Iconic climbs, TT tests and a historic finish: Why the 2024 Tour de France route is the most exciting in recent history

Christian Prudhomme described the route of the 111th edition of the Tour de France as 1+1+1 because of three firsts for the world’s biggest bike race: a Grand Départ in Italy, a foray through San Marino, and a finale outside Paris on the Cote d’Azur.

But such a reductive, albeit snappy, summary of next July’s Tour hardly does this spellbinding route justice.

Five summit finishes, nods to tradition with trips up the mythical Tourmalet and Galibier, a return to the unforgiving Plateau de Beille and to the otherworldly Cime de la Bonette – the highest paved pass in the Alps – plus 32km of gravel, a hilly day in the lush Massif Central, and two tantalising time trials – including a spectacular final day race against the clock between Monaco and Nice – makes the 2024 edition of Le Tour one of the hardest in recent memory.

It also, crucially, in this era of environmental concern, contains no long transfers requiring flights – with a linear, albeit squiggly, course that doesn’t try to cover too much ground, geographically speaking.

And while the first proper summit finish does not come until Stage 14 on the Pyrenean climb of Pla d’Adet above the ski resort of Saint-Lary-Soulan, the opening stage of the race features more climbing than ever before, the Col du Galibier comes on day four, and the riders will tackle no fewer than 25km above 2,000m over the course of a captivating parcours that will suit climbers far more than rouleurs, but one that should keep the tension up right until the final pedal strokes up and down the famous Promenade des Anglais towards the historic Place Massena.

Meanwhile, the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes sees the rebooted race start outside France for the first time with a Grand Départ in the Dutch city of Rotterdam and a thrilling conclusion on the famous 21 hairpin bends of Alpe d’Huez as part of the race’s first foray into the Alps.

Without further ado – while desperately trying not to dwell on the defending champion’s deployment of a black turtleneck and velour jacket combo at the star-studded event in Paris’s Palais des Congrès on Wednesday – we look at some of the main talking points of next year’s route…

The rumour mill has Tadej Pogacar – runner-up behind Jonas Vingegaard in the last two editions – targeting a maiden appearance in the Giro d’Italia next year in a bid to shake up his programme and potentially land an increasingly rare double. But even if the two-time Tour champion decides to give the Giro a pass, the Slovenian will still get to test his Grand Tour legs over the Italian roads with three and a half stages in Italy.

For the first time in Tour history, the race will begin over the Italian border with a stage setting a new record for the highest elevation gain for a Tour curtain-raiser: 3,600m. Despite the hilly tests of the Apennine backbone that runs through Emilia-Romagna, the opening stage from Florence on Saturday 5th July finishes on the Adriatic coast in Rimini after a maiden passing through San Marino.

Given the uphill tests along the way, a reduced sprint or a breakaway could go the distance – a scenario that may repeat itself in Stage 2 with a double ascent of the infamous San Luca climb preceding the finish in Bologna.

The sprinters will finally get to test their legs on day three with a flat ride into Turin for the first of eight finishes that could be decided in a bunch sprint.

After Sestriere, the race will enter France for the first time via the climb of Montgenevre ahead of a flat finish in Valloire – but the Tour returns to Italy again in Stage 19 with the penultimate summit finish at Isola 2000.

After Montgenevre and before that flat finish in Valloire, there’s the small matter of the legendary ascent of the Col du Galibier on the menu. But fans will have to wait another 10 days before the first proper summit finish of the race, which comes in the Pyrenees after the first of two time trials and a lumpy day in the Massif Central.

There may be no sprint showdown on the Champs-Elysees this year – for the first time since its inauguration in 1975 – but the sprinters will still have eight opportunities to battle for wins, starting with Stage 3 to Turin.

Back-to-back stages once the race enters France – Stage 5 to Saint-Vulbas (the official home of boule) and Stage 6 to Dijon (where the Astana train will hope to cut the mustard) could see Mark Cavendish enter the history books by taking the outright stage record.

Cavendish needs just one more win to edge ahead of Eddy Merckx and it will be his sole priority for 2024 after the Manx Missile postponed his retirement following the heartbreak of crashing out in the first week of last year’s race.

Other sprint opportunities will come in Stage 8 to Colombrey-Les-Deux-Eglises, Stage 10 to Saint-Armand Montrond (where Cavendish memorably won from the break on a day of crosswind chaos in 2013), Stage 12 to Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Stage 13 to Pau and Stage 16 to Nimes.

Fail to win before Nimes, however, and the fastmen might as well pack their bags and wave goodbye: the remaining five stages feature three summit finishes, a hilly day for the breakaway (Stage 18 to Barcelonette) and the deciding TT in Nice.

Starting in the cradle of Pinot Noir, Nuits-Saint-Georges, and ending in the burgundy hotbed of Gevrey-Chambertin, the 25km TT tackles some rolling roads through the vineyards where defending champion Vingegaard will look to put time into his main rivals after his emphatic race of truth earlier this summer.

There will be a total of 59km against the clock in the 111th edition.

Stage 9 features the same 14 sectors of gravel that features in the Tour de France Femmes last summer with the peloton passing over 32km of white roads cutting through the surrounding vineyards. On top of the rugged terrain the riders will negotiate 2,000m of climbing in this Strade Bianche-style loop ride to and from Troyes.

The inclusion of gravel in the Tour has raised eyebrows from many quarters and it will have the main contenders on red alert given the drama that played out for Jumbo-Visma when the 2022 race took on the cobbles in that unforgettable mini-Paris-Roubaix of a stage to Arenberg…

If the first time trial and the subsequent gravel doesn’t do the damage then the succession of climbs in Stage 11 in the Cantal mountains of the Massif Central could have a say on the outcome of the yellow jersey. The stage finishes in the ski resort of Le Lioran but it’s not exactly a summit showdown given the gradual nature of the final ascent and a downhill segment near the finish.

