Tour de France 2024. Stage 1: Profile and favorites

On Saturday, June 29, on the program for the first stage of the 2024 Tour de France, the riders will have to cover some 206 kilometers between Florence (Firenze) and Rimini, on a course with a hilly profile (3,600m D+). With such a route between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna – Adriatic Sea, the favorites of the day are mainly the classics specialists. Among the candidates for the first victory and the first yellow jersey are the names of Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert and even a certain Tadej Pogacar, or why not Remco Evenepoel.

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A first stage of the Tour de France with a hilly profile

The least we can say is that this first stage of the Grande Boucle with its rugged profile will throw the runners into the deep end, unceremoniously. If the mileage between Florence and Rimini is nothing exceptional (206km), there is no doubt that the stage will start at 100 miles an hour and the first of the day’s 7 climbs will arrive very quickly. So that the Col de Valico Tre Faggi (12.5km at 5.1% slope) whose summit is located at an altitude of 930 meters (the highest peak of the day) will be quickly crossed. From the first climb the day’s escape will have taken shape. And it is the jersey for the polka dot classification of best climber which will be played out between the fugitives. Successively, the runners will cross the Côte des Forche (2.5km at 6.2%)followed by the Carnaio Coast (10.5km at 4.6%) and finally the Barbotto Coast (5.8km at 7.6%). From then on, there will only be three climbs left to climb, but it is also on this part of the course precisely that the big names still present in the peloton will start to accelerate and that the escapees will lose time until they are caught. without being able to compete for stage victory and the precious yellow jersey. It is in the San Leo Coast (4.6km at 7.7% average slope)followed by the Montemaggio coast (4.2km at 6.6%) and finally the Coast of San Marino (7.1km at 4.8%) that the best riders will break away from the peloton to go and fight for the stage victory. Note that the summit of the last climb of the day is located approximately 25 kilometers from the finish.

Tour de France 2024. The complete detailed route of the Tour de France with the profiles of each stage

The peloton will set off at 12:40 from kilometer zero in Florence for 206 kilometers of racing. Once kilometer zero is crossed, the 111th Tour de France will be definitively launched. At an average speed of 42 km/h, the winner of the day should cross the finish line around 17:30.

The favorites for the 1st stage of the Tour de France 2024

With such a stage profile, it is most logical to see riders of the type of Mathieu van der Poel (29 years old – Alpecin – Deceuninck) the road world champion, Mads Pedersen (28 years old – Lidl – Trek) winner 7 times this year on French roads and Wout van Aert (29 years old – Team Visma Lease a Bike) winner of the green jersey in the points classification in 2022. These three will have to deal with the very “player” Tadej Pogacar (25 years old – UAE Team Emirates) big favourite of this 11th edition of the Tour and recent winner of the Giro. The Belgian Arnaud De Lie (22 years old – Lotto Dstny), new Belgian champion, is also cited among the favorites of the day, just like his teammate and compatriot Maxim van Gils (24 years old), or even Michael Matthews (33 ans – Team Jayco AlUla), Nils Politt (30 years old – UAE Team Emirates) recent winner of his national time trial championship, Biniam Girmay (24 years old – Intermarché – Wanty), the Italian road champion Alberto Bettiol (30 years old – EF Education EasyPost), and without forgetting the French road champion Paul Lapeira (24 years old – Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).

Among all these favourites, the names of: Christophe Laporte the European champion, Romain Grégoire and Valentin Madouas (Groupama – FDJ), Axel Zingle and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Kevin Vauquelin and Clément Champoussin (Arkéa – B&B Hotels) or even Dorian Godon and of course Axel Laurance (Alpecin – Deceuninck).

*** Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert
** Tadej Pogacar, Arnaud De Lie, Maxim van Gils, Michael Matthews, Nils Politt, Biniam Girmay, Alberto Bettiol, Axel Laurance, Remco Evenepoel
* Luca Mozzato, Valentin Madouas, Alex Aranburu, Toms Skujins, Dylan Groenewegen, Alexander Kristoff, Christophe Laporte, Paul Lapeira, Dorian Godon, Stephen Williams, Tom Pidcock, Primoz Roglic, Pello Bilbao, Richard Carapaz