Welcome to the route presentation of Le Tour de France. Cycling's biggest stage, the third Grand Tour of the year and the most prestigious race in the sport - one of the most prestigious in any sport. The race always takes in some of the most iconic roads in the sport and the most beautiful sights in a beautiful country - and this year's route is no different. A distinctly South-Western flavour to this year's route, with the race never leaving Aquitaine for more than a few days - however with the beautiful culture, wine, vistas and iconic cycling terrain in the region, you will probably only hear complaints from other French people. What else is new?
Week One: Wine and Chocolate
The Grand Départ this year takes place in Bordeaux - for (perhaps surprisingly, given how often it visits) the first time in the race's history! A 7km prologue will provide an exciting contest for the first maillot jaune of the race, and an early opportunity for the stage racers to make some time on the pure climbers. We then journey east, with a flat stage to Perigueux which should be for the sprinters, though a few late kicks could provide springboards for an attack. Stage 3 is a lumpy but not too difficult affair as we head into the Massif Central, with a finish in Millau for the sprinters.
Although the first week's destination ultimately does lie in the East, this first jaunt was only a fake-out as the race cuts back to the west for another flat stage with climbs in the closing stages, meaning it could be any kind of finish in Villeneuve-sur-Lot - these ones are steeper than those on Stage 2. The race goes right back to the West Coast on Stage 5, finishing just a few kilometres from the Spanish border, in the French Basque country. A pan-flat stage save for quite a tough and long hill inside the final 25km - one for the breakaway, a GC opportunist, or can the sprinters tough it out? They will surely try, as this will be their last chance for a bit.
A cross-country transfer overnight as Stage 6 starts in the north-east of France for a stage in the Jura Mountains! Only a medium-mountain day, with six classified climbs in 152km before a flat finish across the border in Porrentruy, Switzerland. The week ends with our first mountain-classified stage. The Wine Tour de France continues with the stage beginning in Burgundy, traveling back into the Jura mountains as the riders take on the Cat.2 Côte de Corlier, the HC Col du Grand Colombier (18.3km @ 6.9%), and the Cat.3 Col de Richemond before an uphill finish in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. The Col du Grand Colombier summits with 44km still to go, so this isn't going to be an all-guns-blazing GC showdown, but these two stages will still be vital for anyone who wants to be fighting at the top of the GC in the final week.
Week Two: A Bit of Everything
Look, you just can't only have one Alps stage in Le Tour. The Alps are so important! Everyone knows about the Alpe d'Huez, Galibier and Izoard, but I'm afriad I won't get to see all my favourite unsung heroes - I gotta see the Col de la Madeleine, the Col de la Croix de Fer... a finish at La Toussuire!
Oh, what's that? You have them all in one stage? Very well then! The La Toussuire stage (always preceded by the Croix de Fer and Mollard, with either Madeleine or Chaussy before that) is becoming something of a staple of the MGUCI era, but that's because it always delivers. In 2017 Rein Taaramäe continued his post-crash revenge tour, putting big time into his podium rival Gesink, while yellow jersey contenders Spilak and Phinney fought to a stalemate. In 2018 Fredrik Strand Galta, sat in 21st on GC, went solo for seventy kilometres to vault back into the GC race. 2020 saw Herklotz, Sicard and Madrazo fight to yet another stalemate in that desperately close GC fight, while Meintjes beat Olivier on the line for the stage win. 2021 was a redemptive breakaway victory for George Bennett in the snow, as he outsprinted the GC favourites despite being caught on the final climb. 2023 saw Carthy win a breakaway thriller, while a scattershot GC finish saw gaps from almost every rider to the next.
This year will have a lot to live up to, both in the recent history of the stage and its position as the only true Alpine stage at this year's Tour de France. The climbs are iconic, beautiful and fearsome - the Col du Madeleine is 26.1km @ 6.1%, and the Col de la Croix de Fer is 22.7km at 7%, which is hard enough but actually deceptive given the flat section after the top of the Col du Glandon. The Cat.2 Col du Mollard seems like an afterthought during the Croix de Fer's descent, but is still 5.8km @ 6.8%, while the final climb to La Toussuire is 18.4km @ 6.1%. The race's probable Queen Stage comes very early on, and it's the first time that the Souvenir Henri Desgrange will be given at the top of the Croix de Fer.
