The Tour will start from Italy for the first time in its history

Florence will host the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in 2024 as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Ottavio Bottecchia's first victory by an Italian cyclist in the French race. Three stages will take the cyclists from the Tuscan capital to Turin before returning to France.

The Tour de France will pay tribute to Italian cycling at the start of the 2024 edition

100 years have passed since the Tour de France was won by an Italian cyclist for the first time in the history of the event, an anniversary that the Tour de France has taken advantage of to move the start of its 2024 edition to Italy.

For the first time, the Tour de France starts in Italy, despite the fact that the race has travelled through its roads on many occasions, with some memorable days such as the epic performance of Claudio Chiapucci on the road to Sestriere, which put Miguel Indurain under pressure.

A tribute not only to the victory achieved by Ottavio Bottecchia in 1924, but also, by extension, to all the Italian cycling that has shone so brightly in the Tour de France with names such as Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Marco Pantani or Vincenzo Nibali who managed to conquer the yellow jersey.

For the Grand Départ of the 2023 Tour de France, which will start on June 29th, ASO has prepared 3 stages in line with a tough start which, like next year's Tour de France in the Basque Country, aims to make the start of the race anything but calm.

The first stage, which will cross the Emilia Romagna region between Florence and the city of Rimini on the Adriatic coast, will be 205 km long with no less than 3,800 m of elevation gain in a medium-mountain stage with 7 climbs.

For the second stage, the organisers have prepared a challenging day between Cesenatico and Bologna on the roads where the legendary Marco Pantani was forged. A stage of over 200 kilometres in which the riders will overcome 6 small climbs, including a double pass through the traditional sanctuary of San Luca, the last one just 12 km from the finish, in a day with the clear essence of the Italian classics at the end of the season.

The third episode of the start of the Tour de France will consist of 225 kilometres, this time a stage that will take the caravan from the city of Piacenza to the foot of the Alps in Turin, and which looks set to be a great day for the sprinters.

A location that makes us conjecture about what the following days of the race will bring and where logic seems to indicate that the cyclists will have to face the alpine peaks earlier than in any other edition. In any case, we will have to wait until the end of next year to find out the full menu of the Tour de France.