tour de france route details

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Tour de France 2024

The 2024 Tour de France will host a first Grand Départ in Italy along with gravel roads, several mountain tests and a first ever finish outside of Paris

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Tour de France

• Dates 29 Jun - 21 Jul
• Race Length 3,492 kms
• Race Category Elite Men

Updated: January 29, 2024

Tour de France 2024 overview

The 2024 Tour de France will begin on Saturday 29 June, with a first-ever Grand Départ in Italy. The 111th edition of Le Tour will run until Sunday 21 July, finishing in Nice. It will be the first time in the race's history that it will finish outside of France's capital due to the Olympic Games.

The race will feature four summit finishes across the three weeks, at Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet and Plateau de Beille in the Pyrenees before Isola 2000 and Col de la Couillole in the Alps. There are three further mountain days, four hilly stages, and eight stages for the sprinters to target.

Two time trials feature in the route too, with a 25km course on stage 7 and a 34km final stage time trial into Nice. It marks the first time that the Tour de France will conclude with a race against the clock since the iconic Fignon-LeMond battle in 1989.

Gravel also makes an appearance at the Tour for the first time in 2024, with 32km of Champagne region white gravel roads included in stage 9's parcours.

The full route for 2024's edition was unveiled by race organisers ASO on October 25 at Paris' Palais des Congrès.

• Tour de France 2024 route revealed
• Tour de France 2024: Analysing the contenders
• Geraint Thomas to ride both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2024
• Tadej Pogačar to race Tour de France, Olympics, and Worlds after Giro debut
• Jumbo-Visma still expect Tadej Pogačar to threaten at Tour de France

Tour de France 2024 key information

When is the Tour de France 2024?  The 2024 edition of the Tour de France will start on Saturday 29 June and run until Sunday, 21 July.

Where does the Tour de France 2024 take place?  The 2024 Tour de France starts in Italy for the opening three stages, before moving to France for the remainder. For the first time in the race’s history, it will finish outside Paris, due to the 2024 Olympic Games in the French capital, with Nice stepping in to host the finale. In between the Tour will make use of its two staple high-mountain ranges, the Alps and Pyrenees.

Who won the Tour de France in 2023?  The 2023 edition was won by Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), with the Dane putting two-time winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) to the sword for the second year in a row. The contest was evenly-matched until the stage 16 time trial in the Alps, where Vingegaard blew the competition to smithereens.

How old is the Tour de France?  The Tour Tour de France was first held in 1903. The 2024 edition is the 111th.

Who won the first Tour de France?  Maurice Garin was the first ever winner of the Tour de France in 1903, winning the opening stage and holding the lead all the way through.

Who has the most wins at the Tour de France?  Four riders stand at the top of the all-time honours list, with five victories each for Jacques Anqetuil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain They claimed their fifth titles, respectively, in 1964, 1974, 1985, 1995.

Tour de France 2024 route: Four summit finishes, two time trials and gravel roads

The 2024 Tour de France will feature four summit finishes, two time and some gravel roads after a testing start in Italy.

The route for the 111th edition of the race was officially unveiled to the world in Paris’ Palais des Congrès on October 25th by race organisers ASO.

An Italian Grand Départ for the first time ever was already known, so too were the race's final two stages, taking place around Nice as the traditional finish in Paris has been disrupted by the French capital gearing up for the Olympic Games. It marks the first finish outside Paris in the Tour de France's history.

Starting in Florence on June 29 and finishing, 21 stages and two rest days later, in Nice on July 21, the race will cover 3,405.6km, through Italy, San Marino, Monaco and France, with a total of 52,230m of elevation gain.

The race's mountain-heavy focus across the board is clear to see, with a hilly opening few days in Italy followed by a return to France with a bang. Stage 4 sees the race head north from Pinerolo in Italy and the only way is via the Alps. An early meeting with the Col du Galibier before a finish down in Valloire on stage 4 means the highest point in the 2024 Tour will come on the first day of racing on French soil.

Once that's tackled, the Tour de France heads north for a time trial and some gravel roads along France's eastern flank.

As the race enters its second half, back-to-back summit finishes await in the Pyrenees before the riders return to the Alps with finishes atop Isola 2000 and La Colmiane likely to play a deciding factor in the overall standings.

Even after the Alps are dealt with, a final stage individual time trial from Monaco to Nice still includes some climbing, with both La Turbie and Col d'Èze to be tackled before the three weeks can officially be drawn to a close and the winner crowned.

The 2024 Tour de France route will feature gravel for the first time

Despite the race actually featuring 4,170m less elevation gain that the 2023 edition, its bookend positioning is likely to keep the sprinters up at night. The 2024 Tour de France route will traverse four different mountain ranges over the three weeks, including the Apennines in Italy, both the Italian and French Alps, the Massif Central and the Pyrenees. Of the seven mountain stages, four of them will be summit finishes: Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet, Plateau de Beille, Isola 2000 and the Col de la Couillole.

Meanwhile, away from the climbing, there's an increase to the time trialling distance at the 2024 Tour de France. Compared to 110th edition's meagre serving of just 22km, there will be 59km against the clock in 2024 on stages 7 and 21. The first ITT is a 25km rolling test, whilst the final stage measures 34km from Monaco to Nice which includes the La Turbie and Col d’Eze climbs before a long descent back to the coast for a short run up and down the Promenade des Anglais to finish the Tour.

The sprinters will be buoyed by at least seven possible chances of glory, however they will first have to battle through the opening few days in the Apennines and Alps.

Arguably one of the most eye-catching days of the race will fall on stage 9, with 32km of white gravel roads included on the route that starts and finishes in Troyes. The hilly stage features 14 gravel sectors across its 199km distance, with the first arriving after 47km and the last just 10km from the line.

For a full look at the route, including a breakdown of each of the three weeks, head to our route announcement page .

Tour de France 2024 contenders: Vingegaard, Roglič, Evenepoel and surely Pogačar

Although the route has not yet been officially unveiled, it’s already clear that we will have a stellar cast of Grand Tour stars for the 2024 Tour de France. Jonas Vingegaard , winner of the past two editions is all but certain to return to go for the triple, and build his season around that target.

It’s also no secret that Primož Roglič , having won the Giro d’Italia last year and the Vuelta a España three times before that, has made the Tour the central ambition of what remains of his career. He has forced an exit from Jumbo-Visma precisely to make that happen, and will certainly lead the line for his new team Bora-Hansgrohe next July.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) has also strongly indicated that 2024 is the time for his Tour de France debut, even if the Giro d’Italia’s hefty helping of time trialling might give him some cause for doubt. The 23-year-old Belgian won the Vuelta in 2022 but was forced out of this year’s Giro with COVID-19 before an off-day derailed his Vuelta, but he is eager to make the next step to the highest rung of Grand Tour riders.

There is a little more doubt surrounding the other member of the superstar tier of contenders, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who has been linked with a debut at the Giro. The Slovenian won the Tour twice in 2020 and 2021 but has been runner-up to Vingegaard for the past two years and, for a rider so keen on variety, 2024 may well be the time to shake things up. Even if he did the Giro, it’s unlikely UAE would let him miss the Tour entirely. Whether he could win both is another matter – no one has done it since Marco Pantani in 1998.

Ineos Grenadiers won seven yellow jerseys in the nine years from 2012 to 2019, but have fallen from their perch and don’t appear to have a rider on the same level of those listed above, with Carlos Rodríguez and possibly Geraint Thomas to carry the torch.

Which teams are racing the Tour de France 2024?

The 2024 Tour de France will comprise 22 teams, 18 of which are the WorldTour teams , and two of which are set to be the automatically-invited top two second-division ProTeams . That leaves two wildcard slots for the organisers to grant to teams of their choosing.

• AG2R Citroën
• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Arkéa Samsic
• Astana Qazaqstan
• Bahrain Victorious
• Bora-Hansgrohe
• dsm-firmenich
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Groupama-FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers
• Intermarché-Circus-Wanty
• Jayco AlUla
• Jumbo-Visma
• Soudal-Quick Step
• UAE Team Emirates
• Lotto Dstny (if they take up their invite)
• Israel-Premier Tech (if they take up their invite)
• Wildcard invite (TBC)

Tour de France jerseys

As well as 21 stage wins, there are also four distinctive jerseys up for grabs at the Tour de France, with each of the four awarded to a rider at the end of each stage, before the ultimate winner is crowned at the end of the race.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

The jersey winners at the 2023 Tour de France

Yellow jersey (maillot jaune) –  worn by the leader of the general classification, the rider with the lowest overall time.

Polka dot jersey (maillot à pois) –  worn by the leader of the mountains classification, with points awarded on all categorised climbs.

Green jersey (maillot vert) –  worn by the leader of the points classification, which is based on finishing positions on all road stages. This is often a sprinter.

White jersey (maillot blanc) –  worn by the best young rider, being 25 or under, on the general classification.

Additional classifications:  There is a teams classification, where the riders of the leading team wear yellow dossards (bib numbers), and a combativity prize, where the boldest rider from the previous stage wears a red dossard, with an overall combativity award presented at the end.

What happened at the Tour de France 2023?

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) won the 2023 Tour de France, claiming his second straight yellow jersey after another entertaining battle with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Vingegaard landed the first real blow, gaining over a minute on the first Pyrenrean stage in the opening week, but Pogačar hit back the very next day, dropping Vingegaard en route to stage victory at Cauterets. The pair were locked in battle throughout the second week, with Pogačar the chief aggressor on the Puy de Dome, Grand Colombier, and the Col de Joux Plane that preceded the finish in Morzine.

However, he could not shake Vingegaard, and he was knocked for six on the opening day of the final week as the Dane produced one of the most stunning time trial displays in recent memory, taking more than 90 seconds on the hilly TT in the Alps. This time, Pogačar could not fight back, and he fell apart the next day on the tough stage over the Col de la Loze to Courchevel, falling to more than seven minutes down.

There was one final kick-back, as Pogačar won the penultimate stage on the Markstein, but Vingegaard was sailing by that point, and rode into Paris to seal his second Tour de France title.

The green jersey was won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who won four sprint stages, while the polka-dot mountains jersey was won by Lidl-Trek’s Italian Giulio Ciccone. Pogačar was the best young rider in his last year of eligibility, while Jumbo-Visma topped the teams classification.

Tour de France history

This maiden Tour started in Montgeron and finished in Paris, visiting Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes along the way. Many of the stages in this first edition exceeded 400km in length, forcing riders to race throughout the night. The home favourite, Maurice Garin, won this inaugural edition and in doing so etched his name into the cycling history books. The Frenchman, affectionately known as ‘The Little Chimney Sweep’, won the first edition by a massive margin of two hours, 59 minutes and 21 seconds - the largest ever winning margin in the history of the race.

In the editions that followed the race snowballed in popularity and soon inspired similar races elsewhere in Europe, most notably in Italy with the Giro d’Italia. During these early years Desgrange toyed with the race’s format and in 1910 he sent the race on its first foray into the Pyrenees, setting a precedent that would remain for nearly every edition since.

He changed the race once again in the 30s when he introduced the concept of national teams, forcing riders to race for their countries rather than their trade teams. After a brief hiatus during World War II the race returned in 1947 under the control of a new chief organiser, Jacques Goddet. Goddet orchestrated the race up until 1986, slowly moulding it into the three-week race we all know and love today.

Over these post-war years, each decade has been dominated by a different rider - their names almost as famous as the Tour itself. Jacques Anquetil dominated during the 60s, Eddy Merckx the 70s, Bernard Hinault the 80s and Miguel Indurain the 90s. These four riders also share the record for the largest number of wins, having won five overall titles apiece.

France dominates the winners list in this race, with 36 wins from 109 editions. Despite topping this list, the home nation has failed to win since 1985 when Hinault took his fifth and final overall title. Several Frenchman have come close over the years - most recently Romain Bardet who placed second in 2016 - but none have managed to bring home the coveted yellow jersey and end the 38-year drought.

It’s France’s sporting rivals, Great Britain, who dominated the race during the last decade. Since 2012, British riders have taken six overall titles with three different riders - Bradley Wiggins (2012), Chris Froome (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) and Geraint Thomas (2018). All three of these riders rode for Team Sky during their Tour-winning years, a team that dominated the Grand Tours for the best part of a decade. In 2019 they won their seventh Tour title in just eight years, with the young Colombian, Egan Bernal.

The British team, however, have fallen from their perch, with UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma usurping them in the UCI rankings and sharing the past four Tours between them. The Vingegaard-Pogačar rivalry has served up a thrilling modern chapter of the Tour de France, and witg Evenepoel and Roglič joining the fray from different angles, the 2024 edition promises to be a blockbuster.

Explore more about the Tour de France by clicking on the tabs above.

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Tour de France 2023 route: Every stage of the 110th edition in detail

This year's race has kicked off in Bilbao, in Spain's Basque Country. It looks like it'll be a Tour for the climbers, with the Puy de Dôme returning and 56,400 metres of climbing in all

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The 2023 men's Tour de France began in Bilbao, Spain on Saturday, July 1, with a route that looks set to be one for the climbers. It features four summit finishes, including a return for the iconic Puy de Dôme climb for the first time since 1988.

There is just one time trial across the three-week event, a short uphill race against the clock from Passy to Combloux over 22km. There are also returns for other epic climbs like the Col de la Loze and the Grand Colombier, with 56,400 metres of climbing on the Tour de France 2023 route.

The race started on foreign soil for the second year in a row, with a Grand Départ in the Spanish Basque Country , the setting for the race's 120th anniversary. There were two hilly stages in Spain, before the peloton crossed the border into France for a stage finish in Bayonne on day three. 

After visiting Pau for the 74th time on stage five, the race's first real mountain test came on stage six, leaving Tarbes and cresting the Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet before a summit finish in Cauterets. 

On stage seven, the Tour’s second most visited city, Bordeaux, will welcome its first stage finish since 2010, when Mark Cavendish claimed his 14th of a record 34 stage wins. Leaving nearby Libourne the next day, stage eight will head east on a 201km slog to Limoges. 

