The Tour de France

Event

Cycling TourismSporting Activities

  • dateFrom 5 July to 3 August 2025
  • place France

A.S.O/Benjamin Becker
© A.S.O/Benjamin Becker

Reading time: 0 minPublished on 19 April 2020, updated on 28 September 2023

It's a much-anticipated summer event. Every summer, the Tour de France electrifies the roads of France to the rhythm of a peloton led by the yellow jersey! The 2024 edition promises to be historic, with a start in Florence, Italy, and an unprecedented finish in Nice, on the Promenade des Anglais. See you June 29!

For the first time in its history, the main start will take place in Florence, Italy. The riders will then criss-cross the southern Alps and the Occitan coastline before tackling the Pyrenees and then crossing Brittany along part of the Atlantic Coast.

The race promises to be a spectacular affair, with 3,586 kilometres to be covered in 21 stages. Riders will face a number of challenges along the way: more than 27 passes of 2nd, 1st or Hors Catégorie (Beyond Classification), 7 mountain stages and 4 high altitude finishes. 
 

A grand finale... on the Côte d'Azur

Timothé Renaud / ASO
© Timothé Renaud / ASO

Like every year, Paris will host a stage of the Tour de France, but it won't be the last or the least competitive. Quite the contrary, in fact... Just a few days before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games, the riders in the peloton will set off from the Château de Versailles on Bastille Day, 14 July, before parading through the streets of the capital in a 44km time trial that could well prove decisive in the battle for the yellow jersey.

After passing through the south of Burgundy, the Tour de France returned to its familiar route through the Alps before descending the Rhône Valley to Provence and the Côte d'Azur...

For the first time in the history of the Tour de France, the 111th edition of the Grande Boucle will finish in Nice, on the iconic Promenade des Anglais, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A dream finale on the Côte d'Azur on 21 July. Emotion, suspense, adrenalin and thrills will all be on offer!

Initiated in 1903, the Tour de France is a legendary cycling race of international renown. Created by Henri Desgrange, director of the newspaper l'Auto, a visionary who wanted to create a sporting event to enhance his medium's standing and increase sales.

The Tour de France has become a beloved tradition, held every year for over a hundred years (apart from during the two world wars). Cyclists from all over the world come to fight to win the famous (and famously coveted) yellow jersey! The event is broadcast in no less than 190 countries and followed by millions of people around the world.

Four riders have won the Tour de France five times: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. Last year, in 2023, it was Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard who won for the second time.


The women's Tour de France

Since 2022, the Grande Boucle has become a women's race again through the Tour de France Femmes, led by Marion Rousse, a former French road cycling champion and television consultant. On 12 August 2024, after the Paris Olympic Games, the top cyclists worldwide will start from Rotterdam in the Netherlands and cycle over a thousand kilometers.

Admire the inimitable beauty of the French countryside

The Tour is the ideal opportunity for spectators and supporters to admire the diversity and the beauty of French landscapes, from craggy coasts regions and charming coastlines, to soaring mountains, lush farms and its picturesque towns and villages. The Tour de France is more than just a tradition: it's a beautiful escape into the heart of France and its riches.

A.S.O./Aurélien Vialatte
© A.S.O./Aurélien Vialatte

Le Tour, c'est aussi l'occasion pour les spectateurs et les supporters d'admirer la diversité et la beauté des paysages français, qu'il s'agisse des régions côtières, des montagnes et campagnes ou encore des villes et villages pittoresques... En 2024, une dizaine de nouveaux sites apercevront les coureurs pour la première fois dont Saint-Vulbas, Gevrey-Chambertin, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, Évaux-les-Bains, Gruissan, Superdévoluy ou encore le col de la Couillole. Une échappée belle au cœur de la France !

By Blandine Prigent

France.fr web editor

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