the perfect way to get back in shape, because this is where goals get started, and good vibes roll. The biggest party on Zwift only happens once a year—don’t miss it.

Tour de Zwift begins January 5, 2026 at 16:00 UTC / 8 AM PT and concludes February 22, 2026 at 7:59 UTC / 11:59 PM PT.

This year, you’ll be able to Ride, Race, or Run the Tour and complete six unique stages throughout the event.

:woman_biking: Stage Schedule

Each stage runs for one week, with events available every hour (and every 30 minutes during Make-up Week). Please note: races will not run during Make-up Week.

Stage Lineup:

  • Stage 1 — Makuri Islands: Jan 5 @ 17:00 UTC → Jan 12 @ 16:00 UTC

  • Stage 2 — France: Jan 12 @ 17:00 UTC → Jan 19 @ 16:00 UTC

  • Stage 3 — Innsbruck / Yorkshire / Scotland: Jan 19 @ 17:00 UTC → Jan 26 @ 16:00 UTC

  • Stage 4 — London: Jan 26 @ 17:00 UTC → Feb 2 @ 16:00 UTC

  • Stage 5 — Watopia: Feb 2 @ 17:00 UTC → Feb 9 @ 16:00 UTC

  • Stage 6 — New York / Richmond: Feb 9 @ 17:00 UTC → Feb 16 @ 16:00 UTC

  • Make-up Week: Feb 16 @ 17:00 UTC → Feb 23 @ 05:00 UTC

To convert to your local timezone, click here.

:trophy: The Ultimate Challenge

Returning for 2026 is the Tour de Zwift Ultimate Challenge.
To complete it, Zwifters must finish every distance in all six stages — a total of 18 routes. You’ll be able to track your progress in-game as you move through each one.

Rewards (Cycling Only):

  • 9 Routes: 500 XP

  • 12 Routes: 500 XP

  • 15 Routes: 500 XP

  • 18 Routes: 11,000 XP + the exclusive backward “Afterparty” Cap

Finishing all 18 routes automatically enters you into a drawing for a one-of-a-kind TdZ x Pedal Mafia Zwift Ride Smart Frame. Official rules can be found here.

:wrapped_gift: Event Unlocks

Whether you ride, race, or run, rewards are waiting:

For Riders & Racers

  • 1 Stage Completed: Tour de Zwift Sunglasses

  • 3 Stages Completed: Bikepacker Cap

  • 6 Stages Completed: Tour de Zwift 2026 Ride Kit

For Runners

  • Complete any run event: Tour de Zwift 2026 Run Kit

To learn more about when stages are taking place, click here. We will also have late join enabled for all events. To learn more about Tour de Zwift 2026, check out the main page here or the FAQ here.

If you can free ride any route at any time toward completing the ultimate challenge, shouldn’t you list somewhere what the routes are for stages 2 through 6?

they’re on the website she linked

Plus Zwiftinsider has had them listed for a few days now

I just checked, and you can access all 6 stages from the TdZ banner on the ride start page, and each stage shows the free ride routes available.

Cool! If you bypass the event page and just ride one of the routes, eg. for a workout, I assume it would be detected?

I would assume so to, but you do normally need to start one event activity first to activate the event.

Should probably work, but wouldn’t hurt to pick the route first and then start the workout from inside of it just to be safe.

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After I went back to the home ride screen, it showed me as entered on the TdZ banner. A recommendation I saw on zwift insider was to start the route through the TdZ page, then start a workout from the menu in the ride.

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found them buried in the descriptions in the 5th (of 6) links that were provided. Is that the reference?

not sure where you are looking, but they are listed on this section of the website she linked

I read a comment that said if you plan on doing the Ultimate Challenge, for the last ride, do it on a fully upgraded Entry level bike, so you get the added 5% XP bonus in addition to the 11,000XP.

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Hi!

I wonder if anyone knows if/have tried to do any of this current week’s TdZ routes as a (non-TdZ) group ride, and if that has counted towards the TdZ progress? I was that there are a couple of (non-TdZ) group rides this week, hosted by people from the Zwift headquarters, which incidentally are riden on this week’s TdZ routes… :thinking:

Kind regards,

Sofia

Yes, solo and group / club rides are all counting towards progress. I don’t know about meetups, though.

Why does the companion app challenge section keep getting bigger? And why can’t we close/remove them anymore? The Build camp was unable to be removed and I didn’t even participate in it, now TdZ is 3 times the size and can’t be removed either… ughhhh!!!

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I didn’t even sign up for TDZ and won’t do any of it. The companion app and main menu banners are a nuisance. Too large and of no interest.

I have my own challenge I’m doing for the entire year.

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Have you tried resetting your filters?

this has nothing to do with filters, it is the very large tile on the companion app screen, not in the events section.

I noticed the Tour is only showing in activities on zwiftpower and not on the main profile screen, is this suppose to appear like this?

Edit nvm, it finally updated to show.

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@Mike_Rowe1 agreed, that banner is comically large.

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