Before the first rest day, the riders will wind up to the summit of the Puy de Dôme, a dormant lava dome which hasn’t featured in the Tour for 35 years. They’ll then enjoy a well-earned day off in Clermont-Ferrand before continuing their passage through the Massif Central. 

France’s national holiday, 14 July, will be celebrated next year with a summit finish on the Grand Colombier, the site of Tadej Pogačar ’s second stage win back in 2020. From there, the mountains keep coming. The riders will climb over the Col de Joux Plaine to Morzine on stage 14, before another mountaintop test in Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc the next day. 

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The sole individual time trial of the Tour de Franc route comes on stage 16, when a hilly 22km dash from Passy to Combloux will give the GC contenders a chance to force time gaps. The following day will bring the stage with the highest elevation gain, counting 5000m of climbing en route to the Courchevel altiport, via the Cormet de Roselend and the monstrous Col de la Loze. 

On stages 18 and 19, the sprinters are expected to come to the fore, with flat finishes in Bourg-en-Bresse and Poligny. 

The penultimate stage will play out in the country’s most easterly region, ascending the Petit Ballon, Col du Platzerwasel and finishing in Le Markstein, as the Tour de France Femmes did last year. 

The riders will then undertake a 500km transfer to the outskirts of Paris for the curtain-closing stage. The final day will start at France’s national velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the track cycling venue for the 2024 Olympics, and will conclude with the customary laps of the capital’s Champs-Elysées. 

The 2023 Tour de France will begin on 1 July, with the winner crowned in Paris on 23 July. 

2023 Tour de France stage table

Jonas Vingegaard raced in the Basque Country this year

Tour de France route week summary

Tour de france week one.

The race began in Bilbao, starting in the Basque Country for the first time since 1992, when the Tour started in San Sebastian. The first two stages are packed full of climbs, with ten classified hills in over the opening couple of days, meaning there will be a fierce battle for the polka-dot jersey. Watch out for Basque fans going crazy on the roadside.

Stage three saw the race cross into France, which it will not leave for the rest of the 18 days. As expected we saw a sprint finish in Bayonne, even after four categorised climbs en-route. Nothing is easy this year.

The fourth day was another sprint, on a motor racing circuit in Nogaro, as the race moved, ominously, towards the Pyrenees. The Hors Categorie Col de Soudet on stage five was the first proper mountain of the race, and was followed by the Col de Marie Blanque, which has tough gradients. A GC day early on, although they are all GC days, really.

Stage five was a mountain top finish in Cauterets-Cambasque, but its gradients didn't catch too many out; it is the Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet that will put people through it.

The seventh day of the race was a chance for the riders to relax their legs as the race headed northwest to an almost nailed-on sprint finish, before another opportunity for the the remaining fast men presented itself on stage eight - after two category four climbs towards the end, and an uphill finish.

The long first week of the race - which will have felt longer because last year had a bonus rest day - ended with the mythical Puy de Dôme.

Tour de France week two

Magnus Cort in the breakaway on stage 10 of the Tour de France 2022

The second week begins with a lumpy road stage around Clermont-Ferrand, starting from a volcano-themed theme park. This will surely be a day for the break. The next day could also be one if the sprint teams fail to get their act together, with two early categorised climbs potential ambush points.

Back into the medium mountains on stage 12, with a finish in the wine making heartland of the Beaujolais, Belleville. Another day for the break, probably, but none of the five categorised climbs are easy.

The following day, stage 13, is France's national holiday, 14 Juillet. The Grand Colombier at the end of the day is the big attraction, with its slopes expected to cause shifts on the GC. Stage 14 is yet another mountain stage as the Tour really gets serious, with the Col de la Ramaz followed by the Col de Joux Plane. The latter, 11.6km at 8.5%, will be a real test for a reduced peloton, before a downhill finish into Morzine.

The final day of week two, stage 15, is yet another day in the Alps before a rest day in Saint-Gervais-Mont-Blanc. There is nothing as fearsome as the previous days, but 4527m of climbing should still be feared.

Tour de France week three

Tadej Pogačar in the final time trial at the 2022 Tour de France

The third and final week begins with the race's only time trial, 22km long and with a lot of uphill. It is not a mountain event, but it is certainly not one for the pure rouleurs .

Stage 17 looks like the race's Queen Stage, with the final climb up to the Col de la Loze looking incredibly tough on paper, and in real life. That follows the Col de Saisies, the Cormet de Roselend and the Côte de Longefoy, adding up to 5,100m of climbing. The race might be decided on this day.

After that, there is a nice day for the sprinters on stage 18, with a flat finish in Bourg-en-Bresse surely one for the fast men. The next day, stage 19 could be a breakaway day or a sprint finish, depending on how desperate teams are feeling, or how powerful the remaining leadout trains are.

The final mountainous day comes on the penultimate stage, with the men following the Femmes lead and finishing in Le Markstein. However, there's no Grand Ballon, just the Petit Ballon, and so unless something chaotic happens, there should not be great time switches on this stage.

Then, at last, there is the usual finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, after the race heads out of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which has a long-term deal to host the start of Paris-Nice too. ASO country.

Remember, this will be the last time Paris hosts the Tour de France until 2025. So, be prepared.

Tour de France 2023: The stages

Stage one: Bilbao to Bilbao (182km)

The opening stage is very lumpy

There was no easing into the Tour de France for the peloton this year, with a tough, punchy day in the Basque Country. Adam Yates took the first yellow jersey of the 2023 Tour de France after a scintillating stage in the Basque Country that saw the overall battle for the Tour take shape at the earliest opportunity.

The Briton emerged clear over the top of the final climb of the stage, the short and steep Côte de Pike, with his twin brother Simon a few seconds behind him. The pair worked well together to stay clear of the chasing bunch of GC contenders before Adam rode his brother off his wheel inside the final few hundred metres to claim victory.

Stage two: Vitoria-Gasteiz to Saint Sebastian (208.9km)

Still in the Basque Country, there is a Klasikoa theme to stage two

This was the longest stage of the Tour, surprisingly.  Five more categorised climbs meant  it was unlikely to be a sprint stage, including the Jaizkibel, famous from the Clasica San Sebastian, tackled on its eastern side 20km from the finish. This second stage from Vitoria Gasteiz to San Sebastian on the Basque coast followed many of the roads of the San Sebastian Classic, held here every summer.

An early break was soon established in the first 50km and established a three-minute advantage. However, the break was reeled in and a group, including the yellow jersey Adam Yates, pressed towards the finish with Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) clearly hoping it would finish in a sprint. 

Victor Lafay (Cofidis) had other ideas however, and with all and sundry already having attacked Van Aert, Lafay finally made it stick with a kilometre to go, holding off the reduced bunch all the way to the line.

Stage three: Amorebiata-Etxano to Bayonne (187.4km)

Still some hills, but this should be a sprint stage

The third stage took the riders from Amorebieta-Etxano in the Basque Country and back into France, finishing at Bayonne in what was always tipped to be a bunch sprint.  Ultimately, despite a very strong showing in the leadout by Fabio Jakobsen's Soudal-Quick Step team, it was Jasper Philipsen who triumphed , having benefited from a deluxe leadout by team-mate Mathieu Van Der Poel.

Mark Cavendish, who is hunting for a record 35th stage win in what will be his final Tour de France, was sixth.

Stage four: Dax to Nogaro (181.8km)

A nailed on bunch sprint, surely. Surely!

Now this one was always going to be a sprint finish, right? It finished on a motor racing circuit in Nogaro, meaning teams have a long old time to sort their leadout trains.  After a sleepy day out all hell broke lose on the finishing circuit with a series of high speed crashes. Jasper Philipsen was one of the few sprinters to still have a lead-out man at his disposal and when that lead-out man is of the quality of Mathieu van der Poel he was always going to be very difficult to beat. So it proved with Australian Caleb Ewan chasing him down hard but unable to come around him.  Philipsen's win handed him the green jersey too .

Stage five: Pau to Laruns (162.7km)

The first proper mountain, and the first sorting out, as early as stage five

The first Hors Categorie climb of the race came on stage five, the Col de Soudet, which is 15.2km at 7.2%, before the Col de Marie-Blanque and its steep gradients. It certainly ignited the GC battle!  

A break that at one point contained 37 riders was never allowed more than a few minutes, but that proved unwise for Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar behind. Ultimately, with the break already splintering on the final big climb – the Col de Marie-Blanque – Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), riding his first Tour de France, attacked. 

With Hindley time trialling the largely downhill 18km to the finish, Vingegaard attempted to chase him down – and put time into Pogačar as he did so.

Picking up strays from the early break on the way, Vingegaard got to within 34 seconds of Hindley, but it wasn't enough to stop the Australian from taking the stage win, and the yellow jersey .

Stage six: Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque (144.9km)

While in the Pyrenees, why not tackle a few more mountains?

A day of aggressive racing in the Pyrenees towards the first summit finish saw Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) take the yellow jersey but Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates) win the stage .

Having had his team set a blistering pace on the Col du Tourmalet, Vingegaard attacked with 4km until the summit. Only Pogačar could follow him as yellow jersey holder Jai Hindley dropped back to the peloton

Having joined up with super domestique Wout van Aert over the top, the group of favourites were towed up the first half of the final climb before Vingegaard attacked. Once again Pogačar followed and with two kilometers to go the Slovenian counter-attacked.

He clawed back nearly half a minute by the line, making the race for yellow a three horse race between those two and Hindley in the process. 

Stage seven: Mont-de-Marsan to Bordeaux (169.9km)

Bordeaux is always a sprint finish

Renowned as a sprint finish town, Bordeaux didn't disappoint the hopeful fastmen –except perhaps for Mark Cavendish, who had to concede victory to hat-trick man Jasper Philipsen, despite a very strong charge for the line from the Manxman .

With Cavendish hunting that elusive 35th record stage win, and having won here last time the Tour came visiting in 2010, many eyes were on the Astana Qazaqstan rider, with on-form Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who has won twice already, starting as favourite.

The day began with Arkéa-Samsic's Simon Gugliemi forging what turned out to be a solo break that lasted 130 kilometres. He was joined by Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) and Nans Peters (Ag2r-Citroën) halfway through the stage, the trio forming a purposeful triumvirate of home riders.

However, with the sprinters and their teams on the hunt and few places to hide on what was a hot day crammed with long, straight roads, the break served only as a placeholder for the day's main action in Bordeaux.

A technical finish with roundabouts aplenty, first Jumbo-Visma (in the service of GC leader Jonas Vingegaard) and then Alpecin-Deceuninck took the race by the scruff of the neck in the final. Philipsen enjoyed a marquee leadout from team-mate Mathieu Van Der Poel, but when Cavendish turned on the afterburners at around 150m and leapt forward, the whole cycling world held its breath.

That 35th stage win had to wait for another day though, with Philipsen sweeping past in what was yet another command performance from the Belgian.

Stage eight: Libourne to Limoges (200.7km)

Three categorised climbs in the final 70km could catch people out

Mads Pedersen powered to victory up a punchy finish on stage eight of the  Tour de France , managing to hold off green jersey  Jasper Philipsen  in the process.

Pedersen, the Lidl-Trek rider, now has two Tour stage wins to his name, in a finish which mixed pure sprinters and punchier riders. Alpecin-Deceuninck's Philipsen was third, with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in third. To prove how mixed the top ten was, however, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished behind the likes of Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis).

On a day which could have been one for the breakaway, the race was controlled expertly by Jumbo, Trek and Alpecin for their options, and so the escapees were never allowed much time. Sadly, stage eight turned out to Mark Cavendish's last - the Astana-Qazaqstan rider crashed heavily and was forced to abandon .

Stage nine: Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dôme (184km)

The Puy de Dôme is back, and is vicious

In a north American showdown it was Canada that came out on top as  Michael Woods  beat American rival  Matteo Jorgenson  to the win atop the legendary Puy de Dôme.

Jorgenson had gone solo form a breakaway with 40km left to race. However, on the slopes of the Puy de Dôme where the gradient remains over 105 for more than four kilometres, Woods closed the gap and came around Jorgenson with just 600m left to go.

In the final kilometre, of what had been a blisteringly hot day with temperatures north of 30 degree Celsius, Tadej Pogačar managed to drop Jonas Vingegaard but the Jumbo-Visma captain dug deep to minimise his losses and came across the line eight seconds down.

Stage 10: Vulcania to Issoire (162.7km)

Five categorised climbs over this Volcanic stage

The breakaway had its day in Issoire, as Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) won beneath the scorching sun in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. 

After a frantic start, the mood finally settled and a 14-rider move went clear. Krists Neilands (Israel Premier Tech) launched a solo bid with around 30km remaining, but was caught in the closing moments by a chasing group led by Bilbao. The Spaniard then policed attacks in the finale, before sprinting to his team's first victory at this year's race. 

"For Gino," Bilbao said afterwards, dedicating his win to his late teammate, Gino Mäder .  

Stage 11: Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins (179.8km)

The flat finalé hints at a sprint, but it could be a break day

After a difficult previous day that was hot and hilly, the bunch allowed the break to go very quickly, with Andrey Amador, Matis Louvel and Daniel Oss quickly gaining three minutes. They were kept on a tight leash though, with the sprinters' teams eyeing a bunch finish. And this they delivered, with Jasper Philipsen winning a fourth stage after a tricky finale.

Stage 12: Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais (168.8km)

Hills return, with some steep, punchy ones towards the end

Just like stage ten, Thursday's stage 12 was a fast and frenetic affair on the road to Belleville-en-Beaujolais. A strong group of puncheur type riders eventually got up the road after the breakaway took more than 80 kilometres to form. Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) came out on top at the finish, soloing to the line after a big attack on the final climb of the day. 

Stage 13: Châtillon-Sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier (138km)

Welcome to the Alps, here's an hors categorie climb

Michał Kwiatkowski took an impressive solo victory on the summit finish of the Grand Colombier. The Polish rider caught and passed the remnants of the day's breakaway which included Great Britain's James Shaw to grab his second-ever Tour stage win. Behind the Ineos rider, Tadej Pogačar attacked and took eight seconds back on Jonas Vingegaard in the fight for the yellow jersey. 