Before that, the riders will take on the picturesque climbs of the Col de Neronne, Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol and Col du Perthus in a stage that mirrors the day Greg van Avermaet soloed into yellow with a memorable win in 2016. Perhaps someone else will sniff an opportunity to enjoy some time in the race lead before the serious stuff…

The third Saturday of the race finally throws the first of five summit finishes in the path of the peloton with a demanding day that features the legendary Col du Tourmalet and the isolated Hourquette d’Ancizan ahead of the final ascent of the Pla d’Adet. It should be worth the wait.

It’s genuinely too tight to call which stage will be pushed as the étape reine of this Tour given the wealth on offer. Take your pick from:

Stage 15: Bastille Day falls on the second day in the Pyrenees with a stage that climbs the Peyresourde from the go, followed by the Col de Mente, Portet d’Aspet and Col d’Agnes – all building up to a climb where there’s nowhere to hide: the vicious Plateau de Beille, which is being used for the first time since Jelle Vanendert’s win in 2011, when Thomas Voeckler battled to retain the yellow jersey. With almost 5,000m of climbing, this will have Carlton Kirby saying the word “brutal” even more than usual.

Stage 19: Four days later – after the rest day and the third summit finish at Superdevoluy, sandwiched between potential breakaway days to Nimes (where Nils Politt won in 2021) and Barcelonnette – the riders head into the mystical Mercantour national park via the Col du Vars and the Cime de la Bonette, the highest paved road in the Alps at 2,802m. A third climb over 2,000m will decide the spoils over the border in the Italian ski resort of Isola 2000, where Vincenzo Nibali secured his 2016 Giro win.

Stage 20: A celebration of an iconic Paris-Nice offering with the hairpins of the Col de Braus ahead of the Cols de Turini, de la Colmiane and de la Couillole. Over 4,400m of climbing in just 133km – on the penultimate day but with the decisive time trial still looming – will pack an almighty punch.

Only on four occasions will potentially vital bonus seconds be available for the first three riders: on the second passage of the San Luca climb in Stage 2, over the summit of the Galibier in Stage 4, on the Col du Pertus in Stage 11 and the Col du Noyer in Stage 17.

Not only has every Tour since the first edition in 1903 started in Paris, every race since 1975 has culminated on the famous cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees. But the Paris 2024 Olympic Games means the French capital is off limits in July, resulting in a last day ride along the Cote d’Azur and into Nice.

Rather than try to recreate the processional stage vibe on the French Riviera with a poor man’s Champs sprint on the Promenade des Anglais, ASO have opted for the Tour’s first TT finale since 1989 and that dreamy Greg LeMond win over Laurent Fignon. A stunning parcours from Monaco to Nice – via the climbs of La Turbie and the Col d’Eze – means we won’t even need an eight-second win for a special spectacle.

Both Prudhomme and fans alike will hope Vingegaard won’t be as dominant as he was in this year’s Tour – or that the Dane fashion impresario at least starts with a deficit of a couple of minutes to keep the tension going right to the end.

Christian Prudhomme and the race organisers could not have come up with a better route to decide which of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard reaches the milestone of a third Tour win first. It’s a slow-building, captivating route that plays to the strengths of both riders while also throwing in enough potential curveballs – including gravel, wind, iconic climbs and enough lumpy ambush territory – to keep them on their toes ahead of a final week that will keep asking questions.

What’s more, two time trials should be enough to capture the attention of Remco Evenepoel who will surely make his long-awaited Tour debut, while it also sets the scene perfectly for Bora-hansgrohe new signing Primoz Roglic to avenge his Planche des Belles Filles loss to compatriot Pogacar while doing over his former employers at Jumbo.

While there is a lack of outlet for the sprinters beyond Stage 16, there will be ample opportunity for the fastmen in the opening two weeks – and certainly enough to play into the exciting narrative of Mark Cavendish’s push to make history.

And the succession of mountainous tests ahead of the first final day TT since 1989 will more than make up for the absence of Paris. In fact, the race of truth between Monaco and Nice could prove such a success that we don’t have to wait so long for a deviation from the Champs-Elysees again.

As we all know, it’s the riders that make the race and not the route. But the brave and bold parcours for the 2024 Tour de France has all the trimmings of a classic. Not only may it prove to be the best in recent history, it could certainly change the way the world’s biggest bike race is held in the next phase of its existence – for the better.

Running between Monday 12th August and Sunday 18th August, the third edition of the Tour de France Femmes sees the first half of the race take place on foreign soil.

Two pan-flat stages in the Netherlands (Rotterdam to The Hague – 124km, and Dordrecht to Rotterdam – a beguilingly short 67km) are followed by a snappy 6.3km ITT around the same Dutch port that will be the epicentre of the race’s first foreign Grand Départ.

The peloton heads into Belgium with a hilly stage to Liege on day four before the race finally heads into France in Stage 5 with a lumpy ride from Bastogne to Amneville, where the sprint will play out on a ramped finale.

Five climbs pepper Stage 6 ahead of a downhill run into Morteau ahead of back-to-back days in the Alps, which are being deployed for the first time in the revamped race following previous visits to the Vosges and Pyrenees. Stage 7 concludes on the climb of le Grand-Bornand while an epic final 150km Stage 8 sees the riders tackle the mighty Col du Glandon ahead of a showpiece and historic finale on Alpe d’Huez.

In a race that starts in her homeland and ends on the so-called Dutch mountain, can defending champion Demi Vollering do the double? It’s too early to say, but she certainly had the right armoury to secure successive wins.