The Tour de France 2024

Go to ►

The 2024 Tour de France stage by stage

Tour de France Route map

Find hotels in France

Le Tour 2024 - A GUIDE TO THE ROUTE

 The thought of having the last day of the Tour de France and the openng ceremony of the Olympic Games within five days of each other in the same city, Paris, was too much for  the city authorities, the regional authorities and the French security services to stomach; and so it is that the 2024 Tour de France will break with a historic tradition, and stage the final day not in Paris, but at the other end of France, in the Mediterranean city of Nice.
    Furthermore, there'll be no symbolic sprint to the final finish line, but tensions up to the final day when the second time trials can change the final results.
    For Parisian cycling enthusiasts, 2024 will be a disappointment, as the riders will not even come within 100 km of the capital, the closest points being on Sunday 7th July, when the 9th stage starts and finishes in the historic city of Troyes, 140 km to the east of Paris in Champagne, or the start of the 10th stage two days later, when riders set off from Orleans, 120 km south of Paris, on their long journey to the Pyrenees.
    As in most recent years, the 2024 Tour starts off outside France, this time in the fabulous Italian city of Florence. Riders will spend three and a half days in Italy, before crossing the Alps into France during stage 4 as they head for a finish at the ski resort of Valloire after a gruelling climb to the 2,642 metre high Galibier pass where there may still be snow beside the road in early July.
    After heading out of the Alps on day 5, towards Lyon, riders will then spend the next two days in the Saône valley and Burgundy wine areas   (see stage 6 detailed route map), where stage 7 will take them on time trials past some of the greatest vineyards in France.
    Stage 8  (see detailed stage map) takes riders from the small town of Semur-en-Auxois, near Auxerre in northern Burgundy, eastwards to Colombey-les-deux-Eglise, a village whose name is eternally linked to that of General de Gaulle, whose family had their country residence there. The following day, stage 9, is likely to be interesting, as the 199 km circuit in the countryside to the east of Troyes includes 14 off-road sections, with cyclists facing dust or mud (depending on the weather) and thrills and spills on the "white roads", gravel tracks through the fields and vineyards of the area.
    After a rest day in Orleans on Monday 8th July, stage 10 (see detailed stage map) is a fairly flat ride south across the forests of the Sologne, via Vierzon and Issoudun and the great Abbey of Noirlac, to finish at Saint Armand Montrond, which prides itself as being at the geographic centre of metropolitan France.   
    The following day, stage 11  (see detailed stage map)  will take them from Evaux les Bains in the Creuse department, through the high Limousin area and into the Cantal, with a long climb from Ydes to the Pas de Peyrol at 1589m, the highest pass in the Massif Central, then down and up again for a finish at the skiing and hiking resort of Le Lioran.
    Stage 12 (see detailed stage map) crosses the southwestern slopes of the Massif Central from Aurillac passing the historic and spectacular cliffside shrine of Rocamadour, past the bastide town of Montflanquin and on to Villeneuve sur Lot. Stage 13  (see detailed stage map), from nearby Agen on the river Garonne, the French capital of prunes, is an undulating ride across the plains and hills of Gascony as far as Pau, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. After that, the going gets tough again.
    As riders set off from Pau at the start of stage 14, (see Pyrenean stages map) some will be hoping for a miracle as they pass through Lourdes and prepare for one of the classic climbs of the Tour de France, the ascent to the Col du Tourmalet. Though it's not as high as the Galibier, the pull up to the top of the pass at 2115 metres, after a day's start at just 200 metres, takes it out of even the best hill climbers. And that's just a start; after the Tourmalet, there are two more steep climbs before the day's finish at Saint-Lary-Soulan, at 1669 metres. Although on the following day, stage 15,  there's no climb as long and as high as the road up to the Tourmalet, riders face another gruelling challenge, with five passes between the start at Loudenvielle and the finish at the Plateau de Bielle – a classic Pyrenean stage.
    The following day, after riders have been taken out of the Pyrenees and down to the sea at Gruissan, could hardly be more of a contrast. Stage 16  starts with a flat ride along beside the sea, before what may well be a hot day's cycling through the vineyards and dry garrigue of the Languedoc plain, for a finish in Nimes, with its amazing UNESCO World Heritage listed Roman remains.
    The last five days of the Tour will take riders on a tour of inland Provence. Starting from the pretty little town of Saint Paul Trois Châteaux (which, for the record, does not have three castles), the route of stage 17 heads east through the hills of inland provence, past lavender fields and olive groves of Nyon, through the foothills of the Provençal Alps, then up into proper mountain terrain for a finish at  1500 metres at Superdevoluy. On day 18, after looping to the north from the start at Gap,  over the Col du Festre at 1441 metres and down through the spectacular Défilé de la Souloise gorge to the Barrage du Sautet, riders head southeast through the Alpine foothills, past the lac de Serre-Ponçon and on to Barcelonnette.
    Stage 19 is another high mountain day when the route follows close to the Italian border, taking in three peaks, including the Cime de la Bonette (Restefond) which, at 2802 metres, is the highest pass (not the highest road) in Europe – last visited by the Tour in 2008. The day's work finishes at Isola 2000, one of the higher and sunniest ski resorts in France.
    As if that wasn't enough, riders get taken down to the coast at Nice for the start of the next stage, stage 20, only to have to head back into the Alps for another day's mountain stage, with three passes at over 1500 metres and a finish at 1678 metres at the Col de la Couillole.  After that, the final day of time trials between Monaco and Nice will feel, for many, like a walk in the park, and a very attractive one too, taking in the dramatic corniche road overlooking the Mediterranean, through La Turbie and Eze, before dropping back down to Villefranche sur Mer and on into Nice. Riders will come past the Old Port, then along the seafront (Promenade des Anglais), and back, for a finishing line in Place Masséna.
    This will be a Tour to remember.




Visit the Official site of the tour de France


 A brief introduction to the regions of France