Stage 14: Annemasse to Morzine Les Portes du Soleil (151.8km)

Five categorised climbs, four of which are one and above. Ouch.

Carlos Rodríguez announced himself on his Tour de France debut on stage 14 with a career-defining victory in Morzine. While all eyes were on Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar, the Spaniard broke free on the descent of the Col de Joux Plane and descended as if on rails to the finish. 

Stage 15: Les Gets Les Portes du Soleil to Saint-Gervais-Mont-Blanc (179km)

Back to a summit finish, there is no escape at this Tour

The breakaway had its day at the summit of Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. After dedicating his career to domestique duties, the victory went to Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), who launched a late attack on the steepest slopes and held off Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) to the line.

Stage 16: Passy to Combloux ITT (22.4km)

A time trial! But not a flat one

Stage 16 brought the fewest time trial kilometres at the Tour de France in 90 years. On the uphill test to Combloux, Jonas Vingegaard proved the strongest , and by quite a way, too. The Dane's winning margin of 1-38 over Tadej Pogačar left him in the driving seat to taking his second Tour title.

Stage 17: Saint-Gervais-Mont-Blanc to Courchevel (165.7km)

Back to  the proper mountains, and there will be no let up on the final Wednesday

The Queen stage brought a career-defining victory for Austrian Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën), but all eyes were on the GC battle, and the demise of Tadej Pogačar. The UAE Team Emirates rider cracked on the slopes of the Col de la Loze, losing almost six minutes to Jonas Vingegaard, and slipping to 7-35 in the overall standings.

Stage 18: Moûtiers to Bourg-en-Bresse (184.9km)

Two category four climbs on the road to a chicken-themed sprint

Denmark's Kasper Asgreen put in one of the best performances of the race to grab his first-ever Tour victory . The Soudal Quick-Step rider was part of a four man breakaway that managed to hold on all the way to the line by just a handful of seconds ahead of the peloton.

Stage 19: Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny (172.8km)

Another sprint, maybe, or a heartbreaking chase which fails to bring the breakaway back

Matej Mohorič of Bahrain Victorious took an emotional victory in Poligny after a chaotic day of racing. The Slovenian rider launched an attack with Kasper Asgreen and Ben O'Connor on the final climb of the hilly stage before beating his breakaway compatriots in a three-up sprint for the line. It was Mohorič's third-ever Tour victory.

Stage 20: Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering (133.5km)

One last chance. Six categorised climbs, will it shake up the GC?

The race might be very near Germany at this point, but Belfort remained French after the Franco-Prussian War, unlike the territory the penultimate stage travels into. 

This is the last chance saloon for all teams and riders who aren’t sprinters, especially those with GC ambitions. However, it is not quite the task of the previous Alpine days, with the six categorised climbs not the most testing. Still, there will be a lot of people trying to make things happen.

Stage 21: Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris (115.1km)

The classic Parisian sprint. Lovely.

This will be the last time the Tour heads to Paris until at least 2025, so make the most of those shots of the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées. The classic procession will happen for the first 55km until the race hits the Champs for the first time 60km in. From that point on, anything goes, although that anything will probably be a bunch sprint.

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Adam is Cycling Weekly ’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.

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Check Out the Route for the 2023 Tour de France

It’s going to be a mountainous ride through France for the men in the 2023 edition of the Tour.

The route for the 2023 men’s Tour de France was released on Thursday, October 27, and now it’s almost time for the Tour to start.

There’s just one individual time trial set, a 22km race against the clock which will open up the final week of racing on Stage 16. The riders will cover 3,404 kilometers (2,115 miles) in total over the 21 stages.

It all gets started on July 1 and runs through July 23 just in time for the Tour de France Femmes to begin on the same day that the men ride into the Champs-Élysées.

Here are the stages for the 2023 Tour de France:

• Stage 1 : July 1 - Hilly - Bilbao to Bilbao - 182km
• Stage 2 : July 2 - Hilly - Vitoria-Gasteiz to Saint-Sébastien - 209km
• Stage 3 : July 3 - Flat - Amborebieta-Etxano to Bayonne - 185km
• Stage 4 : July 4 - Flat - Dax to Nogaro - 182km
• Stage 5: July 5 - Mountain - Pau to Laruns - 165km
• Stage 6 : July 6 - Mountain - Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque - 145km
• Stage 7 : July 7 - Flat - Mont-De-Marsan to Bordeaux - 170km
• Stage 8 : July 8 - Hilly - Libourne to Limoges - 201km
• Stage 9 : July 9 - Mountain - Saint-Léonard-De-Noblat to Puy de Dôme - 184km
• July 10 - Rest Day
• Stage 10 : July 11 - Hilly - Vulcania to Issoire - 167km
• Stage 11 : July 12 - Flat - Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins - 180km
• Stage 12 : July 13 - Hilly - Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais - 169km
• Stage 13 : July 14 - Mountain - Châtillon-Sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombie - 138km
• Stage 14 : July 15 - Mountain - Annemasse to Morzine Les Portes Du Soleil - 152km
• Stage 15 : July 16 - Mountain - Les Gets Les Portes Du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc - 180km
• July 17 - Rest Day
• Stage 16 : July 18 - Individual Time Trial - Passy to Combloux - 22km
• Stage 17 : July 19 - Mountain - Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc to Courchevel - 166km
• Stage 18 : July 20 - Hilly - Moûtiers to Bourg-En-Bresse - 186km
• Stage 19 : July 21 - Flat - Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny - 173km
• Stage 20 : July 22 - Mountain - Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering - 133km
• Stage 21 : July 23 - Flat - Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines to Paris Champs-Élysées - 115km

Dan is a writer and editor living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and before coming to Runner’s World and Bicycling was an editor at MileSplit. He competed in cross country and track and field collegiately at DeSales University.

.css-1t6om3g:before{width:1.75rem;height:1.75rem;margin:0 0.625rem -0.125rem 0;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-background-size:1.25rem;background-size:1.25rem;background-color:#F8D811;color:#000;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-position:center;background-position:center;}.loaded .css-1t6om3g:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/bicycling/static/images/chevron-design-element.c42d609.svg);} Tour de France

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Results From the 2023 Tour de France Femmes

The Tour de France 2024

A tour like never before.

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Tour de France 2023 stage-by-stage guide: Route maps and profiles for all 21 days

A closer look at every day of the race from bilbao to paris, article bookmarked.

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The 2023 Tour de France has all the ingredients of a classic: two leading protagonists ready to tear lumps out of each other in reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard and the deposed Tadej Pogacar; entertaining multi-talented stage hunters Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Julian Alaphilippe and Tom Pidcock; the great Mark Cavendish chasing a historic 35th stage win; all facing a brutal route with 56,000m of climbing and four summit finish.

The Tour began in the Spanish Basque country on Saturday 1 July, where Adam Yates edged twin brother Simon to win the opening stage, and these hilly routes will throw open the yellow jersey to a wide range of contenders. The race crosses the French border for some flat stages and an early jaunt into the high Pyrenees, where the Col du Tourmalet awaits. The peloton takes on the Puy de Dome volcano on its journey across France towards the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and it is in the mountains that this Tour will ultimately be decided. It all ends on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday 23 July.

Here is a stage-by-stage guide to how the race will unfold.

Stage 1: Bilbao to Bilbao, 182km

The 2023 Tour de France starts outside Bilbao’s iconic Guggenheim Museum, and winds north to the Bay of Biscay coastline before returning to the city where the stage winner will take the yellow jersey. This 182km opening stage is a hilly route with 3,000m of climbing featuring five categorised ascents, of which the final two are sharp and testing: they are tough enough to shake off the dedicated sprinters and open up early glory for the best puncheurs – those riders with the legs to get over short climbs and the power to surge away on the other side.

The profile of this stage is a great choice by organisers as it could suit just about anyone, from the speed of Wout van Aert to the climbing strength Tom Pidcock or Simon Yates – even two-time champion Tadej Pogacar.

• Jumbo’s Death Star and Pidcock’s dog: Inside the Tour de France’s Grand Depart

Stage 2: Vitoria Gastiez to Saint Sebastian, 209km

The peloton will head east from Bilbao, touching more picturesque Basque coastline before arriving at the finish in San Sebastian. At more than 200km this is the longest stage of the 2023 Tour and, with the sizeable Jaizkibel climb (8.1km, 5.3% average gradient) shortly before the finish, this is even more tough on the legs than the first day. Another puncheur with the climbing strength to get over the steeper hills can capitalise, like two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe.

• ‘ Coup du kilometre’: How to win a Tour de France stage hiding in plain sight

Stage 3: Amorebieta to Bayonne, 187km

Stage three starts in Spain and ends in France, and the finale in Bayonne is ripe for a bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish will get his first shot of this race at trying to win a historic 35th Tour de France stage, but he will be up against a stacked field including former QuickStep teammate Fabio Jakobsen and the awesome speed of Wout van Aert. It will be fascinating to get a first glimpse of how the power riders stack up.

• ‘Jasper the Disaster’ rebuts Netflix nickname with controversial win

Stage 4: Dax to Nogaro, 182km

Another flat day and an even faster finish in store on the Circuit Paul Armagnac, a race track in Nogaro. The 800m home straight will almost certainly tee up a showdown between the Tour’s serious fast men.

• Cavendish falls short as Philipsen wins crash-laden sprint

Stage 5: Pau to Laruns, 163km

The first major mountains of the Tour come a little earlier than usual, as the peloton heads up into the high Pyrenees on day five. The Col de Soudet (15km, 7.2%) is one of the toughest climbs of the race and rears up halfway through this 163km route from Pau to Laruns. The category one Col de Marie Blanque (7.7km, 8.6%) guards the finish 20km out, and holds bonus seconds for those first over the top to incentivise the major contenders to come to the fore and fight it out.

• Hindley grabs the yellow jersey as Vingegaard punishes Pogacar

Stage 6: Tarbes to Cauterets, 145km

This has the potential to be a thrilling day: the 145km route takes on the double trouble of the category one Col d’Aspin (12km, 6.5%) followed by the monstrous hors categorie Tourmalet (17.1km, 7.3%), before a fast ascent and a final climb to the summit finish at Cauterets (16km, 5.4%).

It is a day with several possible outcomes. The general classification contenders could fight it out in a showdown to the summit. Then again, a breakaway could be allowed to escape which would open up victory – and perhaps the yellow jersey – to an outsider. The last time the Tour finished in Cauterets in 2015, breakaway specialist Rafal Majka surged clear of his fellow escapers to win. Keep an eye on Ineos’s Tom Pidcock, who could use the long, fast descent from the Tourmalet summit to speed to the front, as he did before winning atop Alpe d’Huez last year.

• Pogacar responds to send message to Vingegaard

Stage 7: Mont de Marsan to Bordeaux, 170km

The first week of racing finishes in the Tour’s second most visited city, Bordeaux, and it’s a third flat day for the sprinters to contest. Much will depend on who has best preserved their legs through the high mountains when they come to this tight, technical finish on the banks of the Garonne river in the city centre.

• Philipsen pips Cavendish in thrilling finish to deny Brit all-time record

Stage 8: Libourne to Limoges, 201km

A long, hilly day will see the peloton head 201km east from Libourne outside Bordeaux to Limoges. The lumpy stage should suit a puncheur but it is not a particularly taxing set of climbs – only three are categorised and the toughest of those is just 2.8km at 5.2%. So could a determined team carry their sprinter to the finish and the stage win? Look out for Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, superstars with the all-round talent to conquer the climbs and still finish fast.

• Cavendish crashes out to end Tour de France record hopes

Stage 9: Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dome, 184km

The final stage before the relief of the first rest day is relatively flat and gentle – until a brutal finish atop the iconic Puy de Dome volcano, a 13.3km drag at a gruelling 7.7% average gradient that last appeared in the Tour in 1988. The summit finish will require a serious climber’s legs to clinch the stage win, and the general classification contenders may well let a breakaway get ahead and fight for that prize.

• Woods takes win as Pogacar hits back at Vingegaard

Rest day: Clermont-Ferrand, Monday 10 July.

Stage 10: Parc Vulcania to Issoire, 167km

The race resumes in the centre of France from Vulcania – a volcano-themed amusement park – where riders will embark on a hilly 167km route through the Volcans d’Auvergne regional park, finishing down in the small town of Issiore. With five categorised climbs, including the sizeable Col de Guery (7.8km at 5%) and the Croix Saint-Robert (6km at 6.3%), it will be a draining ride with virtually no sustained flat sections, and a long descent to the finish town. It looks like a good day to plot something in the breakaway, as the big GC contenders save their legs for bigger challenges to come.

• Bilbao dedicates emotional stage win to late Gino Mader

Stage 11: Clermont Ferrand to Moulins, 180km

The final flat stage before the hard Alpine climbs will present an opportunity for those fast men who managed to haul themselves through the Pyrenees to get here – although there is still some climbing to be done including three category-four leg-sappers along the 180km route. The day begins in the university city of Clermont-Ferrand before the riders wind north and then east to Moulins, a small town on the Allier river. Any breakaway is likely to be reeled by those teams with dedicated sprinters eyeing their only opportunity for a stage win between the two rest days.

• Philipsen continues flat-stage dominance even without van der Poel

Stage 12: Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais, 169km

The race caravan will shift east to start stage 12 in Roanne in the Loire region, before taking a 169km route to Belleville, situated on the Saone river north of Lyon. This has been categorised as a hilly or medium mountain stage, but it might feel harder than that by the time the peloton reaches the foot of the fifth categorised climb of the day, the Col de la Croix Rosier (5.3km at 7.6%). That should be enough to put off the best puncheurs like Van der Poel and Van Aert, because the stage winner will need strong climbing legs. The GC riders will want to conserve energy, so expect a breakaway to stay clear and fight amongst themselves.

