Tour de France 2024 routes unveiled

The Tour de France 2024, which will take place between 29 June and 21 July, has just been launched. An edition that will take its first pedal strokes in neighbouring Italy and whose end will be marked by the celebration of the Olympic Games, having been forced to change the Champs Elysées in Paris for the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

The 2024 Tour de France gets underway

We already know the route of the Tour de France 2024, the second major event to present its route after the Giro d'Italia 2024 just a few days ago. The 2024 edition of the Tour de France will be conditioned by the celebration of the Olympic Games in Paris, which has forced the race to take the finish to Nice and the pre-alpine mountains that fall on the Côte d'Azur and which will be used by the race to offer us a high-tension finish.

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Stage 20 will start in Nice and will take the peloton to the Coulliole after passing the Col de Braus, the mythical Col de Turini and the Col de la Colmiane, with a route that, unfortunately, is becoming more and more common, of just 132 km. These are the usual stages in the final days of Paris-Nice and usually make for nervous and attractive stages for the spectator, although usually without consequences for the classification, it must be said. The long climb to Coulliole could be the difference to what we usually see at the beginning of the season.

In any case, the cyclists will not be able to leave all their strength because, instead of the usual triumphal ride along the Champs Elysées, they will have to face a 35-kilometre time trial between Monaco and Nice which, following the broken Côte d'Azur, includes the passes of La Turbie and the Col d'Èze which, if the race reaches this point undecided, could mean a turnaround in the standings.

The other extreme is that the Grand Départ in this Tour de France 2024 will be held in Italy, starting in Tuscany, specifically in the beautiful city of Florence, with a day of 200 kilometres very similar to the one we enjoyed in the last edition in Bilbao, which will take the peloton to the city of Rimini and with no less than 7 ports on its route.

The second stage between Cesenatico and Bologna will also be long and broken, although this time there are more climbs than the real passes of the previous day. In any case, the stage victory will probably be fiercely fought for and everything will end up being resolved in a reduced group. Finally, stage 3 will take the race from Piacenza to Turin, this time with a practically flat route, although over 200 km for the third day in a row and presumably destined for a sprint finish.

The passage to France after this Grand Départ will obviously take place through the Alps linking Pinerollo and Valloire after passing through Sestriere, Montgenevre and the Galibier. After this stage, the race will leave the Alps for a couple of transition stages before reaching stage 7, where the first time trial will take place among the vineyards of Burgundy. The 9th stage will start and finish in Troyes and will include 14 dirt sections, similar to the way the Paris-Tours has been run in recent years.

After the first rest day, the race will head south again, with a leg-breaking stage on the road to Le Lioran, followed by another flat day on the approach to the Pyrenees, which will play a leading role in the final part of the route, confirming the rumours that pointed to the return of two mythical finishes. Firstly, the Pla d'Adet or, in other words, the very tough climb to the resort of Saint Lary-Soulan, which would be preceded by the Tourmalet and Hourquette d'Ancizan. The second of these would be a tremendous stage between Loudenville and the mythical Plateau de Beille, with the Peyresourde as a set-piece and then an interesting succession of passes: Aspet, Agnes and Lers.

After leaving the Pyrenees we will have another couple of transition days, with an interesting mid-mountain day on the 17th that will add a new summit finish.

For dessert, the Alps return for the final stage, not only with the aforementioned stages around Nice but also with a real stage of the past that would include another of the Tour's forgotten greats, the ascent of the Bonette, including the Restefond loop built solely to be the highest road in Europe at an altitude of over 2,800 metres. Before this, the Col de Vars would be climbed and the stage would conclude in another of those remembered places of the Tour de France of the 1990s, the Isola 2000 resort.

Tour de France Femmes 2024

The women's version of the Tour de France, which will be held after the Olympic Games, between August 12 and 18, 2024, will also start outside France. The Grand Départ of this edition will take place in the Netherlands, specifically in the port city of Rotterdam, which hosted the start of the men's Tour in 2010.

This edition will start with a completely flat stage that will lead the cyclists to The Hague where the wind can be a determining factor. The second day will see the return of the old tradition of double-sector stages with a short, flat day in the morning and a 6.3km time trial through the streets of Rotterdam in the afternoon.

From here, the race will head towards Belgium starting from Valkenubrg and, after following the usual roads of the Amstel Gold Race, it will link up with the Belgian region of Wallonia to finish in Liège after a finish almost identical to that of the Doyenne.

The next stage will start from Bastogne, a leg-breaking stage that will serve as a foretaste of the arrival in the Vosges, which this time avoids the big passes of the region but leaves us with a very interesting mid-mountain stage. The same will be true for the next stage, with the Jura massif as the main protagonist, which will lead the peloton to Le Grand Bornard after a day full of mountain passes.

At the end of this year's edition, the riders will have the queen stage of this edition with the finish at the mythical Alpe d'Huez after the Glandon.