The 2024 Tour de France sets off this Saturday from Florence, Italy, for three weeks of races which will take Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and all the riders to Nice, the final finish of the Grande Boucle. Career, profile, favorites, here’s what you need to know about the first step.
The 2024 Tour de France is here! The big departure will be in Italy. This Saturday, June 29, the first stage will already be very heavy for the runners, who will connect Florence to Rimini. Journey, profile, favorites… everything you need to know from the first step.
>>> the complete route of the Tour de France 2024, step by step
The route of the first stage
The first stage of the Tour de France will start in Florence this Saturday at noon, for a 206-kilometre journey to Rimini, on the coast, in a seaside resort made sadly famous because of the death of Italian cycling legend Marco Pantani.
The profile of the first stage
“It is the first stage which has the greatest positive altitude difference in the history of the Tour de France,” declared the architect of the course Thierry Gouvenou. A sign that this first round promises to be difficult and even already delicate for many runners. 3600m of positive altitude difference for the most rugged first stage in the history of the Tour.
The first big climb of this edition will offer 12.5 km at 5.1% with the Col de Valico Tre Faggi. Also noteworthy is the Côte de Carnaio and especially the terrible triple chain Côte de San Leo-Côte de Montemaggio-Côte de San Marino before descending towards the sea for the finish.
The favourites of the first stage
Will we already see a battle between contenders for the final victory? Tadej Pogacar seems to have the legs, the team and the ambition to already strike a big blow and knock out the competition. Jonas Vingegaard could also claim it but the uncertainty remains regarding his physical condition. Primoz Roglic is perhaps better equipped.
On such a hilly stage for punchers, the always spectacular Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen or Wout van Aert will have big assets to assert, depending on the scenario of the last kilometers.
How to follow the first step
The fictitious start will be given at 12:00, the real one at 12:40. The expected arrival is announced at 17:34. The 21 stages of this Grande Boucle will be broadcast in full on France 2 and France 3. The Tour de France 2024 will also be broadcast on Eurosport 1 as well as live with commentary on the RMC Sport website and application. Finally, RMC will broadcast all the stages on the radio between 14:00 and 18:00 and in full on its 100% Route digital radio.
Timetables for the first stage
- 11:52 a.m. – Antenna connection for TV broadcast
- 12:00 p.m. – Fictitious departure
- 12:40 p.m. – Actual departure
- Between 5:34 p.m. and 6:05 p.m. – Expected arrival
>>> The complete timetables of the first stage for the passage of the caravan and the runners