• Izagirre solos to victory

Stage 13: Chatillon-Sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier, 138km

The first of three brutal stages that could decide the destiny of this year’s yellow jersey is only relatively short – 138km – but will provide a stern enough test to reveal any weaknesses in the major contenders. The peloton will enjoy a relatively flat and gentle first 75km from Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne before entering the Jura Mountains. A short climb and fast descent precedes the big climax: all 17.4km (7.1%) of the Grand Colombier providing an epic summit finish. This could be another day for a breakaway away to get free, but the overall contenders like Pogacar and Vingegaard will also fancy stage glory and the chance to stamp their authority on the race.

• Kwiatkowski wins as Pogacar eats into Vingegaard’s lead

Stage 14: Annemasse to Morzine, 152km

Part two of this triple header of mountain stages sees the peloton ride into the Alps with a 152km route from Annemasse to Morzine ski resort. Three tough category one climbs line the road to the hors categorie Col de Joux Plane (11.6km at 8.5%), a brutally steep grind where bonuses await the first few over the top – and stage victory is the prize at the bottom. This is another potential spot for yellow jersey fireworks.

• Rodriguez wins first Tour stage as Pogacar thwarted by motorbike

Stage 15: Les Gets to Saint Gervais, 180km

The last ride before the final rest day will take the peloton further east into the Alps, towards the French border with Italy. The 179km route is almost constantly up and down, with a fast descent before the final two climbs, and the summit finish atop Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc will require strong climbing legs once more.

• Pogacar and Vingegaard in stalemate as Poels wins stage

Rest day: Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, Monday 17 July.

Stage 16: Individual time trial from Passy to Combloux, 22km

This year’s home stretch begins with the only time trial of the race: a short, relatively flat 22km from Passy to Combloux in the shadow of Mont Blanc. The route includes one categorised climb, the steep but short Cote de Domancy (2.5km at 9.4%). There is an opportunity here to make up crucial seconds for those that need them.

• Vingegaard takes control of yellow jersey

Stage 17: Saint Gervais to Courchevel, 166km

Put Wednesday 19 July in the diary: this will surely be the most brutal day of the entire Tour de France and it could be decisive. The 166km route features four big climbs, the last of which offers up this year’s Souvenir Henri Desgrange for the first rider over the highest point of the race. To get there the riders must endure a 28.1km slog averaging 6% gradient to the top of the Col de la Loze, towering in the clouds 2,304m above sea level. There are bonus seconds up here too, before a short descent down to the finish at Courchevel.

A breakaway will probably form, but can they last the distance? Whatever happens up the road, the fight for the yellow jersey will be fierce – only the strongest handful of riders will be able to stand the pace and this will likely be the day that the 2023 winner is effectively crowned.

• Vingegaard dominates to put seal on Tour de France

Stage 18: Moutiers to Bourg en Bresse, 186km

After a potentially explosive stage 17, stage 18 is classified as “hilly” but is really a relatively sedate 185km which the sprinters are likely to contest if their teams can haul in the inevitable breakaway. The big question is whether there will be many sprinters left in the peloton after such a demanding set of stages in the Alps. For those fast men still in the race, the descent into Bourg-en-Bresse precedes a technical finish, with roundabouts and a sharp corner before a swinging right-hand turn on to the home straight where the stage will be won and lost.

• Breakaway stays away as Asgreen takes win

Stage 19: Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny, 173km

Another flat day gives a further opportunity for those sprinters left in the field, as the peloton travels 173km from Moirans, near Grenoble, north to Poligny. The general classification contenders will be happy to rest their legs before one final push to Paris.

• Matej Mohoric takes photo finish to win stage 19

Stage 20: Belfort to Le Markstein, 133km

The final competitive stage of the Tour is a 133km ride from Belfort to Le Markstein ski resort in the Vosges mountains, and it offers just enough for one final attack to steal the yellow jersey, should the overall win still be on the line. The last two climbs of the day are both steep category one ascents: first the Petit Ballon (9.3km, 8.1%) followed by the Col du Platzerwasel (7.1km at 8.4%). Whoever is wearing yellow just needs to hang on to the wheel of their fiercest rival here, and that should be enough to see them home.

• Chapeau, Thibaut Pinot

Stage 21: Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris Champs-Elysees, 115km

As is tradition, the peloton will transfer to Paris and ride a truce to the Champs-Elysees. The stage will start at France’s national velodrome, home of cycling for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It will finish with one final sprint: Cavendish has won four times in Paris and it would be a fitting way to end the race that has defined his career if he were to repeat the feat one last time. And once the race is done, the winner of the 2023 Tour de France will be crowned.

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Everything you need to know about cycling in France your independent guide

Tour de France 2023 route: Stage-by-stage guide

The 2023 tour de france will take place july 1 to july 23. it will be the  110th edition of great race. the grand depart will take place in the basque country. .

• 2023 Tour de France Femmes routes
• Finding accommodation for the Tour de France
• Finding bike hire for the Tour de France
• Tour de France road closure information
• Advice for watching the TDF in person
• Advice for watching the TDF in Paris
• Beginner's guide to the Tour de France
• Riding Etape du Tour
• 2023 Tour de France program and race guide

The 2023 Tour de France Grand Depart  will be a big one as it takes place in cycling heartland, the Basque Country on the Spanish side of the border. This is an area with a rich cycling tradition and super passionate supporters. 

The race kicks off on July 1 and finishes on July 23. As is tradition, the Tour de France will  finish in Paris. 

Specific info on each stage and more detailed maps are also usually published online each May and in the official race program . We'll post links to it when it's released.

We have this page for Tour de France road closure information , which we also update as information comes to hand (usually not from around May onwards).

See here for accommodation near the route (it will be progressively updated throughout 2023).

Where to find more useful information: Official 2023 Tour de France Race Guide

2023 tour de france grand depart map.

Note that all maps and stage profiles are also available  from the official website . Stage timings are also provided there.

Stage 1: Saturday, July 1  – Bilbao to Bilbao, 182km 

For the first time in a few years, the Tour de France starts with a full stage, rather than a time trial – and it isn't an easy introduction to the Tour.

Bilbao is the host for this 185km loop ride that takes in a good 3300m of climbing. There are five  climbs with points up for grabs straight away in the polka dot contest. The climbs on the route are the  Côte de Pike – just 10km from the finish – plus the   Côte de Laukiz , the  Côte de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe , the  Côte de Morga  and the  Côte de Vivero .

Stage 2: Sunday, July 2 – Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian, 209km

The opening stages are a whistle-stop tour of the jewels of the Basque region. From Bilbao on day one we go to the popular seaside resort of San Sebastian.  The day may end on the coast but it's not a flat ride: there are  5 climbs on stage 2.

Stage 3: Monday, July 3 – Amorebieta-Etxano to Bayonne, 185km 

We know the stage starts in Amorebienta-Etxano and heads back across the border into France .   

Stage 4: Tuesday , July 4 -  Dax to Nogaro Circuit, 182km

Potentially another day for the sprinters as they go head-to-head on the Nogaro circuit.

Stage 5: Wednesday, July 5 - Pau to Laruns, 165km

It wouldn't be the Tour de France without Pau on the map – today is also the first mountain stage.

Stage 6: Thursday, July 6 - Tarbes to Cauterets, 145km

Say hello to the Aspin and Tourmalet, part of 3750 metres of climbing.

Stage 7: Friday, July 7 - Mont de Marsan to Bordeaux, 170km

The Tour visits Bordeaux for the 82nd time – until recent times, it was one of the regular Tour towns. This is the first visit in more than 10 years, though. It'll be a sprint finish along the riverfront, ending at  Place des Quinconces.

Stage 8: Saturday, July 8 - Libourne to Limoges, 201km

The sprinters capable of powering up a short but difficult climb could take the win.

Stage 9: Sunday, July 9 -  Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dôme, 184km

An icon returns.

Rest day - Monday, July 10 - Clermont-Ferrand

The area around Clermont-Ferrand also features prominently in the Tour de France Femmes 2023 .

Stage 10: Tuesday, July 11 - Parc Vulcania to Issoire, 167km

One for the breakaway.

Stage 11: Wednesday, July 12 - Clermont Ferrand to Moulins, 180km

A day for the sprinters.  

Stage 12: Thursday, July 13 - Roanne to  Belleville-en-Beaujolais 169km

The formation of the breakaway will be one of the critical moments on this hilly stage.

Stage 13: Friday, July 14 - C hâtillon-Sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier,  138km

Stage 14: Saturday, July 15 -  Annemasse to Morzine, 152km

4200 metres of climbing, including the Col de la Ramaz and Joux Plane . This is also the 2023 L'Etape du Tour stage . That's on July 9.

Stage 15: Sunday, July 16 - Les Gets to Saint Gervais, 180km

More mountains!

Rest day: Monday, July 17 - Saint Gervais Mont Blanc

Stage 16: tuesday, july 18 - passy to combloux, 22km.

A quick little individual time trial.

Stage 17: Wednesday, July 19 - Saint Gervais to Courchevel, 166km

More than 5000 metres of vertical gain, the infamous Col de la Loze before reaching Courchevel's altiport.

Stage 18: Thursday, July 20 - Moutiers to Bourg en Bresse, 186km

After 5 very hard stages, the sprinters will find a route that should facilitate their return front and centre .

Stage 19: Friday, July 22 - M oirans-en-Montagne to Poligny, 173km

A 8km long final straight, the dream for the sprinters' teams .

Stage 20: Saturday, July 22 - Belfort to L e Markstein, 133km

A final chance in the mountains with a route for the leaders . This stage has the last 2 climbs in the Tour.

Stage 21: Sunday, July 23 - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris Champs-Elysées, 115km   

As is tradition, we finish on the  Champs-Elysées . 

Time bonuses and points

In 2023, time bonuses will be awarded at the finish of each stage – 10, 6 and 4 seconds for the first three riders across the line.

Bonus points will also be awarded on strategic mountain passes and summits. The first three riders across these will pick up bonuses of 8, 5 and 2 seconds. The mountain-top bonus points won't count towards the points classification.

Bike hire for watching the Tour de France

A reminder that if you need bike hire during the Tour de France you should book early. It ALWAYS sells out and it can be very hard to find quality carbon road bikes closer to the time.  More info here .

2023 Tour de France Race Guide

Get the official 2023 Tour de France Race Guide: This collates all stage maps and race times into one booklet.

See here for bike-friendly accommodation  

Related articles

• Tour de France 2022 route: Stage-by-stage guide
• Tour de France 2024 route: Stage-by-stage guide
• Tour de France 2021 route: Stage-by-stage guide

2024 Tour de France program and race guide

• Tour de France 2020 route: Stage-by-stage guide
• 2019 Tour de France Official Race Guide
• Tour de France Femmes 2023 Stage-by-stage guide

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AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW! The official Tour de France 2024 race program and guide includes all the route maps for each stage, plus stage start and end times, and team and rider profiles.

Posted: 23 Apr 2024

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Tour de France Femmes 2024: News & Route Preview

Stay up-to-date with the latest news, and route details for the tour de france femmes 2024. get all the updates on the highly anticipated women's cycling event..

The Tour de France is the most well-known cycling race in the world. Winning the overall yellow jersey – and sometimes even just a stage – of the prestigious event is enough to cement your status as one of the best in the sport. After decades of being practically ignored by race organizers, the women’s peloton not only have their own version of the race, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, but are also proving why they deserve the spotlight as well. 

Tour de France Femmes 2024 in numbers:

• Total distance: 946.3km 
• Total distance climbed: 10,700m 
• 3 countries visited: Netherlands, Belgium, and France. 
• 4 mountain ranges: the Ardennes, Vosges, Jura. and Alps. 
• 2 summit finishes 
• 3 sprint finishes 
• 1 time trial 

When is the Tour de France Femmes 2024?

The 2024 Tour de France Femmes has its first Grand Depart when the race begins in Rotterdam Aug. 12, shortly after the completion of the Paris Summer Olympics. The first three days of the race will wind its way through the Netherlands, before transitioning into Belgium, then France on the fourth day. The third edition of the race will end Aug. 18 with a thrilling summit finish atop the iconic Alpe d'Huez.

Tour de France Femmes History

Although this is only the third year the Tour de France Femmes has officially existed, women racers have competed in a version of the Tour de France since the 1950’s.   

After a one-off women’s race in 1955, it would be nearly 30 years until a female-led Tour de France race was held. Beginning in 1984, the Tour de France Féminin ran around the same time as the men’s race, albeit with fewer and somewhat shorter stages. That race lasted until 1989. For the next two years, two other women’s stage races blazed through France, although under different names, such as the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale and Tour Cycliste Féminin, and without a direct connection to the men’s race.   

In 2014, the La Course, a one- or two-day event held in conjunction with the men’s race by the Tour de France organizers, began. The race brought a much-deserved spotlight back to the women’s peloton, but teams and fans alike believed the race didn’t really show off what the competitors were capable of, as the stages weren’t difficult enough. La Course lasted until 2021, when it was replaced by the current iteration of the race, the Tour de France Femmes.   

The first Tour de France Femmes was held in 2022, directly after the men’s race, with eight stages of intense racing. Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) won that first edition enroute to sweeping all three women’s Grand Tour stage races and the women’s world road race title that same year. Truly one of the most dominant seasons in cycling history.   

In 2023, van Vleuten would finish fourth, while the 2022 runner-up Demi Vollering (SD Worx) ascended one step up the podium. Vollering made her mark on the race during a dominant performance up the feared Col du Tourmalet. Kasia Niewiadoma ( Canyon-SRAM ) won the polka-dot Queen of the Mountains jersey while placing third overall for the second year in a row and riding a variety of Canyon road bikes . Find out which Canyon road bikes our pro riders ride during their races . 

Canyon/SRAM bikes 

Who are the main 2024 Tour de France Femmes contenders?

Last year’s winner Vollering will be back in 2024, looking to defend her yellow jersey, while Niewiadoma looks to finally move up to the top step of the podium this August. 

