The Tour de France 2023 route was unveiled this week
and it gives pride of place to the Pyrenees. With a departure from the Spanish Basque Country, a stage between Pau and Laruns, and one between Tarbes and the Cambasque plateau above Cauterets
from the first week of racing, the South West is honored. “The Pyrenees are unavoidable, indispensable and even inseparable from the great legend of the Tour de France“, confides Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France. Invited by the mayor of Tarbes, Gérard Trémège, this Saturday, October 29, he returned in more detail to the Pyrenean stages of the 2023 edition.
Passes also for “punchers”
Starting with the Béarnaise stage which starts from Pau, to reach Laruns, notably via the Marie Blanque pass, nearly 8 km long with an 8.7% drop. The next day, the runners will have to rally Tarbes to the plateau of Cambasque, next to Cauterets. “These are climbs with high percentages, but not very long. So punchers in great shape like Julian Alaphilippe in 2019 will be able to resist pure climbers who express themselves in much longer passes“, explains Christian Prudhomme.
A will of the race management to make the show last. The director of the Grande Boucle specifies: “We wanted to have beautiful Pyrenees, but not decisive Pyrenees. As organizers and fans, we don’t want to see everything in the first week“Nevertheless, the route promises two great stages, with the return of the emblematic Tourmalet, absent last year, and a passage through the Col d’Aspin, the two most crossed passes of the Tour de France.
Laruns, ideal arrival
Another care taken by the management: balance the arrivals at the top, as in the valleys. “You also have to be a good descender, be a real mountaineer to win. Lower finishes were also needed, but as close as possible to the last pass. Laruns brings together the ideal conditions“, says Christian Prudhomme. Only two cities allowed this configuration, Laruns or Loudenvielle. As in 2020, the choice fell on the Bearn village. A stage that is very similar to that of two years ago, with the difference that the riders will make a detour via Sainte-Engrâce and the Col de Soudet, before returning to the Ossau valley.
It should also be noted that Pau will be the city of arrival of the Women’s Tour de France on July 30. An icing on the cake for the Béarnais elected officials, but which is not trivial for the race director. “It’s the sporting choice that is decisive. There are a host of possibilities in the Pyrenees, we come back each time with pleasure“. The sporting choice takes precedence, but Christian Prudhomme concedes with a smile, “there are also the landscapes, and I can confirm it to you, the Pyrenees are very beautiful.”