Tour de France 2023 route presentation - Gallery

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The routes for the 2023 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes were unveiled on Thursday afternoon, with race directors Christian Prudhomme and Marion Rousse unveiling the details of the July stage races.

Double Tour winner Tadej Pogačar and reigning Tour de France Femmes champion Annemiek van Vleuten were the headline stars in attendance at the event, which saw a number of big names head to Paris to find out what they will be tackling next summer.

The long ceremony began with riders walking along the stage, introduced by their accomplishments in the sport, followed by a series of speeches and video highlights of the 2022 races. The president of the Basque government, Iñigo Urkullu, also spoke, with his region hosting the men's Grand Départ with three stages.

After a long build-up, Prudhomme and Rousse unveiled the 2023 race routes. The Puy de Dôme, the mountainous route, and the paucity of time trialling made the headlines in the men's race, while the women are set to tackle the Col du Tourmalet for the first time before concluding their race with a 22km time trial in Pau.

The route presentation took priority on the day despite the star names in attendance, with riders simply taking their seats for the presentation before speaking to the press to give their opinions on the parcours later on.

Alongside Pogačar and Van Vleuten sat Mark Cavendish, who is seeking a record-breaking 35th stage win at next year's race, and Marta Cavalli, who will be a co-leader at French squad FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope.

Cavendish said that there could be "seven or eight" sprint opportunities at the Tour, while noting that "I think the start is going to be the hardest I’ve seen in my career."

Pogačar, meanwhile, said that he liked the route, which is packed with climbing.

"It has a lot of climbing which I like," he said. "Particularly the first and third weeks. It's going to be fun. It's still a long while away but I'm sure it will be another great Tour and I'm excited for next July."

The women's parcours is "an upgrade" on the inaugural 2022 race, Van Vleuten concluded.

"Now with the time trial the course is more complete. So it is an upgrade," she said. "I'm not scared of those early stages, but they will be tricky, you need to stay focussed. It will be hard and sometimes hard to control, so I will also need my team."

Alpe d'Huez stage winner Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) was also in attendance, as were French stars Juliette Labous (Team DSM) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), and former green jersey winner Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco).

Other major names there to watch the presentation included Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan), Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM), and Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën).