Wednesday 21 December 2022 at 23h36
initially published on 12 October 2022 at 11.49PM, updated on 1 December 2022 at 12.47PM, on 3 December 2022 at 10.14PM and on 21 December at 11.36PM
In June already, La Gazzetta dello Sport announced the news and it came back up several times since ... the Tour de France 2024 would have its Grand Départ in Italy and would end ... not as usual on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, but in Nice, most probably on the Promenade des Anglais!
UPDATE 21 December 2022 at 11.36OM: while the finish of the last stage in Nice and its start in Monaco have already been announced and integrated in the versions early December of this article, Amaury Sport Organisation today officially announced the Grand Départ in Italy, with 3 stages, in a broadcast of the sports news on Italian TV. The information below thus now show what was in the official announcement done today. Concerning this Grand Départ which carries the name of the Grand Départ Florence Emilie-Romagne 2024, A.S.O. declared: In 2024, the programme for the first three stages offers a majestic panorama of the Italian cities and countryside while opening the hostilities with an exceptional sporting challenge.
The Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2024 in Italy
On 8 June, La Gazzetta dello Sport, in some way the Italian competitor of the Amaury Group - being part of the RCS Mediagroup which organises the Giro d'Italia, announced that the Tour de France 2024 would have its Grand Départ in Italy.During its 110 preceding editions, the Tour de France never before had a Grand Départ in Italy. And that despite the fact that there have been quite some starts abroad already, the first one took place in 1954 in Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Since that time, the Tour de France had several starts abroad, in Belgium, The Netherlands again, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, England, Switzerland, Ireland, Monaco and most recently Denmark. But never in Italy ... until 2024 if this information gets confirmed!
This race start would be full of references to the past, especially with the 100th anniversary of the first Italian victory in the Tour de France, by Ottavio Bottecchia in 1924, but also tributes to Italian riders like Gino Bartali, Gastone Nencini, Marco Pantani or Fausto Coppi with the stage cities of this Grand Départ.
The Italian sports newspaper even gave the details of the 4 (or 5?) stages which make up this Grand Départ of the 111th edition of the Grande Boucle, which according to the newspaper will cost 10 million euros:
The Tour de France 2024 finish with a time trial Monaco > Nice
In 2024, Paris will receive the Olympic Games starting on 26 July. With a Tour de France ending on 21 July, this leaves only little time between the two events. It's thus a well known secret that there's questioning about the possibility (or the impossibility) to let the Tour de France 2024 finish in Paris as usual, city which will at that time be fully preparing to receive the Games, its athletes and other members of the international delegations, with all the security around it.As usual every 4 years, the Tour de France 2024 will thus be moved ahead for one week (hence the start on 29 June already), to make sure the two events don't take place at the same time, but with the Olympic Games in the same city as the usual finish city of the Tour, this would still make the two sports events fully incompatible.
In June already, La Gazzetta dello Sport mentioned Nice as the finish city for the last stage of the Tour de France 2024.
At the end of July, as indicated by L'Equipe, the French Minister of Sports and of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, indicated that, in order to prevent the dispersion of the security forces, the finish of the Tour de France will be a bit earlier than usual and won't take place in Paris but rather in Nice.
The Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, indicated at that time that his teams are working next to Amaury Sport Organisation's teams since a few weeks in order to identify the conditions in which the finish of the 2024 edition of the Tour de France can take place in Nice. Amaury Sport Organisation hasn't confirmed this information yet, but coming from the Minister of sports and of the Mayor of Nice, the information seems quite solid anyway. However, where Christian Estrosi indicated at the end of July that further information would be announced during the month of September, Christian Prudhomme still hasn't communicated about this.
UPDATE 1 December 2022 at 12.47PM: today, A.S.O. officially announced that the Tour de France 2024 will end for the first time in its history far away from the Paris area*, more precisely with an individual time trial which will take place on 21 July 2024 in Nice.(* previously, the finishes took place in Ville d'Avray, at the Parc des Princes, at the velodrome de la Cipale in the Bois de Vincennes and on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées since 1975)
It'll be the first time since 1989 that the Tour de France will end with a time trial. Usually, the last time trial takes place either the forelast day as in the last few years or in the last week, like in 2023 and other previous editions (or even earlier, like in 1994). Will the suspense be as high as in 1989 when Laurent Fignon (Super U) had a 50 seconds gap on Greg Lemond (ADR-Agrigel-Bottechia) the day before the decisive time trial and where the French rider was beaten for 8 seconds by the American rider in the end (which still is the lowest gap for the Tour victory ever since), 35 years later? We'll know for sure on Sunday 21 July 2024 at the end of the day, but A.S.O. already seems to hint that this might be the case by saying that the stage the day before will be run on the suspenseful roads of the Nice backcountry.
