Tour de France 2023: One time trial and four mountain finishes

Tadej Pogacar was in high spirits at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. The route presentation of the 110th Tour de France was probably to the liking of the Slovenian cycling star.

• Tour de France 2023: Here is an overview of all stages with altitude profiles

After all, the 2023 Grand Boucle will once again feature a showdown in the Vosges on the penultimate day. Just like in 2020, when Pogacar took his first yellow jersey in a memorable time trial. However, when the Grand Départ takes place on 1 July in Bilbao, Spain, Pogacar will start the 3404-kilometre tour as the challenger to the Danish defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, which traditionally ends three weeks later on the Champs Élysées in Paris.

The 2023 Tour will be decided in the mountains. Eight stages through the high mountains, including four mountain finishes, await the riders. This was revealed at the route presentation on Thursday. Time trial skills are not so important this time, with only one race against the clock over 22 kilometres in the final week. The sprinters will also get their money's worth. Eight flat finishes, including the prestigious sprints in Bordeaux and Paris, are included in the programme.

Pogacar likes the route

"I really liked the route, it's going to be very nice. It's good that the difficult stages come so early," said Pogacar, who, unlike his rival Vingegaard, was on site in Paris. The first mountain finish awaits on day six in Cauterets-Cambasque, where record winner Miguel Indurain took his first Tour stage win in 1989. After that, there will be finishes at altitude on the Puy-de-Dome, the Grand Colombier and in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. The decision was to be made on the penultimate day on the difficult stage to Le Markstein Fellering with five climbs. Not far from there, Pogacar had snatched the yellow jersey from his compatriot Priomoz Roglic in La-Planche-des-Belles-Filles in 2020.

Of the famous climbs, the Col du Tourmalet is part of the programme, but Alpe d'Huez or Mont Ventoux will not be tackled. The north of France will also be completely excluded this time, meaning that the stars will be spared uncomfortable cobbled stages.

"This is not a Tour for time triallists. For Bora-Hansgrohe that's rather positive. We don't have the real time trial specialists. I currently see names like Jai Hindley, Aleksandr Vlasov, Emanuel Buchmann, perhaps also Lennard Kämna. We'll have to analyse the course in depth over the next few weeks," said team boss Ralph Denk of the German Bora-hansgrohe team with a view to his possible line-up.

Grand Départ in Bilbao

The Grand Départ will take place on 1 July in Bilbao, Spain, where a circuit awaits the riders. The second stage also ends in the Basque Country in San Sebastian before returning to France.

When the winner is crowned in Paris on 23 July 2023, the second edition of the revived Tour de France for women will kick off in Clermont-Ferrand. The race will cover 956 kilometres from 23 to 30 July. The winner will be crowned a week later in Pau. One of the highlights of the penultimate stage is the mountain finish on the giant Tourmalet in the Pyrenees. This year, the exceptional Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten won the Tour de France Femmes.

The stage plan of the 110th Tour de France:

Stage 1 (1 July): Bilbao - Bilbao (182 km)

Stage 2 (2 July): Vitoria-Gasteiz - San Sebastian (209 km)

Stage 3 (3 July): Amorebieta-Etxano - Bayonne (185 km)

Stage 4 (4 July): Dax - Nogaro (182 km)

Stage 5 (5 July): Pau - Laruns (165 km)

Stage 6 (6 July): Tarbes - Cauterets-Cambasque (145 km)

Stage 7 (7 July): Mont-de-Marsan - Bordeaux (170 km)

Stage 8 (8 July): Libourne - Limoges (201 km)

Stage 9 (9 July): Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat - Puy de Dôme (184 km)

Rest day (10 July) in Clermont-Ferrand

Stage 10 (11 July): Vulcania - Issoire (167 km)

Stage 11 (12 July): Clermont-Ferrand - Moulins (180 km)

Stage 12 (13 July): Roanne - Belleville-en-Beaujolais (169 km)

13th stage (14 July): Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne - GrandColombier (138 km)

14th stage (15 July): Annemasse - Morzine Les Portes du Soleil (152 km)

Stage 15 (16 July): Les Gets Les Portes du Soleil -Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc (180 km)

Rest day (17 July) in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc

16th stage (18 July): Passy - Combloux, individual time trial (22 km)

Stage 17 (19 July): Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc - Courchevel (166 km)

Stage 18 (20 July): Moûtiers - Bourg-en-Bresse (186 km)

Stage 19 (21 July): Moirans-en-Montagne - Poligny (173 km)

Stage 20 (22 July): Belfort - Le Markstein Fellering (133 km)

21st stage (23rd July): Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - Paris Champs Élysées (115 km)

Total distance: 3404 km

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