The 2024 Tour de France will leave Florence (Italy) this Saturday, June 29, and arrive in Nice on July 21. And this 111th edition of the Grande Boucle will be particularly mountainous with four summit arrivals, several passages above 2,000 meters in altitude and 27 passes on the program.
A departure from abroad and an unprecedented arrival. For the first time in its history, the Grand Départ of the Tour de France will be given this Saturday in Italy, in Florence, and the first three stages of this 2024 Grande Boucle will take place on the steep roads of the “Botte”.
From the 1st stage, this Tour de France will be testing with an arrival in Rimini and 3,800 meters of elevation gain. A step for the strong men of the little queen. There will obviously be several stages promised to the sprinters at the start of the Tour de France, including the one arriving at the foot of the Croix de Lorraine in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, the village of General de Gaulle. But also, to break the routine of the plain stages, a loop around Troyes on aesthetic white paths.
During the three weeks of this historic edition, the Tour de France riders will especially gain height. The kings of the mountains will clash on the high peaks of France where ordinary mortals hesitate to venture.
27 LISTED ASCENSIONS
There will be several incursions beyond 2,000 meters of altitude and the runners will pass by the highest asphalt road in France: the Cime de la Bonnette. In total, 27 passes will be climbed during this 111th edition of the Tour de France, three fewer than in 2023.
With the ascent of the Bonnette, that of the Galibier, the Col du Vars and the Tourmalet, the runners will spend no less than 25 km beyond the 2,000 meter altitude barrier. Which does not necessarily please Tadej Pogacar, even if the Slovenian will be keen to take his revenge on the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, the outgoing winner.
Four summit finishes
To decide between the two rivals, there will be four summit finishes during this Grande Boucle. Between Pau and Saint-Lary-Soulan, the Tour riders will have already climbed the Col du Tourmalet and the Hourquette d’Ancizan before tackling the 10.6 kilometers at an average of 7.9% of the final climb. Things will get tougher the next day, with the ascent, during the same stage, of the passes of Peyresoudre, Menté, Portet-d’Aspet, Agnes, Lers and the final ascent of the Plateau de Beautiful.
Between Embrun and Isola 2000, while the arrival of the Tour de France is looming, the decision could be made in the summit of Bonnette or at the summit of Isola 2000. Traditional justice of the peace of Paris-Nice, the Col de la Couillole could be that of the Grande Boucle during the penultimate stage of this Tour de France 2024.
The Tour will also revisit the Massif Central, for a potentially explosive 11th stage with 4,350 meters of altitude difference, before heading towards the Pyrenees for two of the four summit finishes of the 2024 Tour: at Pla d’Adet first, via the Tourmalet, for the 50th anniversary of Raymond Poulidor’s last victory, and the next day on the Plateau de Beille.
An unprecedented arrival at NICE
For the first time since 1904, the Grande Boucle will not arrive in Paris. After two arrivals in Ville d’Avray, in Hauts-de-Seine, in 1903 and 1904, the Tour successively ended at the Parc des Princes (1905-1967), at the Cipale velodrome (1968-1975) and since 1975, on the Champs-Elysées. The proximity of the Paris Olympics, from July 26, less than a week after the arrival of the Tour, pushed the 111th edition out of the capital.
Even if it means innovating, we might as well carry out the experiment to the end. Instead of the traditional “criterium” followed by a sprint, the 2024 Tour will therefore end with a potentially decisive 35 km individual time trial, between Monaco and Nice.
Since the legendary outcome of the 1989 Tour de France, where Laurent Fignon lost the yellow jersey by eight seconds on the Champs-Elysées to Greg Lemond, the Grande Boucle had no longer ended with a timed exercise.
ALL STAGES OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE 2024
1st stage (June 29): Florence-Rimini (206 km)
2nd stage (June 30): Cesenatico-Bologna (200 km)
3rd stage (July 1): Plaisance-Turin (229 km)
4th stage (July 2): Pinerolo-Valloire (138 km)
5th stage (July 3): Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne-Saint Vulbas (177 km)
6th stage (July 4): Mâcon-Dijon (163 km)
7th stage (July 5): Nuits-Saint-Georges-Gevrey-Chambertin (CLM of 25 km)
8th stage (July 6): Semur-en-Auxois-Colombey-les-Deux-Églises (176 km)
9th stage (July 7): Troyes-Troyes (199 km)
Monday July 8: rest day in Orléans
10th stage (July 9): Orléans-Saint-Amand-Montrond (187 km)
11th stage (July 10): Evaux-les-Bains-Le Lioran (211 km)
12th stage (July 11): Aurillac-Villeneuve-sur-Lot (204 km)
13th stage (July 12): Agen-Pau (171 km)
14th stage (July 13): Pau-Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet (152 km)
15th stage (July 14): Loudenvielle-Plateau de Beille (198 km)
Monday July 15: rest day in Gruissan
16th stage (July 16): Gruissan-Nîmes
17th stage (July 17): Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux-SuperDévoluy (178 km)
18th stage (July 18): Gap-Barcelonnette (179 km)
19th stage (July 19): Embrun-Isola 2000 (145 km)
20th stage (July 20): Nice-Col de la Couillole (133 km)
21st stage (July 21): Monaco-Nice (CLM of 34 km)