Vollering’s teammate Lotte Kopecky, last year’s second-place finisher, green jersey winner, and current road-race world champion, could aim for overall victory this year as well. Will we see an internal team struggle like the Jumbo-Visma dysfunction at the 2023 Vuelta? 

Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich) will be looking to be the first French winner of a Tour de France (men or women) since Bernard Hinault. Multiple-time world champion Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) is always a threat whenever she pins on a race number and could contend again for the green jersey she won in 2022. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep), Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek), and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) will be aiming for stage wins and podium spots. 

The Tour de France Femmes Route

The balanced route gives the sprinters, climbers, and puncheurs each their moment in the spotlight. At the end of the three weeks, we'll finally find out the winners of the prized Tour de France Femmes jerseys – yellow for the overall winner, polka-dot for queen of the mountains classifications winner, green for the winner of the points classification, and white, won by the best-placed rider under the age of 23 in the general classification. 

This 77-mile, pancake-flat route will give one talented sprinter her chance to wear the yellow jersey during the early stages. It’s highly unlikely a breakaway will succeed on this stage or the main contenders will want to risk getting involved in what promises to be a mad dash for the finish. 

Riders will be doing double duty on this stage, racing two stages. The first is a flat, 41-mile route that returns riders to Rotterdam. Strong winds could be a factor, but this promises to be another spotlight for the green-jersey contenders. 

The second of two stages on this day, this 4-mile time trial won’t be long enough for any of the true diesel-powered specialists like Canyon-sponsored Chloe Dygert to put any real time on the field, but could shuffle the deck a bit at the top of the standings. 

This 76-mile stage brings the peloton into Belgium, traversing some of roads used in the famed Classics races and including eight categorised ascents. The hilly terrain will increase the chances of a successful breakaway or solo escape. The short, but steep, climbs will make this one of the more lively stages of this year’s Tour. 

• Bemelerberg (twice), 1.3km long with an average gradient of 4.9% 
• Cauberg, 0.7km long with an average gradient of 8% 
• Geulhemmerberg, 1.1km long with an average gradient of 5.1% 
• Mont-Theux, 2.8km long with an average gradient of 5.6% 
• Côte de la Redoute, 1.6km long with an average gradient of 9.4% 
• Côte des Forges, 1.3km long with an average gradient of 7.8% 
• Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, 1.3km long with an average gradient of 11% 

A mostly flat, 93-mile route that brings race into France. While riders must contend with five short climbs, none of them should be difficult enough to create any significant gaps. The uphill lead-in to the Amnéville finish will be interesting. Will the main contenders watch as a puncheur grabs the stage win or will they attempt to assert control over the race before the peloton enters the mountains? 

• Côte de Hotte, 1.2km long with an average gradient of 7.9% 
• Côte de Saint-Pancre, 1.5km long with an average gradient of 3.9% 
• Côte de Fermont, 1.5km long with an average gradient of 4.6% 
• Côte de Briey, 1.1km long with an average gradient of 4.4% 
• Côte de Montois-la-Montagne, 1.7km long with an average gradient of 6% 

Four categorized climbs over the second half of the 100-mile stage should animate the day’s racing. 

• Col du Mont de Fourche, 3.2km long with an average gradient of 5.9% 
• Col de Ferriere, 2.6km long with an average gradient of 4.7% 
• Côte de Laviron, 5.7km long with an average gradient of 4.1% 
• La Roche du Pretre, 5.5km long with an average gradient of 5.6% 
• Côte des Fins, 1.8km long with an average gradient of 6.9% 

The peloton finally arrives in the mountains for this 103-mile stage. Competitors won’t have time for a refreshing sparkling beverage on the 12km (7.5-mile) climb up the Col de la Croix la Sierra, as they rocket toward the day’s denouement. The last 30km (18 miles) of the route is essentially all uphill, climbing nearly 700m to the 1,285m Le Grand-Bornand finish. 

• Col de la Croix la Sierra, 12km long with an average gradient of 5.1% 
• Côte de Bois d'Ariod, 2.4km long with an average gradient of 4.6% 
• Côte de Cercier, 4km long with an average gradient of 4.9% 
• Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, 5.4km long with an average gradient of 5.1% 
• Montée du Chinaillon, 7km long with an average gradient of 5.1% 

It all comes down to this 93-mile stage. After the relatively short Col de Tamié climb and descent, the peloton has a relatively flat 50km (32-mile) pedal before the day’s fireworks begin at the foot of the monstrous, 1,924m Col du Glandon, the highest point of this year’s Tour. Expect the main contenders’ teams to begin duking it out here, hoping to score a knockout blow before the iconic 1,850m Alpe d'Huez climb and finish. 

• Col de Tamié, 9.5km long with an average gradient of 4% 
• Col du Glandon, 19.7km long with an average gradient of 7.2% 
• Alpe d'Huez, 13.8km long with an average gradient of 8.1% 

Expectations leading to the race?

This year’s Tour comes directly on the heels of the 2024 Olympics, held in Paris. After falling short of a gold medal, many athletes will be looking for solace in a yellow jersey, which means the competition should be intense. 

Canyon riders to watch

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), will be gunning for the yellow jersey again this year after finishing on the podium the last two years. Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM), who won a Zwift Academy challenge to earn her professional contract in 2020, will also be looking to add to her palmarès and could be wearing the white jersey at the race end. Current world time-trial champion Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM) may also participate. 

How to watch the 2024 Tour de France Femmes

There’s no better way to experience the 2024 Tour de France Femmes than attending the race live. But for those of us who can’t afford to take more than a week off work to attend a bike race and drink exquisite French wine, these networks will be broadcasting the stage race, either through daily highlights or start-to-finish coverage. 

• Eurosport (Europe) 
• NBC Sports (USA) 
• SBS (Australia) 

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Robert Annis

Robert Annis is an award-winning outdoor-travel journalist. As an experienced writer and sport enthusiast he writes content that is inspiring with focus on road biking. You might have read Robert's articles in Bicycling, National Geographic, Outside, Travel + Leisure, Inside Hook, AARP, Midwest Living, Sierra, Hemispheres, Departures, Lonely Planet, Afar, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, RV Magazine, and Hidden Compass.

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Tour de France

Tour de france 2022 route details: alpe d’huez and cobblestones are back, the complete stage list and map of the 2022 tour de france route: a balanced course with five summit finales and two time trials..

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

Copenhagen, cobbles, chronos, and climbs — the 2022 Tour de France route has it all. And more.

Alpe d’Huez is back, and so is a foray across the punishing cobblestones. The “grande boucle” starts in Copenhagen, lands at Dunkirk, and sweeps east into Switzerland, before tackling the Alps and then the Pyrénées.

“It’s a race with a bit of everything,” course designer Thierry Gouvenou told AFP . “The word that best captures how to describe the 2022 route is that it’s complete. But anyone who wins will need to be a complete rider because there are five finishes at high altitude and one of them is at 2,400 meters. You have the entire palate of what it’s possible to provide on a Tour de France.”

The famed 21 switchbacks on l’Alpe d’Huez returns for its 32nd ascent — and for the first time since 2018 — and will be among five uphill mountain finishes in the 2022 Tour.

The Tour’s most famous climb will come on France’s July 14 Bastille Day, and will be an exact replica of the 1986 stage won by Bernard Hinault, where he crossed the line hand-in-hand with Greg LeMond, who went on to become the first American winner of the yellow jersey.

• Tour de France Femmes: A course to make history
• What will be the prize money purse for TdF Femmes?
• Why Zwift is moving from virtual to ‘real’ racing with TdF Femmes

Tour officials confirmed course details Thursday for the 109th edition (July 1-24), which starts in Denmark and ends as it has every year since the 1970s on the Champs-Élysées for its 47th straight year.

Like any modern Tour, there is a mix of stages and terrain.

There will be five mountain-top finales; the first at Planche des Belles Filles, two more in the Alpes, with the Col du Granon and l’Alpe d’Huez, and two in Pyrénées, at Peyragudes and again at Hautacam.

Denmark is the 10th nation to host a foreign “grand départ” for the Tour de France, following the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Monaco.

Time trials also play a key role. The Tour has not started with a time trial stage since Geraint Thomas won in Düsseldorf in 2017. A late-race time trial in the final week at a monster 40km — long by modern standards — could decide the final podium.

The treacherous cobbles are back, something that not all of the skinny grand-tour riders like to see. Stage 5 from Lille Métropole to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut will feature 11 cobbled sectors totaling 19.4km, making it a decisive stage, but it will not cross the feared Arenberg Forest sector.

Sprinters will have their chances. This year’s route returns to Carcassonne, where Mark Cavendish made history this past summer with a 34th stage victory, equalling Eddy Merckx’s all-time stage-win record.

Stages of the 2022 Tour de France

1 July: S1 Copenhague to Copenhague, 13 km (ITT) 2 July: S2 Roskilde (DEN) – Nyborg (DEN), 199 km 3 July: S3 Vejle (DEN) – Sönderborg (DEN), 182 km 4 July: transfer 5 July: S4 Dunkerque – Calais, 172 km 6 July: S5 Lille Métropole – Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, 155 km 7 July: S6 Binche (BEL) – Longwy, 220 km 8 July: S7 Tomblaine – La super Planche des Belles Filles, 176 km 9 July: S8 Dole – Lausanne (SUI), 184 km 10 July: S9 Aigle (SUI) – Châtel, 183 km 11 July: rest day Morzine 12 July: S10 Morzine – Megève, 148 km 13 July: S11 Albertville – col du Granon, 149 km 14 July: S12 Briançon – Alpe d’Huez, 166 km 15 July: S13 Bourg d’Oisans – Saint-Etienne, 193 km 16 July: S14 Saint-Etienne – Mende, 195 km 17 July: S15 Rodez – Carcassonne, 200 km 18 July: rest day Carcassonne 19 July: S16 Carcassonne – Foix, 179 km 20 July: S17 Saint-Gaudens – Peyragudes, 130 km 21 July: S18 Lourdes – Hautacam, 143 km 22 July: S19 Castelnau-Magnoac – Cahors, 189 km 23 July: S20 Lacapelle-Marival – Rocamadour, 40 km (ITT) 24 July: S21 Paris La Défense Arena – Paris Champs-Elysées, 112 km

Route map for 2022 Tour de France

Here is is, the of the #TDF2022 ! Voici le du #TDF2022 ! pic.twitter.com/4eccacs9Ip — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) October 14, 2021

