(Paris) Oxygen mask recommended: the Tour de France 2024, with a unique route with a departure from Italy and an arrival in Nice, will gain altitude next summer with several incursions beyond 2000 m and the passage by the highest asphalt road in France.
Presented Wednesday at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, the 111e edition of the Grande Boucle is unlike any other since it will leave Italy for the first time, from Florence on June 29, and will arrive for the first time outside Paris, in Nice on July 21.
These two new features, unveiled a few months ago, are linked to the holding of the Olympic Games in Paris. Leaving abroad, for the third year in a row, and arriving far from the capital had become necessary in order not to overload the police and not to interfere with the final preparations for the Olympics.
This redraws the balance of an age-old race which will start a week earlier than usual, pass through the Alps twice, cross the Galibier on the fourth day and finish in Nice with a second individual time, 35 years after the defeat by eight seconds of Laurent Fignon against Greg Lemond on the Champs-Élysées.
The same logic pushes the women’s Tour de France to set off for the first time from abroad, from Rotterdam on August 12, the day after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, and to have half of its eight stages outside the borders of France, before arriving at Alpe d’Huez.
25 km above 2000 m
The men will spend most of their time in France, but they will start with three stages on Italian soil which – “an anomaly of history for this country of cycling legend”, according to Tour boss Christian Prudhomme – does not had never before hosted a “grand departure”.
The peloton will then return to France, crossing the Alps for the first time via the endless climb towards Sestrières (40 km!), the Montgenèvre, Lautaret and Galibier passes to arrive at Valloire.
“To climb this high so early on the fourth day is unheard of,” according to Prudhomme.
PHOTO PAVEL GOLOVKIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Outgoing two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard looked delighted with what he discovered on Wednesday.
This stage foreshadows a Tour that is less mountainous than this year’s – 27 passes, three fewer than in 2023 – but which will often be close to the sky.
From its height of 2642 m, the Galibier is often the roof of the Tour. But this time it will be surpassed by the summit of the Bonnette which sits at 2802 m, the highest asphalt road in France, which the peloton will take during the 19e stage towards Isola 2000 which also passes through the Col de Vars (2109 m).
Also including the venerable Tourmalet (2115 m) in the Pyrenees, the runners will spend no less than 25 km beyond the 2000 meter altitude barrier. A place where Tadej Pogacar has never felt very comfortable, unlike his rival Jonas Vingegaard, double outgoing winner who seemed delighted with what he discovered on Wednesday.
A time in the vineyards
But the 2024 Tour offers other areas of expression likely to please the Slovenian cannibal. Starting with the final weekend on the training grounds of the Monaco resident with a compact (133 km) but steep penultimate stage to the top of the Col de la Couillole, before the very hilly 34 km time between Monaco and Nice on the last day.
There will previously be a first rather flat 25 km time trial at the end of the first week in the vineyards between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin, a call for the Belgian prodigy Remco Evenepoel who should compete in his first Tour in 2024.
There will obviously also be several stages promised to the sprinters, 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 – 14 are on the program for a total of 32 km.
The Tour will also revisit the Massif Central, for a potentially explosive eleventh stage with 4,350 m of elevation gain. Before heading towards the Pyrenees for two of the four summit finishes of the 2024 Tour: at the Pla d’Adet first, via the Tourmalet, for the 50th anniversary of Raymond Poulidor’s last victory, and the next day on the Plateau by Beille.
In short, there should be something for everyone during this very special edition, before leaving again on more classic bases in 2025, with a return already confirmed on the Champs-Élysées and a possible departure from Hauts-de-France .