The Tour de Luxembourg, five days of racing across the Grand Duchy

Luxembourg is a small country and the Tour de Luxembourg is its big bike race. For five days in September the peloton crosses it from end to end, from the capital’s old town to the climbs of the Ardennes. If you follow cycling, it’s a very cheap way to see world-class riders a metre from the kerb.

What kind of race is it?

Its official name is the Škoda Tour de Luxembourg. The organiser calls it the Grand Duchy’s biggest international cycling race, and it sits in the UCI ProSeries, which draws strong international teams. The 2026 race was the 86th edition, with five stages and more than 700 km in all.

Big names are nothing unusual. Mathieu van der Poel won the opening stage and the points jersey in 2024 and finished second overall, according to the organiser, and in 2026 he came back to win two stages. Even Prince Félix turned up with his son Liam to watch the Ettelbruck stage, as the Grand Ducal Court reported.

How did the 2026 Tour de Luxembourg go?

The race ran from 16 to 20 September 2026. Stage one left from the Knuedler, Place Guillaume II, and finished at the Fëschmaart at the top of the old town, where Van der Poel won an uphill sprint. Stage two ran from Differdange to Junglinster, over the Mousel climb and through the Mullerthal and Echternach before a finishing circuit. The organiser tipped it as the sprinters’ stage, and so it proved, with Marijn van den Berg winning a bunch sprint and taking yellow.

Stage three, from Wiltz to Diekirch, was the queen stage, 179.6 km north to Weiswampach and then south again, with endless changes of gradient. Pepijn Reinderink won alone and the lead passed to Davide Piganzoli. The Italian tightened his grip the next day by winning the 20.4 km time trial in Ettelbruck. The final stage, from Mersch to Limpertsberg, went to Van der Poel again after a solo ride nobody could close down, and Piganzoli took the overall.

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When is the 2027 race?

As of 30 September 2026 the organiser hadn’t published either the dates or the route for 2027. All I can say is that 2026 was in mid-September, so if you want to plan around it, I’d check skodatour.lu in the spring before booking. Two 2027 dates are already fixed and help with planning. The capital’s Schueberfouer funfair ends on 8 September and Luxembourg’s school summer holidays on the 14th, so the second half of the month tends to mean quieter hotels than August. September is a good month anyway, averaging 14.3°C (58°F) at Findel with the Moselle grape harvest under way, and it’s all in Luxembourg in September.

How to watch it

Roadside watching has its tricks. On a road stage the bunch is past in a couple of minutes, so I’d pick a climb or a finish, where riders slow down and the race is decided. A time trial is different, because riders go off one at a time and you watch them come through for hours.

From the UK it’s an easy trip. Fly into Findel, where the tram takes you free into town, or take the train through Brussels or Paris, and leave time for the biometric EES registration when you enter Schengen. Once you’re there, Luxembourg’s short distances are a huge advantage. With free public transport you can see a start in the morning and still make the finish in another town. If you want to ride yourself, the country has around 600 km of cycle routes and 700 km of mountain-bike trails, covered in cycling in Luxembourg.

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The organiser’s other races

The same team runs youth racing too. On 4 and 5 July 2026 Weiswampach and Parc Hosingen hosted the Youth Races and the Four Nations under-23 championships, another way to see racing in the north, with smaller crowds. The north suits spectators well in any case. The 2026 queen stage climbed through the Éislek to Weiswampach, and the youth races were based in that same northern corner, so a stay in Clervaux or Wiltz puts you close to the action. The rest of the country’s sporting and festive calendar is in Luxembourg events.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Luxemburgo and pick one that fits your day.

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Luxembourg before you arrive rather than at the desk.

If you still need a way in, check the best ticket deals to Luxembourg from where you are.