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\"title\": \"\u2018hard miles\u2019 wants to be the first great bicycling movie since \u2018breaking away\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/hard-miles-wants-to-be-the-first-great-bicycling-movie-since-breaking-away\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"\u2018hard miles\u2019 wants to be the first great bicycling movie since \u2018breaking away\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n \u2018hard miles\u2019 wants to be the first great bicycling movie since \u2018breaking away\u2019\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"tom pidcock leaves li\u00e8ge in frustration: \u2018i was setting all-time power numbers\u2019","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tom-pidcock-leaves-liege-in-frustration-i-was-setting-all-time-power-numbers\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tom-pidcock-leaves-liege-in-frustration-i-was-setting-all-time-power-numbers\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"tom pidcock leaves li\u00e8ge in frustration: \u2018i was setting all-time power numbers\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tom-pidcock-leaves-liege-in-frustration-i-was-setting-all-time-power-numbers\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"tom pidcock leaves li\u00e8ge in frustration: \u2018i was setting all-time power numbers\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n tom pidcock leaves li\u00e8ge in frustration: \u2018i was setting all-time power numbers\u2019\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/xpedo-new-power-sonik-omni-and-thrust-omni-meter-pedals-sea-otter-classic\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\"}}\u0027>\n xpedo\u2019s new power meter pedals are ready for the spotlight\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/thesis-n1-do-everything-drop-bar-bike\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\"}}\u0027>\n the thesis n1 wants to be your sole drop bar bike for everything\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"results: keegan swenson and sofia gomez villafa\u00f1e win the fuego xl at sea otter classic","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/fuego-xl-sea-otter-results\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/fuego-xl-sea-otter-results\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"results: keegan swenson and sofia gomez villafa\u00f1e win the fuego xl at sea otter classic\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/fuego-xl-sea-otter-results\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"results: keegan swenson and sofia gomez villafa\u00f1e win the fuego xl at sea otter classic\"}}\u0027>\n results: keegan swenson and sofia gomez villafa\u00f1e win the fuego xl at sea otter classic\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/mathieu-van-der-poel-realistic-about-quest-for-fourth-monument-even-with-roubaix-legs-i-cannot-follow-pogacar-here\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/mathieu-van-der-poel-realistic-about-quest-for-fourth-monument-even-with-roubaix-legs-i-cannot-follow-pogacar-here\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/mathieu-van-der-poel-realistic-about-quest-for-fourth-monument-even-with-roubaix-legs-i-cannot-follow-pogacar-here\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019\"}}\u0027>\n mathieu van der poel realistic about quest for monument sweep: \u2018even with roubaix legs i cannot follow poga\u010dar\u2019\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/cadex-race-integrated-bar-first-look\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\"}}\u0027>\n the cadex race integrated bar is as light as it is good looking\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"time to plan your next trip: 5 companies with new bike bags at sea otter","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/new-bike-bags-at-this-years-sea-otter\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/new-bike-bags-at-this-years-sea-otter\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"time to plan your next trip: 5 companies with new bike bags at sea otter\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/gravel\/gravel-gear\/new-bike-bags-at-this-years-sea-otter\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"time to plan your next trip: 5 companies with new bike bags at sea otter\"}}\u0027>\n time to plan your next trip: 5 companies with new bike bags at sea otter\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"new titanium brand chandi brings decades of frame building experience to its beautiful bikes","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/new-titanium-brand-chandi-brings-decades-of-frame-building-experience-to-its-beautiful-bikes\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/new-titanium-brand-chandi-brings-decades-of-frame-building-experience-to-its-beautiful-bikes\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"new titanium brand chandi brings decades of frame building experience to its beautiful bikes\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/new-titanium-brand-chandi-brings-decades-of-frame-building-experience-to-its-beautiful-bikes\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"new titanium brand chandi brings decades of frame building experience to its beautiful bikes\"}}\u0027>\n new titanium brand chandi brings decades of frame building experience to its beautiful bikes\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"ride the rockies canceled for 2024, future uncertain","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/ride-the-rockies-canceled-due-to-low-registration-future-uncertain\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/ride-the-rockies-canceled-due-to-low-registration-future-uncertain\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"ride the rockies canceled for 2024, future uncertain\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/ride-the-rockies-canceled-due-to-low-registration-future-uncertain\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"ride the rockies canceled for 2024, future uncertain\"}}\u0027>\n ride the rockies canceled for 2024, future uncertain\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"sea otter randoms: riser handlebars, nifty racks, and tubes aren\u2019t dead","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/sea-otter-randoms-riser-handlebars-nifty-racks-and-tubes-arent-dead\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/sea-otter-randoms-riser-handlebars-nifty-racks-and-tubes-arent-dead\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"sea otter randoms: riser handlebars, nifty racks, and tubes aren\u2019t dead\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/sea-otter-randoms-riser-handlebars-nifty-racks-and-tubes-arent-dead\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"sea otter randoms: riser handlebars, nifty racks, and tubes aren\u2019t dead\"}}\u0027>\n sea otter randoms: riser handlebars, nifty racks, and tubes aren\u2019t dead\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"tadej poga\u010dar seizes li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge with dominant solo display","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tadej-pogacar-seizes-liege-bastogne-liege-with-dominant-solo-display\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tadej-pogacar-seizes-liege-bastogne-liege-with-dominant-solo-display\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"tadej poga\u010dar seizes li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge with dominant solo display\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/tadej-pogacar-seizes-liege-bastogne-liege-with-dominant-solo-display\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"tadej poga\u010dar seizes li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge with dominant solo display\"}}\u0027>\n tadej poga\u010dar seizes li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge with dominant solo display\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"trek launches carback radar rear bike light with 2 km daytime visibility","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/trek-carback-radar-rear-bike-light-challenges-garmin\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/trek-carback-radar-rear-bike-light-challenges-garmin\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"trek launches carback radar rear bike light with 2 km daytime visibility\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/trek-carback-radar-rear-bike-light-challenges-garmin\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"trek launches carback radar rear bike light with 2 km daytime visibility\"}}\u0027>\n trek launches carback radar rear bike light with 2 km daytime visibility\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"the ritchey montebello brings steel goodness to all-road","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/ritchey-montebello-brings-steel-goodness-to-all-road\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/ritchey-montebello-brings-steel-goodness-to-all-road\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the ritchey montebello brings steel goodness to all-road\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/ritchey-montebello-brings-steel-goodness-to-all-road\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"the ritchey montebello brings steel goodness to all-road\"}}\u0027>\n the ritchey montebello brings steel goodness to all-road\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/highbar-wants-to-revolutionize-your-helmet-straps\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\"}}\u0027>\n highbar wants to revolutionize your helmet straps\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"haro bikes is set to release a new race road bike and gravel bike. wait, what","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/haro-buzzard-rivette-road-gravel\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/haro-buzzard-rivette-road-gravel\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"haro bikes is set to release a new race road bike and gravel bike. wait, what\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/haro-buzzard-rivette-road-gravel\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"haro bikes is set to release a new race road bike and gravel bike. wait, what\"}}\u0027>\n haro bikes is set to release a new race road bike and gravel bike. wait, what\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"key takeaways: li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge 2024","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/key-takeaways-liege-bastogne-liege-2024\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/key-takeaways-liege-bastogne-liege-2024\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"key takeaways: li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge 2024\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/key-takeaways-liege-bastogne-liege-2024\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"key takeaways: li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge 2024\"}}\u0027>\n key takeaways: li\u00e8ge-bastogne-li\u00e8ge 2024\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"kona bikes bails on sea otter classic with no explanation","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/kona-bikes-bails-on-sea-otter-classic-with-no-explanation\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/kona-bikes-bails-on-sea-otter-classic-with-no-explanation\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"kona bikes bails on sea otter classic with no explanation\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/news\/kona-bikes-bails-on-sea-otter-classic-with-no-explanation\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"kona bikes bails on sea otter classic with no explanation\"}}\u0027>\n kona bikes bails on sea otter classic with no explanation\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "},{"title":"sea otter randoms: limited edition saddle, updated ritte, salsa e-bike and more","url":"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/sea-otter-randoms-limited-edition-saddle-updated-ritte-salsa-e-bike-and-more\/","markup":" \n \n\n\n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/sea-otter-randoms-limited-edition-saddle-updated-ritte-salsa-e-bike-and-more\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"sea otter randoms: limited edition saddle, updated ritte, salsa e-bike and more\"}}\u0027>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n >\", \"path\": \"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/sea-otter-randoms-limited-edition-saddle-updated-ritte-salsa-e-bike-and-more\/\", \"listing_type\": \"recirc\", \"location\": \"list\", \"title\": \"sea otter randoms: limited edition saddle, updated ritte, salsa e-bike and more\"}}\u0027>\n sea otter randoms: limited edition saddle, updated ritte, salsa e-bike and more\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n "}]' > >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>advertise >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>privacy policy >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>contact >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>careers >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>terms of use >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>site map >", "name": "footer-menu", "type": "link"}}'>my newsletters manage cookie preferences privacy request healthy living.

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Tour de France 2021: BBC Sport profiles all 21 stages

• Published 18 July 2021

Tadej Pogacar (right) won the yellow, white and polka-dot jerseys for the second consecutive Tour

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France for the second consecutive year on Sunday.

The UAE Team Emirates rider, 22, finished over five minutes ahead of his nearest rival, Jumbo Visma's Danish rider, Jonas Vingegaard.

Pogacar also won the polka-dot jersey as king of the mountains and the white jersey as best young rider.

Britain's Mark Cavendish won the green jersey in the points classification. Here is the story of the 2021 race.

Saturday, 26 June - stage one: Brest - Landerneau, 197.8km

Julian Alaphilippe has collected six stage victories at the Tour de France

Winner: Julian Alaphilippe

Report: Julian Alaphilippe wins crash-affected stage one

Julian Alaphilippe produces a superb late attack to win stage one of the Tour de France after two major crashes in the closing stages. Primoz Roglic and Britain's Chris Froome are among those to fall in two separate incidents in the final 45km. The first, caused by a fan holding a placard, prompts the race organisers ASO to say they will take legal action.

Sunday, 27 June - stage two: Perros-Guirec - Mur-de-Bretagne Guerledan, 183.5km

Mathieu van der Poel was racing on only his second stage at the Tour

Winner: Mathieu van der Poel

Report: Van der Poel wins stage two to take yellow jersey

Mathieu van der Poel powers clear twice on the double ascent of the Mur-de-Bretagne to claim a superb victory, taking the yellow jersey in the process. Defending champion Tadej Pogacar is second with 2020 runner-up Primoz Roglic in third.

Monday, 28 June - stage three: Lorient - Pontivy, 182.9km

Geraint Thomas has crashed in five of his last six Grand Tours

Winner: Tim Merlier

Report: Thomas and Roglic lose time as Merlier wins stage three

Race favourites Geraint Thomas and Primoz Roglic are both involved in crashes as Tim Merlier wins a dramatic stage three. Thomas dislocates his shoulder early on while Roglic time loses after a fall 10km from the end. Mathieu van der Poel retains the leader's yellow jersey but Caleb Ewan's crash near the finish ends his Tour.

Tuesday, 29 June - stage four: Redon - Fougeres, 150.4km

Mark Cavendish (left) ended stage four in the green jersey, which he won in 2011

Winner: Mark Cavendish

Report: Cavendish wins first Tour stage for five years

Britain's Mark Cavendish rolls back the years to win his first Tour de France stage since 2016. The 36-year-old moves within three wins of Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34 at the race. His victory comes as the riders protest about safety following Monday's crash-affected stage three.

Wednesday, 30 June - stage five: Change - Laval, 27.2km individual time trial

Tadej Pogacar now has four individual stage wins at the Tour

Winner: Tadej Pogacar

Report: Pogacar crushes field in time trial to move second overall

Defending champion Tadej Pogacar makes a massive statement of intent by dominating the field to win the time trial and widen the gap to his rivals for overall victory. Mathieu van der Poel narrowly retains the yellow jersey with a fine ride to finish fifth. Primoz Roglic does well to limit his losses despite injury but Geraint Thomas struggles to do the same.

Thursday, 1 July - stage six: Tours - Chateauroux, 160.6km

Mark Cavendish has won the last three stage finishes in Chateauroux in 2008, 2011 and 2021

Report: Cavendish wins 32nd Tour de France stage to close on Eddy Merckx's record

Mark Cavendish's resurgence continues as he wins his 32nd stage at the Tour de France to move within two stage victories of Eddy Merckx's record. Mathieu van der Poel finishes safely in the peloton to retain the yellow jersey.

Friday, 2 July - stage seven: Vierzon - Le Creusot, 249.1km

Matej Mohoric has now won stages in all three Grand Tours - the Tour, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana

Winner: Matej Mohoric

Report: Mohoric wins first Tour stage as Van der Poel extends leads in yellow

The longest stage for 21 years sees Slovenia's Matej Mohoric win his first Tour stage with a fine solo victory, leaving the last of his rivals behind 20km from the finish. Mathieu van der Poel gets in the day's breakaway to extend his lead in the yellow jersey, though defending champion Tadej Pogacar will be confident of regaining that time in the mountains to come. Last year's runner-up Primoz Roglic struggles to slip over five minutes down on Pogacar.

Saturday, 3 July - stage eight: Oyonnax - Le Grand Bornard, 150.8km

Tadej Pogacar only wore the yellow jersey on one stage at the 2020 Tour

Winner: Dylan Teuns

Report: Pogacar claims yellow as Teuns wins stage

Defending champion Tadej Pogacar produces a superb solo attack as he takes the yellow jersey and inflicts a major blow on his rivals in the general classification race. Belgium's Dylan Teuns holds off Ion Izagirre, Michael Woods and Pogacar to win stage eight.

Sunday, 4 July - stage nine: Cluses - Tignes, 144.9km

Ben O'Connor is making his debut at the Tour de France

Winner: Ben O'Connor

Report: O'Connor wins stage nine as Pogacar extends overall lead

Australia's Ben O'Connor solos to victory and briefly threatens to take the race leader's yellow jersey until a late Tadej Pogacar attack sees him extend his overall lead.

Tuesday, 6 July - stage 10: Albertville - Valence, 190.7km

Mark Cavendish is racing at the Tour de France for the first time since 2018

Report: Cavendish wins 33rd stage to close in on Merckx's record

Mark Cavendish moves to within one of Belgian legend Eddy Merckx's record of 34 Tour stage victories with another superb sprint win, his third of this year's race. Deceuninck-Quick-Step control the front superbly to deliver Cavendish with only 150m to go as he comfortably holds off his rivals.

Wednesday, 7 July - stage 11: Sorgues - Malaucene, 198.9km

Wout van Aert has now won four individual stages of the Tour in three years

Winner: Wout van Aert

Report: Van Aert claims stunning solo win on double ascent of Mont Ventoux

Belgium's Wout van Aert shows off his stunning versatility to claim a famous victory on a stage featuring two ascents of the famous Mont Ventoux. A day after finishing second in a bunch sprint, the Jumo-Visma rider drops the remainder of the breakaway with 33km to go, taking the second summit alone and staying clear to the finish. Leader Tadej Pogacar shows a brief glimpse of vulnerability as he is initially dropped by Jonas Vingegaard but recovers to easily retain the yellow jersey, and now leads Rigoberto Uran by just over five minutes after Ben O'Connor slips back.

Thursday, 8 July - stage 12: Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux - Nimes, 159.4km

Nils Politt benefited from crosswinds creating splits in the peloton during a frenetic start to stage 12

Winner: Nils Politt

Report: Politt claims stage-12 victory

Nils Politt solos to victory on stage 12 of the Tour de France as Tadej Pogacar retains the leader's yellow jersey. The German rides clear with 12km left after being involved in a long-range 13-man break.

Friday, 9 July - stage 13: Nimes - Carcassonne, 219.9km

Eddy Merckx's record of 34 stage wins was set in 1975

Report: Cavendish equals Merckx's Tour record

Britain's Mark Cavendish makes history by equalling Belgian great Eddy Merckx's record of 34 stage wins. The Deceuninck-Quick-Step rider wins a sprint finish as fellow Briton Simon Yates abandons the race following a heavy crash that sees several riders fall down into a ravine.

Saturday, 10 July - stage 14: Carcassonne - Quillan, 183.7km

Bauke Mollema's only previous stage win at the Tour came in 2017

Winner: Bauke Mollema

Report: Mollema wins stage 14 as Martin climbs to second overall

Bauke Mollema claims a fine solo victory as Guillaume Martin moves up to second overall in the general classification behind Tadej Pogacar. Britain's green jersey-wearer Mark Cavendish finishes safely inside the time limit on a day dominated by the breakaway.

Sunday, 11 July - stage 15: Ceret - Andorre-La-Vieille, 191.3km

Prior to Sepp Kuss, the last American to win a stage at the Tour was Tyler Farrar in 2011

Winner: Sepp Kuss

Report: Kuss wins stage 15 as Pogacar extends his lead

American Sepp Kuss attacks on the final climb to deliver a superb win as the race travels out of France into Andorra. Meanwhile, Tadej Pogacar repels several attacks as he extends his overall lead.

Tuesday, 13 July - stage 16: Pas de la Case - Saint-Gaudens, 169km

Konrad is the Austrian national road race champion and is competing in his third Tour de France

Winner: Patrick Konrad

Report: Konrad wins Tour de France stage 16

Patrick Konrad from Austria held off the chasing group to claim his first professional victory. Overall leader Tadej Pogacar had to be alert to attacks at the end, but was otherwise untroubled.