That's right, although Stage 9 begins in a classic Alpine haunt of the TDF in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, and includes two Cat.1 climbs in the Cols du Grand Cucheron and Granier, it's a bit pathetic to include it as a true Alpine mountain stage given it's flat the rest of the way, save for a late Cat.3 climb and an uphill finish. If the breakaway hasn't triumphed by now it would seem a safe bet for this to be their first success, unless a tough sprinter can really force his team to chase for 219km over that parcours.
The sprinters finally have their say again on Stage 10 as the race hits the south coast, finishing at the resort town of Le Cap d'Agde, near Montpellier. It's then time for a couple of Pau stages, one of the most-visited places in the race's history. The first is a 43km individual time trial - the last time trial kilometres of the race. Almost completely flat, this will provide a real GC shake-up. After that we're into the Pyrenees, for the first but not the last time in the race.
Stage 12 is a chance for an underappreciated Pyrenean pass to shine, as the famed Col d'Aubisque (17.1km @ 7%) tees up the Col de Spandelles - so often a connecting climb between larger passes - to be the setting for a showdown before a descent into Argelés-Gazost (which in turn has a first chance at being a host town rather than passed through). 10.2km @ 8.3% - it's no Tourmalet, but perhaps that's the point. I for one can't wait for what Spandelles has to offer in what must be considered its big break.
Stage 13 is an innovation - or a second try at an innovation. We've seen 100km mountain stages - this is even shorter. We've seen Bagnères-du-Luchon - this is Luchon-Superbagnères! A 65km pocket rocket, utilising the oft-trodden roads between Saint-Lary-Soulan and Bagnères-du-Luchon (namely the Col de Val Louron-Azet and the Col de Peyresourde) before the finish at Superbagnères. Used six times in the Tour's history, it hasn't seen a stage finish since 1989. 18.5km @ 6.3%, it's not the hardest climb in the world but it's long and unrelenting, and most importantly did we mention the stage is 65km long? This was tried in 2018 - that time starting in Bagnères-du-Luchon and taking Peyresourde and Val Louron-Azet from the opposite direction before heading up the Col de Portet. That stage saw immense drama, as Spilak attacked from range and nearly won back yellow from Taaramäe on the final mountain stage - while a young Frenchman by the name of Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier won his maiden Tour de France stage ahead of his old Festina teammate. If we can get half of that drama here on Stage 13, it will be magic.
It's also worth noting that that Stage eliminated pretty much every sprinter from the time limit. That was on Stage 20 and saw a pretty funky Champs-Élysées, won by the yellow jersey of Taaramäe. So we could be seeing some weird results from here on out.
Time for another cross-country transfer and another stage starting in the Alps but soon leaving, with the riders taking a couple of medium mountains on their way out of Bourg d'Oisans, leading to a flat finish in Valréas. Two smaller categorised climbs in the run-in make this another likely breakaway stage to end the middle week with a likely GC truce.
Week Three: Back to the Pyrenees
Much as Stage 14 mirrored Stage 9's path out of the Alps, Stage 15 is, much like Stage 10, a flat stage heading to the south coast, in fact the finishes are less than 70km apart. This time the whole stage is coastal, from Marignane to Montpellier. A last chance
The race had a brief dalliance with the flat roads of the Massif Central in the first week, but there's some proper hills now. Stage 16 is from Lodève to Castres, and features many short climbs in the first half of the race before an undulating second half and a final descent and flat finish. Not one for GC fireworks, but the punchy riders and baroudeurs will be marking it on the calendar. Stage 17 takes us from Saint-Etienne to Mende, and is lumpy all day long before a familiar finish at the Mende airstrip, first summiting the Côte de la Croix Neuve (3km @ 10.2% with a stretch up to 18%) before a short 1km descent and a flat final 500m. This one usually goes to a tough breakaway rider, though the peloton would be wise to be careful who that is - it is known to the French as Montée Laurent Jalabert for his heroic Bastille Day effort here in his only real Tour de France GC campaign in 1995, where he vaulted himself into the Top 3 thanks to a six-minute gain.
