On the eve of the official reveal of the Tour de France route, clues are already emerging and a probable route has been revealed.
The route for the 2024 edition of the Tour de France will be revealed tomorrow, October 25 exactly from the Palais des Congrès in Paris. For the first time, the arrival will be in Nice due to the Olympic Games in Paris. The departure will be for the first time in Italy, and more precisely in Florence. The first three stages have already been officially revealed. The first will therefore leave Florence to arrive in Rimini, after a hilly route and more than 3800 meters of positive altitude difference. The second stage will be reserved for punchers, between Cesenatico (where the grave of Marco Pantani is located) and the Imola circuit in Bologna. The third will finally be promised to the sprinters, on a flat route between Piacenza and Turin.
The rest of the route is still to be determined, but many clues have been revealed regarding the cities that will host the Tour de France. The probable route of this 2024 Tour de France, according to France Bleu, gives pride of place to the Côte-d’Or. The 4th stage linking France to Italy should pass through the Col du Galibier before two transition stages, arriving in Dijon on July 4. The 7th stage will be an individual time trial in the vineyards of the region. Then the riders will head towards Troyes, where the 8th and 9th stages should arrive.
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 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 SuperDévoluy in the Hautes-Alpes. Still according to information from France Bleu, the 18th stage will link Gap to Barcelonnette, before arriving at Isola2000 the next day. The last two stages are already known and will take place around Nice.
After 110 editions concluded in Paris with very often a fairly boring stage promised to sprinters, this 2024 Tour de France 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 time trial 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.
“We are all super happy that the Olympic Games are taking place in France and Paris. It’s great for everyone, French sport and beyond. But it was completely impossible to finish the Tour in Paris, the forces police and gendarmerie will have enough work not to add to it. There is a form of evidence, common sense. The Côte d’Azur will offer us an exceptional setting from an aesthetic point of view, the place the best known by foreigners in France after Paris. Starting from Nice and its metropolis, we will use this completely different terrain throughout the weekend, this will allow us to offer a final fireworks display which will be fantastic” had explained Christian Prudhomme to the Team.
Saturday June 29 – Stage 1: Florence-Firenze / Rimini
Sunday June 30 – Stage 2: Cesenatico / Bologna
Monday 1 July – Stage 3: Piacenza / Turin
Tuesday July 2 – Stage 4: Pinerolo / Valloire
Wednesday July 3 – Stage 5: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne / Saint Vulbas or Ambérieu-en-Bugey
Thursday July 4 – Stage 6: Mâcon / Dijon
Friday July 5 – Stage 7: Gevrey-Chambertin / Nuits-Saint-Georges
Saturday July 6 – Stage 8: Semur-en-Auxois / Troyes
Sunday July 7 – Stage 9: Colombey-les-Deux-Églises / 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 Rest Day – 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)
The 2024 Tour de France will take place from Saturday June 29 to Sunday July 21, 2024.
For this very special edition, the Tour de France will start from Italy for the first time in its history. “The Tour has started from all the countries bordering France. It has even left six times from the Netherlands which has no common border with France. But it has never left Italy yet. has a kind of incongruity that will disappear,” commented Christian Prudhomme in December 2022. In total, there will be three stages in Italy to launch the 2024 edition. The first stage will take place on June 29 and will connect Florence to Rimini. It is “a mid-mountain or even mountain stage with a positive altitude difference of 3700 meters”, according to Christian Prudhomme.
The second, designed for punchers, will start from Cesenatico and end on a final circuit in Bologna via Imola where Julian Alaphilippe won his first world champion title in 2020. Finally, the third, promised to sprinters, will go from Pleasure in Turin. The fourth stage should also take off in Italy and then arrive on French territory.