Wednesday, 14 July - stage 17: Muret - Saint-Lary-Soulan, 178.4km

Tadej Pogacar has won five Tour stages but this was his first while wearing the yellow jersey

Report: Pogacar wins stage 17 to extend lead

Tadej Pogacar took a sublime victory atop the Col du Portet on stage 17 of the Tour de France to extend his lead in the yellow jersey.

Thursday, 15 July - stage 18: Pau - Luz Ardiden, 129.7km

Tadej Pogacar becomes the fourth rider in Tour history to win on consecutive summit finishes

Report: Pogacar underlines dominance on stage 18

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar claims back-to-back Tour de France stage wins as he underlines his dominance in the leader's yellow jersey. The defending champion accelerated away on the summit finish on stage 18, with Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz finishing second and third in a repeat of Wednesday's finale.

Friday, 16 July - stage 19: Mourenx - Libourne, 207km

Matej Mohoric broke clear with 26km remaining to solo to his second win at the Tour

Report: Mohoric wins to deny Cavendish the chance to break stage wins record

Bahrain-Victorious' Matej Mohoric wins stage 19 of the Tour de France, denying Mark Cavendish an opportunity to break the record for stage wins he shares with Eddy Merckx. Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar remains in the leader's yellow jersey.

Saturday, 17 July - stage 20: Libourne - Saint Emilion, 30.8km individual time trial

Tadej Pogacar won the 2020 Tour after a dramatic time trial on the penultimate stage

Report: Pogacar set for overall victory as Van Aert wins time trial

Tadej Pogacar sets up his second Tour de France victory as he finishes seventh in the penultimate stage time trial before Sunday's processional final stage. Jumbo-Visma's Wout van Aert wins stage 20, his second stage victory this year.

Sunday, 18 July - stage 21: Chatou - Paris, Champs-Elysees, 108.4km

Wout van Aert becomes the first man since Bernard Hinault in 1979 to win a mountain stage, sprint and time trial in the same Tour

Report: Cavendish denied record by Van Aert

Mark Cavendish fails in his bid to set a new record of 35 stage victories in the Tour de France as Wout van Aert win the final stage of the 2021 race. Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar of UAE-Team Emirates wins the overall yellow jersey for the second consecutive year.

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Our favourite cycle routes in France

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Reading time: 0 min Published on 14 February 2024, updated on 15 April 2024

if the sunny days are making your legs tingle, saddle up! In the land of the Tour de France, there is no shortage of beautiful escapes. With 22,800 km of cycle routes and greenways, 5,500km of regional tourist routes, 3,000 road and mountain bike circuits inviting you to enjoy gentle pedalling as a couple, with your family or with friends. In the countryside, along a canal, by the sea, in the vineyards or in the mountains, from Northern France to the Côte d'Azur and from Brittany to Alsace... here's a small selection of the most beautiful tours and detours and discover France by bike.

In chateaux country in Centre-Val de Loire

Between Orléans and Tours, the Loire à Vélo is one of the most beautiful cycling routes in France. In the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site, history has sown fairy-tale chateaux, enchanting parkland and remarkable gardens. Chambord, Chenonceau, Blois and Azay-le-Rideau, the gems come one after the other along the royal river. For charming diversions and day trips, we recommend the Châteaux à Vélo routes and circuits. And for something new, the small country roads and gentle curves of the Indre. Whether you are cycling through Châteauroux, the medieval fortress of Montbazon, the Royal City of Loches, the Chateau of Palluau-sur-Indre or the ponds of the Brenne, the Indre by Bike is full of little-known treasures.

The Loire à Vélo Châteaux à Vélo routes and circuits The Indre by Bike

The GT20 in Corsica

For you information, Corsica is an island but also a mountain in the sea. So if you want to cycle there, it's preferable to do so in spring or autumn to avoid the heat and opt for electric assistance. This will allow you to enjoy the panoramic views and the intoxicating smell of the maquis, without setting foot on land. Like the GR20, its famous hiking counterpart, the GT20 (for Grande Traversée), inaugurated in 2019, criss-crosses the island of beauty from north to south. From Bastia in Haute-Corse to the Bonifacio gorges, this 600km cycle route takes place in 12 stages, via the sumptuous Cap Corse. Villages overlooking the Mediterranean, refreshing mountain streams, dizzying passes and dreamy beaches, you'll definitely be amazed.

The Corsica Grande Traversée (GT20)

The vineyard route in Alsace

With 2,500km of cycle routes, 11 legendary passes, 15 regional circuits, 55 local circuits and 3 EuroVélo, Alsace is at the head of the pack for cycling trips. Strasbourg, the French capital of cycling, it's easy to go off on a tangent, from pretty flowery villages to farm inns, from abbeys to gourmet cellars. If you had to choose just one route, it should be the Véloroute du Vignoble d'Alsace from Marlenheim to Thann. Traced in parallel with the famous Wine Route which celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2023, it winds its way along 143km, taking old railway lines, parts of the ancient Roman road and paths through the vineyards without hurrying. The Kaysenberg Valley cycle route comes a close second.

Explore Alsace by bike

From bays to capes in Northern France

A dozen lighthouses, fortified sites, six UNESCO-listed belfries, charming Belle-Époque seaside resorts and from Le Touquet to Malo-les-Bains, the Velomaritime in the Hauts-de-France region, over 190km between Mers-Les-Bains and Dunkirk, will have you pedalling with enthusiasm. We love all the sections - but especially the one in the Baie de Somme with its beautiful views. Or to the north of Boulogne-sur-Mer, the site of the two Capes, Cap Gris-Nez and Cap Blanc-Nez, where you can ride at gull height and admire the beaches below. Another route goes between Arras and Amiens, on the Véloroute de la Mémoire. On this 90km route, which can be extended along the towpaths of the Somme Valley cycle route, you will come across the moving remains and memories of the First World War.

The Vélomaritime The Véloroute de la Mémoire The Véloroute Vallée de Somme

On the flax route in Normandy

Cycling from Paris along the Seine Valley is a way to discover Normandy as far as Le Havre and the famous beaches of Deauville. On the way, the Seine à Vélo cycle route invites you to discover Giverny, the birthplace of Impressionism, or the famous Château Gaillard. There is also Rouen and the luminous Jumièges Abbey before Honfleur and the green meadows of the Auge region. Are you looking for a sweet alternative? In June, when the flowers are in bloom, pedal in an ocean of blue on the Véloroute du Lin, 7km or so of greenways that wind through the hinterland of the Côte d'Albâtre, from the small resort of Pourville-sur-Mer to the cliffs of Fécamp.

The Seine à Vélo The Véloroute du Lin The Vélo Francette

Between vineyards and the ocean in Nouvelle Aquitaine

Bordeaux and its Cité du Vin, the Entre-deux-Mers, the Bassin d'Arcachon and the Dune du Pilat, the Atlantic beaches and the Gironde estuary, the fishing villages and small oyster ports, the Landes de Gascogne with their fragrant forests of maritime pines and, of course, the vineyards and great châteaux of the Médoc. This is an ideal environment for a cycling trip in Nouvelle Aquitaine. The Tour de Gironde à Vélo, 480km, is divided into peaceful stages according to your own pace, taking in part of the route of the Canal des Deux Mers. Meanwhile the Vélodyssée is an invigorating cycle route which crosses Brittany and then follows the Atlantic to the Basque coast. Saddle up!

The Vélodyssée The Tour de Gironde à Vélo The Canal des Deux Mers à Vélo

Along the Canal du Midi in Occitanie

Cycling from Toulouse to the Mediterranean, via the proud city of Carcassonne, following the Canal du Midi in the shade of great plane trees, is one of the holy grails of cycling in Occitanie. The last few kilometres to Sète on the exceptional Lido greenway will leave you suspended between land and sea. You'll just have to get back on your feet to choose the swimming beach. Prefer to get some height? Passa Païs, the greenway of the Haut-Languedoc, on the mountainside, straddling the watershed, is a must. From the foothills of the Montagne Noire to the Massif du Caroux, via charming villages and a succession of bridges and tunnels of the old railway line, the pedalling has a lovely southern accent.

Cycle rides in Occitanie The Canal des Deux Mers by bike The Passa Païs greenway

Estuary artworks in Pays de la Loire

Between the Atlantic coast and the Loire Valley, Pays de la Loire will blow you away. Here, the Loire à Vélo ends its long journey from Nevers in Burgundy-Franche-Comté. After Angers, the last section, which leads from Nantes to Saint-Brévin-les-Pins after the large bridge in Saint-Nazaire, is especially beautiful. And art is also on the agenda, as you can admire installations created by the Voyage à Nantes for 60km along the estuary. Any other good ideas? We recommend the Loire Valley, a well-kept secret halfway between Le Mans, Angers and Tours. And then of course, invigorating cycling trips to the Vendée islands: to Noirmoutier, from marshes to mills, or to the island of Yeu, between dunes and enchanting creeks.

Explore Pays de la Loire

From the Luberon to the Baie des Anges in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

The most courageous will include the Tour du Mont-Ventoux on their list, a giant of Provence which can be admired from all sides as you spin along small roads lined with garrigue and lavender. Try the Calavon greenway, on the Mediterranean bike route. You will enjoy riding along the small roads of the Luberon to discover the hilltop villages and electric assistance is obviously a good option. To have the Mediterranean at your feet, there's nothing better than the Littorale. Between Cannes and Nice or the other way round, this cycle path along the Baie des Anges and the Promenade des Anglais allows you to admire the most famous seafront in France. The Côte d'Azur is beautiful!

The Mediterranean by bike Bike rides in Provence The coast, from Nice to Cannes The ViaRhôna

Find out more about routes or themes across several regions, in particular the Vélo & Fromages label :

France Vélo Tourisme The Accueil Vélo label Fédération française de cyclotourisme The Vélo & Fromages label

By Rédaction France.fr

The magazine of the destination unravels an unexpected France that revisits tradition and cultivates creativity. A France far beyond what you can imagine…

Labels to know for sustainable travel

Get in touch with Nouvelle-Aquitaine in South West of France

Biarritz-Basque Country

Loire Valley, Champagne and beyond, The perfect blend

Alsace and Lorraine

100% nature road trip in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with Worldelse

Alps - Mont Blanc

How I never quite made it to Chambord Chateau

Loire Valley

Along La Loire à Vélo

What to do on the Atlantic coast?

The essentials

Atlantic Coast

What to do in Atlantic Loire Valley?

Atlantic Loire Valley

Tour de France 2023 routes – All the rumours ahead of the official presentation

Information on next year's routes ahead of Thursday's presentation

Tour de France Femmes 2023 route

Tour de france 2023 route.

The routes for the 2023 editions of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes will be unveiled in Paris on October 27 in one of the most highly-anticipated non-racing events of the cycling calendar. 

Deputy Editor Patrick Fletcher is in Paris for the presentation and Cyclingnews will have live coverage of the presentation followed by full details of the route, rider reaction and analysis. 

Race organisers ASO do their best to keep a lid on the details until they click play on their carefully constructed video montages in the Palais de Congrès, but reports, leaks, and rumours never fail to circulate ahead of the big reveal. 

Local French newspapers are all scrambling to bring readers details of when the Tour might roll into their corner of the Hexagon, while Thomas Vergouwen at the VeloWire website is, as ever, compiling these reports and combining them with his own sleuthing to produce an overview, at least of the men's route. 

The 110th edition of the men's Tour de France will take place from July 1-23, starting in Bilbao, Spain, and finishing in the French capital Paris. 

The second edition of the modern incarnation of the women's Tour de France – the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift – will start on July 23 and finish on July 30, with the start and finish locations still unknown. 

Below Cyclingnews looks at all the rumours and potential outlines for both routes. 

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With less than 24 hours to go the presentation we have updated the information with all the latest information, rumours and leaks. 

What we know about the Tour de France Femmes route

If ASO has a tight lid on the Tour de France route, they have an even tighter one on the Tour de France Femmes route details.

The second edition of the new version of the women's Tour de France will begin on July 23, on the same day as the stage 21 conclusion of the men's race, and the route will finish at an unknown location on July 30.

The women's race is currently scheduled to be held across eight stages again; however, it is not expected to begin on the Champs-Elysées circuits in Paris as it did in 2022.

The return of the women's Tour de France after three decades of absence offered a historical moment in women's cycling, and the two events - the women's opening stage 1 and the men's closing stage 21 – were held on the same day in Paris. Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) won the circuit race and took the first yellow jersey to kick off the eight-day women's race. Later that evening, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took the bunch sprint to win stage 21 of the men's event as Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) sealed the overall victory.

It was the perfect hand-over of the yellow jersey from the men's race to the women's race as the peloton, fans, and media departed Paris on stage 2 to follow the women's event across the northeast and into the Vosges mountains for the finale atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles where Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) was crowned the overall champion. 

In total, there were nearly 20 million viewers in France across the eight days of racing, with an average per stage of 2.25 million on France 2 and France 3 delivering an audience share of 26.4%, according to official Tour de France Femmes figures. The finale alone was watched by more than 5 million French viewers.

Many of the event's top riders, including Van Vleuten, suggested that the Tour de France Femmes, while only in its second edition, was so successful this year that it perhaps no longer needs to start on the coattails of the men's race. 

The speculation is that the Grand Départ could move away from the hustle and bustle of the Paris circuits – out from under the men's race – and begin in an all-new location in 2023.

• Tour de France Femmes heads to Massif Central in 2023
• Van Vleuten supports possible Tour de France Femmes shift from Paris depart
• Top riders welcome rumoured move away from Paris for the 2023 Tour de France Femmes

Massif Central Grande Depart?

Speculation in La Montagne places the Grand Départ of the Tour de France Femmes in the Massif Central on July 23. Specifically, the race looks likely to begin in Clermont-Ferrand, the capital of the Auvergne region.

It was reported that Tour de France Femmes director Marion Rousse visited the Auvergne region to consider Clermont-Ferrand as the starting point for next year's event, along with its potential to host multiple stages.

The area is set to host multiple stages of the men's event, too, with Clermont-Ferrand Mayor Olivier Bianchi saying that gender equality was an important factor in its bid to host the opening stage of the women's race.

