Tour de France Tour de France 2024 route rumours and announcements

[RedheadDane]

Hope that Evenepoel and Pogačar try to take advantage here before the Alps arrive.

Do we even know that Evenepoel will ride the Tour next year?

 

[KZD]

Do we even know that Evenepoel will ride the Tour next year?

Well this is the Tour 2024 not 2023, so I hope he rides it.

 

[RedheadDane]

Well this is the Tour 2024 not 2023, so I hope he rides it.

Bloody threads for races so far ahead in time!

 

[houtdffan]

They are just putting all the long stages into the Grand Départs so Gouvenou can still salivate over 140 km mountain stages. No worries, there will be plenty to complain about.

I was wondering if someone locked up Gouvenou and we had a real race designer design these 3 stages. A legit medium mountain stage > 200km? 3 straight 200km+ stages?

 

[tobydawq]

Bloody threads for races so far ahead in time!

Yeah, well, I think you lost a bit of authority on the last year/next year thing, here, to be honest.

 

[hayneplane]

For some reason I only remember Rimini being pan flat bunch sprints in the Giro, but this is pretty good. I don't expect GC action, and a pretty uncontested reduced sprint but it's still better than most.

Stage 2 is good, but as an early GT selection a finish on top would be fine as well.

Stage 3 is a stage. Of 225km. Can these guys still go 225km?

Yeah, as soon as I Rimini stage finish, my heart sunk but this profile is pretty strong for an opener

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

If the Rimini stage finished 10 kilometers earlier it would've been an absolutely brilliant first stage.

 

[tobydawq]

If the Rimini stage finished 10 kilometers earlier it would've been an absolutely brilliant first stage.

How many opening Tour stages finish on a random field?

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

How many opening Tour stages finish on a random field?

It's still 18 months to go. Build a city.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yeah, well, I think you lost a bit of authority on the last year/next year thing, here, to be honest.

I thought this was about next year's Tour, because discussing the 2024 Tour feels very far ahead in time. However, I won't make a 2024 TdF thread once we reach a more reasonable time.

It's still 18 months to go. Build a city.

Yeah, like the saying goes "Rome wasn't build in a day, but a random city in a field can be build in 18 months."

 

[tobydawq]

I thought this was about next year's Tour, because discussing the 2024 Tour feels very far ahead in time. However, I won't make a 2024 TdF thread once we reach a more reasonable time.



Yeah, like the saying goes "Rome wasn't build in a day, but a random city in a field can be build in 18 months."

Do you expect me to believe that you didn't know the 2023 Tour will start in the Basque Country or that its route was presented two months ago?

 

[DNP-Old]

It's pretty much more of a Nove Colli stage than a Pantani stage. I mean, if they did Carpegna before the San Marino climb I could see the Pantani tribute.

Oh well, at least it's not an opening stage for the pure sprinters, aka the bane of cycling and overall a nice first stage.

Agreed. Both Pantani stages sec are very acceptable, given the circumstances. Knowing it's the first week and the always underwhelming manner with which the Tour designs its route, I'm ecstatic. However, if you are to honour Pantani, the greatest climber to have ever lived, and you honour him with a few hills and bumps, it stings. You want to honour Pantani? Let's go to Montecampione or Les Deux Alpes, his magna opera. Both very feasible too, geographically speaking.

 

[Red Rick]

How many opening Tour stages finish on a random field?

Does stage 2 of the 2015 Tour count?

 

[Red Rick]

Can't think of any opening GT stages even remotely comparable to this one. It will probably just be a (heavily?) reduced bunch sprint, though - add a punchy climb in the foothills between San Marino and Rimini and this is a brilliant stage, now it looks similar to a Vosges stage into Mulhouse or Colmar which is not as enticing. Second stage is very nice although San Luca could have been a little closer to the finish line. Third stage is a bit of a shame considering what you can do (and has been done) in Torino but it makes sense considering they'll have to head in to the Alps the day after and the first two days aren't flat. Overall, an intriguing grand départ that could have been stellar with a few tweaks.

I mean stage 2 isn't too different from a number of other hilly stage 2s, or even the Col d'Eze 2020 stage.

 

[RedheadDane]

Do you expect me to believe that you didn't know the 2023 Tour will start in the Basque Country or that its route was presented two months ago?

Yes, I knew - I still know, my memory is not that bad... - but I just saw the names, and thought this was the 2023 thread that had, as those threads tend to do, evolved into the general race thread.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yes, I knew - I still know, my memory is not that bad... - but I just saw the names, and thought this was the 2023 thread that had, as those threads tend to do, evolved into the general race thread.

Sometimes it helps reading the thread title...

 

[tobydawq]

Sometimes it helps reading the thread title...

She was likely spooked by the presence of a number in it.

 

[OlavEH]

Very nice opening! Two really hilly stages the first weekend like this year. This is something else than the previous years with flat stages or at best a Mur de Bretagne finish or something similar.

A bit disappointing that they finish in Torino without doing any significant climbs on the stage, but it's pretty difficult when they start in Piacenza. And it's okay if the following stage is a proper mountain stage of some kind. Could we hope for Agnello - Izoard and a hllitop finish in Briancon?

 

[RedheadDane]

Sometimes it helps reading the thread title...

Yes... Yes... I know...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

She was likely spooked by the presence of a number in it.

Probably, though she was able to write 2023 afterwards.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Do you expect me to believe that you didn't know the 2023 Tour will start in the Basque Country or that its route was presented two months ago?

Yes, I knew - I still know, my memory is not that bad... - but I just saw the names, and thought this was the 2023 thread that had, as those threads tend to do, evolved into the general race thread.

It can't be true that this race does not have a thread!!!

 

[tobydawq]

It can't be true that this race does not have a thread!!!

That was on a Friday night!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

That was on a Friday night!

Sure, but you had still posted in the other thread earlier in the day.

Still I wouldn't mind you making an alternative 2024 Tour thread with some nice (and Nice) non-pictorial stage profiles.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Stage 3 is a stage. Of 225km. Can these guys still go 225km?

630k in three stages. The last editions were around 3.400k. So there are 2.800k left for 18 stages. We might get a few really short ones...

 

[OlavEH]

I mostly wonder what they will do in the Alps. They'll probably enter the Alps already on stage 4. Will they then do a high mountain stage? Or just the easiest way crossing into France. And will they immidiately leave the Alps or do more mountain stages? And will they return doing a big Mercantour stage before the finish in Nice. This is a highly unusual route, so it will be very interesting to see what happens.