The riders begin Stage 18 in the walls of Carcassonne, a classic entry (or in our case, re-entry) stage to a mountain range with a 179km trip to Foix, via a fairly flat majority of the stage before taking on the Cat.1 climbs of the Port de Lers (11.4km @ 7%) and Mur de Péguère (9.3km @ 7.9%, with the final 3.3km averaging 12.2% with separate kicks of 18% and 16%). Although two huge GC stages remain, it's hard to imagine the Péguère's final slopes not causing some action, or at the very least a huge thinning of the herd, before the long descent into Foix.
Stage 19 showcases a repeat of Stage 13's route from Saint-Lary-Soulan to Bagnéres-du-Luchon - we told you it was a classic combination! Before those final climbs are repeated, the riders first have to tackle two other Pyrenean staples of Le Tour, in the Col d'Aspin (12km @ 6.5%) or the easier side of the Hourquette d'Ancizan (8km @ 5.2%). A descent and short valley road to Saint-Lary Soulan for a chance at redemption for the losers of Stage 13 - first the Col de Val Louron-Azet (10.7km @ 6.8%, but much harder than that due to the easy first 2km), then the climb to Peyragudes, 8km @ 7.8%, with a final kilometre at 13% sure to put the hurt in, if the stage hasn't enough already. 130km seems like a marathon compared to Stage 13, but it's still short and we can expect fireworks, in the penultimate chance for GC movers and shakers.
The Pyrenees might just have saved its best for last in a race focused on the region. Much as Stage 19 repeats key climbs from Stage 13, Stage 20 is a very close repeat of Stage 12 - except this time instead of finishing after the descent of the Spandelles, it's time for a finish at Hautacam for one final high altitude test, and a last roll of the dice for the climbers in this race. 13.7km with an average gradient of 7.8% and a few kilometres in the middle at over 10%, it's an iconic Tour de France finish and could be setting for a stunning showdown of a final stage.
All that's left to do is ride around the Champs-Élysées, as the winners of the race enjoy some champagne and a time with their teammates, the losers stew on their pain or reflect on their relative successes, and those sprinters who have made it this far, who have had to wait for a while between pure flat stages - usually having to survive quite some climbs to get to the finish, enjoy a stage that is only for them.
6 Flat
4 Hilly
2 Medium Mountain
7 Mountainous (4 MTF)
2 Flat ITT (50km total)
I guess it was obvious that there would be much less ITT kilometers in this year's TDF after the 80+ last year - but that means there's actually no GT in 2024 that really favours the top TT stage racers. Hard to predict participation now, don't like that aspect
Generally speaking, it's definitely a nice route that should set the stage for some great racing, especially on days 19 and 20. Looking forward to that!
Looking at my current roster, I think it's the GT I like the least, but there's a transfer period to fix that
Thanks again for route & presentation - now looking forward to the ToA one!
Fabianski wrote:
I guess it was obvious that there would be much less ITT kilometers in this year's TDF after the 80+ last year - but that means there's actually no GT in 2024 that really favours the top TT stage racers. Hard to predict participation now, don't like that aspect
Definitely know what you mean - every Grand Tour has similar ITT kilometres, none with low or high. One MTT, one TTT, but otherwise I guess who goes where will be about the subtleties of the stages, race clashes and the MTT and TTT factors - maybe even what managers want to add to their team or rider palmarès for the top guns.
I also need to build a squad in transfers for these GTs, so agree with the other part of your post too
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Really excited for stages 13 and 17-20. In Mende in particular, I think that short 1-2km plateau should create an incredible finish, even if it isn't a huge GC day. Definitely some interesting stages to enjoy from the sideline!
Fun route for sure. Obviously with Aular my only climber I might have liked one GT where the TT'ing was a bit long, but he'll have to live with it Thank you for the great write-up jandal, and thanks Abhi for the great route compiling as always by the calendar team