Although the type of race has not been revealed, top riders such as Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope) say that the possible move away from a Paris opener could allow the race to expand into new terrain and possibly bring in a time trial. This discipline was sorely missed in this year's race event.

Beginning in the Massif Central could also mean that the event could see more decisive stages in the first few days of racing, with speculation that the women's race, like the men's, could visit Puy de Dôme.

Where to next?

While many had hoped for the event to visit the iconic Tour de France mountains of the Alps and Pyrénées this year, there were obvious challenges and limitations to how much of the countryside the Tour de France Femmes could traverse in just eight days.

Unless ASO is secretly planning to expand the number of days for the 2023 Tour de France Femmes, the peloton will need to complete eight days of racing inside a reasonably sized area of France. It cannot feasibly visit all of the areas the men's race visits, but moving away from Paris could mean the race will see new places next year.

A starting point in the Massif Central means the race could venture east to the Alps, where the race could hit iconic ascents such as L'Alpe d'Huez or south to the Pyrénées for mountain passes such as the Col du Tourmalet. 

Journalist for RTL France , Nicolas Georgereau, indicated via his social media channels that the Tour de France Femmes could start in Clermont-Ferrand with the final stage in Pau at the foot of the Pyrenees. 

In between, he suggested that the race could venture south through Blagnac, Albi, and Lannemezan with a mountaintop finish at the Col du Tourmalet.

We will find out the full details on Thursday.

What we know about the men's Tour de France route

As it stands, we only have official details on two-and-a-half of the 21 stages of the men's Tour de France. The other stages have still to be confirmed.

The Grand Départ has been awarded to the Basque Country in Spain, and the opening two stages have already been unveiled, along with the start location of stage 3, which will see the Tour cross into France to an as-yet-unknown finishing location. 

The 2023 Tour de France begins in Bilbao on July 1, with a 185km route that heads out to the hilly coastline of the Bay of Biscay before returning to Bilbao for a late, steep climb of the Pike Bidea and the finish in the city centre. Stage 2 features more punchy terrain on a 210km route from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Donostia San Sebastián, with the Jaizkibel climb – well known from the Donostia San Sebastián Klasikoa – close to the finish.

Stage 3 will start in Amorebieta-Etxano and track 80km along the Basque Country coastline before reaching the French border. And that's where the official details come to an end.

• 2023 Tour de France to start in the Basque Country
• 2023 Tour de France set to return to Puy de Dome mountain finish
• Tour de France director Prudhomme suggests Puy de Dôme could return to route

What could follow when in France?

Newspapers and specialist websites on either side of the border have reported with confidence that stage 3 will finish in Bayonne, the small city near Biarritz as the Tour heads to France.  

Bayonne is around 30km up the coast from the Spanish border, and the stage would almost certainly culminate in a sprint finish, possibly along the banks of the Adour river.

The Tour de France then looks set for an early foray into the Pyrenees. 

Most of the media reporting around these stages comes from the well-regarded Sud Ouest regional newspaper, which suggests stage 4 will make its way into the Pyrenees from Dax to finish in Laruns. There is no shortage of major mountains in the vicinity of the finish town, so there should be a late climb and descent to the line, with Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar both winning there in recent years. 

Sud Ouest speculates that stage 5 will see an uphill finish at Cauterets after a start from the Tour's most-visited city of Pau. Cauterets is only a category-3 drag but was preceded by the Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet when it was last used in 2015. Again, it remains to be seen how hard this stage ends up being. 

Clues to stage 6 are scarcer still. Sud Ouest mentions the possibility of a time trial, with the latest reports suggesting the return of a team time trial around Tarbes. That would be a change in strategy for ASO but could happen and spark an early battle for every second between Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers.  

Stage 7 should take the race north, starting in Mont-de-Marsan – the adopted hometown of 1973 Tour winner Luis Ocaña – and finishing in Bordeaux. It's a major city but hasn't hosted a Tour stage finish since Mark Cavendish won in 2010. There could be another big city finish - and potential bunch sprint - the next day, with France Bleu reporting that stage 8 will head to Limoges, possibly from Libourne. 

Stage 9, as is customary, will be the final stage of the opening week ahead of the first rest day, and it's set to be a hotly-anticipated affair. 

Rumours of a return to the Puy de Dome have been circulating for a while, and this looks to be the day, according to La Montagne . The climb up the dormant volcano hasn't been used since 1988 but has a storied history, including the Poulidor-Anquetil duel in 1964 and the time a spectator punched Eddy Merckx in 1975.

Stage winners include Fausto Coppi, Federico Bahamontes, Luis Ocaña, Lucien Van Impe, and Joop Zoetemelk. Although not overly long, the main 5.8-kilometre ascent of the climb, which spirals around the central cone of the volcano, is unremittingly steep and spectacular, with gradients averaging around 12%. 

The first rest day will come on July 10, with La Montagne's report indicating this will be in the city of Clermont-Ferrand. This lies in the Auvergne region just outside the chain of old volcanos in that corner of the Massif Central, so the second week could open with more medium mountains.

La Montagne is still the local newspaper here and reports a finish in Issoire to the south of Clermont-Ferrand on stage 10, which would be a flat finish but likely preceded by hilly terrain. Stage 11 is then said to loop back to start in Clermont-Ferrand before finishing in Moulins. This would take the race north out of the Massif Central and would likely be a flatter affair, especially towards the finish. 

Into the Alps in week 2

The second half of the 2023 Tour de France is where things become far less clear even close to the official presentation. There is still considerable uncertainty, though a visit to the Jura, the Alps and the Savoie area near Italy and Switzerland is, of course, guaranteed.

Le Progrès has reported that stage 13 - on Bastille Day - will be in the Jura, from Châtillon-sur-Chalaron to the Grand Colombier, which featured as a stage finish in 2020.

The Dauphiné Libéré , the newspaper which covers the Alps, it claims to know of stage finishes in Morzine and Saint-Gervais during the race’s time in the mountain range. Morzine is a ski resort that has hosted multiple Tour visits, with stage finishes usually coming after the hors-catégorie climb and hair-raising descent of the Col de Joux Plane.

Velowire put the Morzine stage towards the end of the second week and flags the possibility of only individual time trial in the Sallanches area after the second rest day on Monday July 17. The Dauphiné also suggests a mountain stage from Les Gets to Saint-Gervais, in the shadow of Mont Blanc, where Romain Bardet won in 2016.

The stage is expected to start in Passy on the north side of the Arve valley and then climb the Côte de Domancy and finish in the village of Combloux on the southside. 

The Côte de Domancy has been named the Montée Bernard Hinault after the French rider attacked alone to set up his historic victory at the 1980 World Championships in Sallanches.  It is only three kilometres long but has an average gradient of 8.5% and a section at 16%.

The day after is perhaps the Queen stage of the 2023 Tour de France and climbs the Col de la Loze bike path to 2,304 metres before a descent and the finish on the ramp of the Courchevel altiport. Primož Roglič distanced  Tadej Pogačar  on the steep newly-surfaced climb in 2020, with Miguel Angel Lopez winning the stage.

On leaving the Alps. the Tour route is expected to head north to the Jura and the Vosges via Bourg-en-Bresse and Poligny. 

The Vosges has been favoured in recent years, with extensive visits to La Planche des Belles Filles, but the major rumour for 2023 revolves around the Grand Ballon, last used in 2019 but never as a summit finish. 

France Bleu notes that local officials are planning to build a 5km path from Geishouse up the Col du Haag, which is said would be a 13km climb with nearly a vertical kilometre, thus making it the only hors-catégorie climb in the Vosges mountains.

This stage could be on the final Saturday. If that indeed proves to the case, then there would be on final time trial before the finish in Paris. This would be a Tour light on time trialling kilometres in comparison to the Giro, which has 70km against the watch spread across three stages.

The Tour de France peloton will likely transfer to Paris on Sunday morning. The final parade stage is set to start inside the national velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which will host the track racing at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

The final winner of the stage will again be crowned on the Champs-Elysées after the sprinters fight for one last victory at sunset on Sunday.  

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Patrick is an NCTJ-trained journalist, and former deputy editor of Cyclingnews, who has seven years’ experience covering professional cycling. He has a modern languages degree from Durham University and has been able to put it to some use in what is a multi-lingual sport, with a particular focus on French and Spanish-speaking riders. Away from cycling, Patrick spends most of his time playing or watching other forms of sport - football, tennis, trail running, darts, to name a few, but he draws the line at rugby.

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Tour de France 2024 Route stage 16: Gruissan - Nîmes

The 2nd stage of the 2017 Vuelta a España went in the opposite direction. The race from Nîmes to Gruissan added up to more than 200 kilometres and featured less than 600 vertical metres. Strong winds tore up the peloton in the finale before Yves Lampaert took of n the last kilometre. The Belgian took the stage win and the leader’s jersey.

The route from Gruissan to Nîmes travels more inland and the altitude gain is almost 1,200 metres. Which is still good news for the fast men. All the more, sice the toughest climb – Côte de Mas Cordon, 7 kilometres at 3.4% – appears around the midway marker.

Gruissan was not included in the Tour de France before but the opposite is true for Nîmes. The race visited the ancient city three times in the past decade. Alexander Kristoff (2014), Caleb Ewan (2019) and Nils Politt (2021) took the spoils in those editions – the first two in the sprint, the latter from the breakaway.

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Lotte Kopecky to skip Tour de France Femmes after Olympics, SD Worx confirm

SD Worx manager Danny Stam confirmed that World Champion Lotte Kopecky will not take part in the Tour de France Femmes this year.

Kopecky was unsure whether she could race the Tour this year because the Olympic Games in Paris finish one day before the Tour de France Femmes Grand Départ in Rotterdam. Winning a medal at the Olympic Games is one of Kopecky's top priorities this season.

"The omnium ends on Sunday afternoon, the Tour starts on Monday morning. It is almost impossible to do that properly," Stam told Sporza .

"Combining those two events would also be a very difficult task mentally."

Kopecky won the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2023 and held the maillot jaune until the penultimate stage to the Col du Tourmalet when she lost touch on the final climb and the overall lead passed to teammate Demi Vollering.

At the Tour de France route presentation, Kopecky said she wanted to race the Tour because it has two stages that run on Belgian roads - stage 3 uses part of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège course and stage 4 departs from Bastogne.

"When I see the course, I definitely want to ride. The fact that it goes through Belgium is also a very nice thing. On the other hand, the Tour is every year while the Olympic Games are only once every four years. There are also very nice goals coming up after the Tour, so it is very unclear at the moment," said Kopecky.

"The switch from track to road is not a problem in itself, that is not my biggest fear. The Tour in itself is simply very tough and after such an omnium you have not only been physically very deep, but also mentally."

Kopecky put an emphasis on the Spring Classics this year knowing the decision on whether to race the Tour or not would come after. She won Strade Bianche, Nokere Koerse and Paris-Roubaix this year as well as the UAE Tour Women in February.

Her schedule includes the Tour of Britain Women (6-9 June) and Giro d'Italia Women (7-14 July) before the Olympics in Paris. She will set her sights on the World Championships in Zurich in the latter part of the season.

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"Tour de France Cycle City" label: soon 150 towns and 10 countries in the loop?

As part of its "Riding into the Future" programme to promote sustainable mobility, the Tour de France launched the "Tour de France Cycle City" label in 2021, encouraging all the initiatives taken by towns and cities that have already hosted the Grande Boucle to promote everyday cycling.

For this fourth edition, the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift have received bids from 24 cities, including six outside France. This year, 16 towns on the 2024 Tour de France route have applied, and two are on the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift map, which should take the number of approved cities to 150... in 10 different countries!

The results will be announced on 15 May as part of the “Mai à vélo” (Bike in May) campaign.

150! That's the symbolic milestone the "Tour de France Cycle City" label could reach in its fourth edition. This initiative, created in 2021, enables towns that have already hosted the Grande Boucle to have their commitment to developing cycling in all its forms assessed and rewarded. Whether they are French or foreign, rural or urban, towns applying for the label must highlight all the existing measures to encourage cycling in their application and present local short- and medium-term development plans (infrastructure deployment, improving rider safety, learning to cycle with the "How to ride a bike" campaign, parking and combating theft, maintenance and repair, etc.). All these measures contribute to the growth of cycling as a means of daily transport, a source of leisure, and exercise.  

Since 2021, 133 cities in eight countries have already received at least one level of accreditation. With 24 applications, the 2024 campaign could see the number of towns and cities recognised for promoting cycling rise to 150. In addition to the new French and Belgian cities that could appear on the map, two new territories are about to join the club, representing ten countries with towns awarded the label! Italy, where the Tour de France will set off on 29 June for the first time in its history, has three candidates: Rimini, Piacenza and Pinerolo. More exotic still, Japan, which for over ten years has welcomed the champions of the Grande Boucle to Saitama in the middle of autumn as part of a festive criterium reminiscent of the Asian craze for the event, could also be in the running!  

Sixteen French towns on the route of the 2024 Tour and two others on the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift submitted bids, from Evaux-les-Bains, the least populous of the candidate towns, to Nice, the host town of a new and spectacular finish of the Tour de France on 21 July, reflecting the diversity of bids once again this year for a label that allows towns to showcase their assets on their scale. Four French cities that have hosted the event in the past have also applied, while two municipalities that have already received the label have requested a reassessment of their rating. The jury is now studying all the applications. The results will be announced to the candidate cities on 15 May 2024 as part of the "Bike in May" campaign.  

Composition of the jury for the "Tour de France Cycle City" label: Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France; Émilie Defay, deputy editor-in-chief at France Bleu Paris; Jean Ghedira, director of communications, sponsorship and general secretariat at LCL; David Lazarus, mayor of Chambly and chairman of the "Sports" working group of the Association des Maires de France; Olivier Schneider, president of the FUB (French Federation of Bicycle Users); Karine Bozzacchi, CSR manager for the Tour de France.  

Candidate cities for the 2024 label:  

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