Regal reveals for Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes 2024 routes - Gallery
Jonas Vingegaard, Jasper Philipsen, Mark Cavendish, Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky and Audrey Cordon-Ragot among stars in Paris at presentation of next year's courses
Amid spotlights, speeches, and an all-star cast of pro cyclists, the official routes of the 2024 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift were revealed on Wednesday in Paris.
A polished programme took place at the Palais des Congrès, with race directors Christian Prudhomme and Marion Rousse first unveiling the eight stages for the Tour de France Femmes, taking place August 12-18 next summer, after the conclusion of the Paris Olympic Games. The men’s Tour, June 29-July 21, includes the traditional 21 stages and will finish ahead of the Games.
Before any maps were projected on the big screen for the attendees and a global audience watching via live streaming, many of the top names in the pro pelotons were introduced, including the defending women’s and men’s champions, Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and top sprinters Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx).
There was a parade of athletes across the stage before the champions made comments, including a number of French riders - Bryan Coquard, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Kevin Vauquelin, Benoît Cosnefroy, Valentin Madouas and Adrien Petit.
Also welcomed to the stage were Christine Majerus, Alexander Kristoff, Marta Cavalli, Valentin Madouas, Yara Kastelijn, Felix Gall, Ricarda Bauernfeind, Erica Magnali, Silvia Persico and Mark Cavendish, who is again seeking a record-breaking 35th stage win at next year's race.
Once a quick chat with the reigning champions Vollering and Vingegaard about winning last year's races was completed, the multi-media portion of the programme began with video highlights.
ASO President Jean-Étienne Amaury addressed the crowd and mentioned that a new trophy for the Tour de France in honour of the continued partnership with Le Credit Lyonnais would be made public at a later time.
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Finally it was time to get down to the business at hand, and the Tour de France Femmes route was disclosed as featuring eight stages in seven days across three countries for a total of 946km.
The Grand Départ takes place in the Netherlands from August 12-14 and the route then crosses into the Ardennes Classics iconic cities of Liège and Bastogne. Once entering France, the course travels into the Alps for two final mountain stages in Le Grand Bornand and Alpe d'Huez.
The final segment of the programme offered another Tour de France highlight reel and details about the first start for the Tour in Italy. Once the Mayor of Nice completed comments about the race finishing in southern France for the first time, the men’s route was splashed on the screens.
Once stages for all three weeks of the Grand Tour were disclosed, a summary of next year’s Tour included 3,492km of racing across four nations – Italy, San Marino, France, and Monaco. The race has 25km of racing above 2,000 metres and 27 mountains classified as second, first, or hors categorie.
Complete route analysis can be found at Cyclingnews for the Tour de France Femmes 2024 route and the Tour de France 2024 route.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
