The 2016 Tour de France was the 103rd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,529 km (2,193 mi)-long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 2 July in Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, and concluding on 24 July with the Champs-Élysées stage in Paris. A total of 198 riders from 22 teams entered the race. The overall general classification was won by Chris Froome of Team Sky, with the second and third places taken by Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), respectively.

Mark Cavendish of Team Dimension Data won the opening stage to take the general classification leader's yellow jersey. Tinkoff rider Peter Sagan won the second stage to claim yellow and held onto it until the fifth stage when Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) took the stage and the yellow jersey. Van Avermaet lost ground in the mountainous eighth stage, finishing over 25 minutes behind the stage winner Froome, who took the yellow jersey. Froome retained the yellow jersey through to stage 17 and extended his lead further following a strong performance in the stage 18's mountain time trial. Bardet won the mountainous 19th stage and moved into second place overall and despite crashing in the rain, Froome was able to extend his lead. He then held the lead into the finish in Paris.

The points classification was won by Sagan, who won three stages. Tinkoff's Rafał Majka won the mountains classification. Orica–BikeExchange rider Adam Yates, in fourth place overall, won the young rider classification. The team classification was won by Movistar Team and Sagan was given the award for the most combative rider. Cavendish won the most stages, with four.

Twenty-two teams participated in the 2016 edition of the Tour de France. The race was the 18th of the 28 events in the UCI World Tour, and all of its eighteen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited, and obliged, to attend the race. On 2 March 2016, the organiser of the Tour, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced the four second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams given wildcard invitations: Bora–Argon 18, Cofidis, Direct Énergie and Fortuneo–Vital Concept. The presentation of the teams – where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries – took place in the town square of Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy, on 28 June, two days before the opening stage held in the region. Each team arrived in World War II military vehicles, commemorating the Normandy landings.

Each squad was allowed a maximum of nine riders, therefore the start list contained a total of 198 riders. Of these, 33 were competing in their first Tour de France. The riders came from 35 countries; France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Germany all had 10 or more riders in the race. Riders from ten countries won stages during the race; British riders won the largest number of stages, with seven. The average age of riders in the race was 30 years, ranging from the 22-year-old Sondre Holst Enger (IAM Cycling) to the 42-year-old Matteo Tosatto (Tinkoff). Of the total average ages, Lampre–Merida was the youngest team and Lotto–Soudal the oldest.

The teams entering the race were:

UCI WorldTeams

UCI Professional Continental teams