UPDATE 3 December 2022 at 10.14PM: today, Amaury Sport Organisation announced the start location of this time trial: Monaco! The Principality will see the Tour de France come back for the 7th time in history for the Tour de France 2024, with the start ramp of this time trial which will be built up there. The first time the Tour went there was in 1939 (stage finish for Saint-Raphaël > Monaco, stage Monaco > Monaco and stage start for Monaco > Digne) and the most recent visit was the one for the Grand Départ in 2009 with an individual time trial and a stage start towards Brignoles. On 21 July 2024 it'll thus be the start location of an individual effort. It hasn't been announced whether the race route will follow the coast line or will go find a bit more difficulty, with a visit of Eze.
For now, nothing has been officially announced concerning the Grand Départ which could take place in Italy, another geographical first for the Tour de France since it never before saw a Tour's Grand Départ.
The map of the Grand Départ and the finish of the Tour de France 2024
Based on these rumours I created a very first version of a map of the Tour de France 2024 with this huge Grand Départ as well as the finish in Nice.(in order to zoom in on the map, click on it when the magnifying glass shows up and click on the arrows in the lower right corner to see it full size)
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1/ Saturday 29 June 2024 - Florence (Firenze) > Rimini - 205 km
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, this first stage would start from the Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence (Firenze). This would have been an explicit request from A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organisation), the organiser of the Tour de France. The name of Gino Bartali, two times winner of the Tour de France (in 1938 and 1948), which is related to Florence, but also the name of another Italian rider, Gastone Nencini, who - while wearing the yellow jersey - was presented to the President of the French Republic, Charles de Gaulle, while the Tour made a stop when passing by Colombey-les-Deux-Églises where the General was assisting to the forelast stage of the Tour de France 1960 as a simple spectator. After having said to his wife I'm annoyed, the Tour stops for me! It is because the Tour is decided already that it can stop!, De Gaulle said to Nencini: Good luck, you'll win the Tour! and that's indeed what happened the next day.In 2024, this stage towards Rimini shows a distance of 205 kilometers
and will probably go through Faenza and visit in the final part of the stage the Riviera romagnola following the coast line. The stage will have a positive height difference of 3700 meters and will visit another country, San Marino with the climb of the côte de Saint-Marin. This micro-state thus becomes the 14th country that has been visited by the Tour de France.2/ Sunday 30 June 2024 - Cesenatico > Bologna - 200 km
According to the Italian newspaper, the second stage of this Tour de France 2024 would start in Cesenatico, next to the previous day's finish, and this is the city where a certain Marco Pantani, last rider to have won both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France the same year, in 1998, grew up. The start location could be on the seaside, in front of the monument of the Pirate, Pantani's nickname.200 kilometers further, after having climbed some 4-5 kilometers long hills south of the finish, the riders will cross the white line in Bologna. Concerning this finish, A.S.O. indicates that in Bologna punchers have long traded blows on the ascent to San Luca in the Giro dell'Emilia-Romagna, and it's thus most probably that this climb will also be the finish of this 2nd stage of the Tour de France 2024.
3/ Monday 1 July 2024 - Modena > Piacenza
There would be a stage across the Apennines awaiting the riders on this Monday 1 July 2024, between Modena and Piacenza for this 3rd stage of the Tour de France 2024.3/ Monday 1 July 2024 - Piacenza > Turin (Torino) - 225 km
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5/ Wednesday 3 July 2024 - Pinerolo > ??? (France)
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the 4th stage of the Tour de France 2024, which would be the last of the Grand Départ in Italy, would start in Pinerolo, city which has already seen the Tour de France come visit, for a stage finish and start in 2011. But this is also the finish city of the famous Cuneo > Pinerolo stage of the Tour of Italy in 1949, which was won by Fausto Coppi after a long solo ride of no less than 192 kilometers.In June, La Gazzetta dello Sport spoke about a destination in France for this stage, without indicating which one, but more recently
There would have been an important transfer between Piacenza and Cuneo, but if Turin is ineed part of the Grand Départ there would be an extra stage which would allow the race to move on to there. Indeed,Torino News 24 indicates there would thus be a4th3rd stage in Italy between Piacenza and Turin, before a start the next day from Cuneo, towards France... which would mean a quite big Grand Départ in Italy! This third stage would be a sprinters stage.But the 4th stage might also be an opportunity for a time trial between Cuneo and Turin, two cities which are separated only by 41 kilometers.