The Tour de France begins this Saturday with bad news for Jonas Vingegaard’s team.
If you don’t have enough sport, the Tour de France arrives this Saturday June 29 for the very first stage near Florence in Italy, the start city of this edition of the Grande Boucle. Three stages will take place outside our borders. This passage in Italy will be far from easy and the serious things will begin quickly with the Col du Galibier which is planned from the 4th stage. The entry list is now complete with a hard blow for Jonas Vingegaard with the absence of Sepp Kuss who has not yet sufficiently recovered from Covid. “It’s obviously a hard blow for Sepp,” reacted sports director Merijn Zeeman, quoted in the press release. “His contribution is always important for the team but of course he has to be 100%. Unfortunately, we had to conclude together that this was not the case after his coronavirus infection. He now has to recover and will not take the We are lucky to have a good replacement in Bart Lemmen.” Among the French, we will finally note the presence of Lenny Martinez.
The Center in the spotlight before the Pyrenees
After the first day of rest, on July 8, the Tour will descend towards the Pyrenees crossing the Loiret, the Cher, the Creuse, the Cantal then the Lot-et-Garonne between the 10th and 12th stage. In detail, the 10th will connect Orléans and Saint-Amand-Montrond, the 11th Evaux-les-Bains and Lioran, and the 12th Aurillac and Villeneuve-sur-Lot. The 13th stage will take place between Agen and Pau. The 14th stage will finally be mountainous, between Pau and Pla d’Adet in Saint-Lary-Soulan. The 15th stage, on the national holiday of July 14, will connect Loudenvielle in the Hautes-Pyrénées to the Beille plateau via the Peyresourde and Portillon passes in particular. July 15 will be the second and last day of rest.
The Southern Alps as a final bouquet
The runners will leave from Gruissan in Aude to arrive in Nîmes after a stage which could be windy along the coast. Serious things will resume the next day with an arrival at Super Dévoluy in the Hautes-Alpes. The 18th stage will connect Gap to Barcelonnette, before arriving at Isola2000 the next day.
Two new final stages
After 110 editions concluded in Paris with very often a fairly boring stage promised to sprinters, this Tour de France 2024 offers a breath of fresh air with a time trial on July 21 in Nice and a final mountain stage the day before. The 20th stage will resemble a Paris-Nice stage with the arrival at the top of the Col de la Couillole. In detail, the stage will start from Nice and will see a series of four climbs: the Col de Braus (10 km at 6.6%), the Col de Turini (20.7 km at 5.7%), the Col de la Colmiane (7.5 km at 7.1%) then the Col de la Couillole (15.7 km at 7.1%), all in “only” 132 km. Enough to shake up the general classification 24 hours from the finish. The next day, no stroll on the Promenade des Anglais. For the most nostalgic, it will be the first time that the Tour ends on a stopwatch since the outcome of 1989 when the Frenchman Laurent Fignon lost the yellow jersey by eight seconds, the smallest gap in history, against the American Greg Lemond. The stage will take place between Monaco and Nice, a 35 kilometer long route with several climbs such as the Turbie (8.1 km at 5.6%) then a portion of the Col d’Eze (1.6 km at 8.1 %) before the long descent towards the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
What favorites?
This edition promises a huge battle between the favorites. Uncertain, Jonas Vingegaard will finally be present with notably Wout van Aert but not Sepp Kuss, winner of the Vuelta, not recovered from Covid. Victim of a serious injury a few months ago, we do not know if the outgoing double winner will be at the level of a certain Tadej Pogacar for example. The Slovenian, impressive in the Giro which he won in an overwhelming manner, is THE favorite for this Tour de France. But be careful, the Tour de France and Giro double is not the most obvious thing to do and many have broken their teeth like Contador and Froome. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick Step) will also be present for his first participation in the Grande Boucle, the road world champion is aiming for at least a podium. The two times should help him achieve this goal. Finally, Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS – Grenadiers) and especially Primoz Roglic (BORA – hansgrohe), winner of the Critérium du Dauphiné, are outsiders who can very quickly become favorites…
The entry list
What are the dates for the 2024 Tour de France?
The Tour de France 2024 will take place from Saturday June 29 to Sunday July 21, 2024.
Tour de France map
Here is the Tour de France map with a strong southern accent for this 2024 edition
The 21 steps profile
Here are the 21 stages of the Tour de France 2024 with all the cities which will host the start or finish of a stage.
- Saturday June 29 – Stage 1: Florence-Firenze / Rimini
- Sunday June 30 – Stage 2: Cesenatico / Bologna
- Monday July 1 – Stage 3: Piacenza / Turin
- Tuesday July 2 – Stage 4: Pinerolo / Valloire
- Wednesday July 3 – Stage 5: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne / Saint Vulbas
- Thursday July 4 – Stage 6: Mâcon / Dijon
- Friday July 5 – Stage 7: Gevrey-Chambertin / Nuits-Saint-Georges (time trial)
- Saturday July 6 – Stage 8: Semur-en-Auxois / Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
- Sunday July 7 – Stage 9: Troyes / Troyes
- 1st day off – Monday July 8
- Tuesday July 9 – Stage 10: Orléans / Saint-Amand-Montrond
- Wednesday July 10 – Stage 11: Evaux-les-Bains / Le Lioran
- Thursday July 11 – Stage 12: Aurillac / Villeneuve-sur-Lot
- Friday July 12 – Stage 13: Agen / Pau
- Saturday July 13 – Stage 14: Pau / Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet
- Sunday July 14 – Stage 15: Loudenvielle / Plateau de Beille
- 2nd day of rest – Monday July 15
- Tuesday July 16 – Stage 16: Gruissan / Nîmes
- Wednesday July 17 – Stage 17: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux / SuperDévoluy
- Thursday July 18 – Stage 18: Gap / Barcelonnette
- Friday July 19 – Stage 19: Embrun / Isola2000
- Saturday July 20 – Stage 20: Nice / Col de la Couillole (132 km)
- Sunday July 21 – Stage 21: Monaco / Nice (35 km)