Next year’s Tour de France will be a treacherous affair featuring two treks through the Alps as organisers avoid Paris ahead of the Summer Olympics, while the women’s race will have a grand finale at L’Alpe d’Huez in August.For the first time since its creation in 1903, the men’s Tour will not finish in Paris with the winner being crowned in Nice after the race’s first Grand Depart in Italy, Florence playing host for the world’s greatest cycling race.There will be four stages in Italy, with some great names being honoured as the second stage will start a few kilometres from the late Marco Pantani’s birth town and finish in Rimini, where he died in 2004.The peloton will enter the Alps as early as the fourth stage and will return for the final block of racing, which will be decided with a mountain stage ending at the Col de la Couillole (15.7km at 7.1%) and a hilly individual time trial between Monaco and Nice.It will be the first time since 1989 that the last stage of the race will be actually competed. Since Greg Lemond won a time trial on the Champs-Elysees to pip France’s Laurent Fignon by eight seconds in the overall rankings, the final stage has always been a procession with only the final sprint being contested."The last three four days will be very tough because we will be in the mountains,” Tour director Christian Prudhomme said. A brutal finish at the Lioran could do some damage midway through the race in the Massif Central.Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and runner-up Tadej Pogacar, if he takes part, will once again be the top favourites."We were committed to avoid Paris because of the Olympics,” Prudhomme said on Wednesday. "There are only 28,000 police forces available and we knew we could not get more.”With the Olympics being staged in Paris from July 26-Aug 11, organisers decided, following talks with the government, to ease the pressure on police force by avoiding the capital, and the women’s Tour will even avoid France for the first three days, in the Netherlands and Belgium.It will, however, deliver a mouthwatering finale at L’Alpe d’Huez."We went to the Tourmalet last year, we wanted to go to iconic places and L’Alpe d’Huez is part of cycling’s history,” women’s Tour director Marion Rousse said.Tour de France route for 2024Stage 1 - June 29: Florence to Rimini - 205km (hilly)Stage 2 - June 30Cesenatico to Bologna - 200km (hilly)Stage 3 - July 1Piacenza to Turin - 225km (flat)Stage 4 - July 2Penerolo to Valloire - 138km (mountains)Stage 5 - July 3Saint Jean de Maurienne to Saint Vulbas - 177km (flat)Stage 6 - July 4Macon to Dijon - 163km (flat)Stage 7 - July 5Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin - 25km (flat ITT)Stage 8 - July 6Semur-en-Auxois to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises - 176km (flat)Stage 9 - July 7Troyes to Troyes - 199km (flat)First Rest Day - July 8Stage 10 - July 9Orleans to Saint-Amand-Montrond -187km (flat)Stage 11- July 10Evaux-les-Bains to Le Lioran - 211km (hilly)Stage 12 - July 11Aurillac to Villeneuve-sur-Lot - 204km (flat)Stage 13 - July 12Agen to Pau - 171km (flat)Stage 14 - July 13Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan -152km (mountains)Stage 15 - July 14Loudenvielle to Plateau de Beille - 198km (mountains)Second Rest Day - July 15Stage 16 - July 16Gruissan to Nimes - 187km (flat)Stage 17 - July 17Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Superdevoluy - 178km (mountains)Stage 18 - July 18Gap to Barcelonnette - 179km (mountains)Stage 19 - July 19Embrun to Isola 2000 - 145km (mountains)Stage 20 - July 20Nice to Col de la Couillole - 133km (mountains)Stage 21Monaco to Nice - 34km (hilly ITT)
October 26, 2023 | 12:19 AM