The Grand Départ of the 2024 Tour de France will happen in Italy for the primary time within the 111th version of the race. The primary of three phases will start in Florence on June 29. The Tour de France has visited Italy numerous instances however by no means began within the ‘Stivale’ nation.
Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, made the announcement Wednesday on the TG Sport broadcast of RAI, disclosing details about the three opening highway phases for the three-week Grand Tour.
The opening stage will cowl 205km from Florence to Rimini, on the shores of the Adriatic in Emilia-Romagna. Organisers mentioned the trek by Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna would complete 3,700 metres of elevation acquire.
Stage 2 will run from Cesenatico for extra climbing on the roads to Bologna that can cowl 200km. The third stage will cowl 225km from Piacenza to Turin for a dash end within the capital of Piedmonte.
It has been reported that an estimated €10 million price raised by the Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Piemonte areas made funding doable for the 2024 Tour to happen in Italy. The beginning of stage 4 is anticipated to be in Pinerolo earlier than the race heads into France through the Alps.
The trio of phases will rejoice the one hundredth yr because the first Italian bike owner, Ottavio Bottecchia, gained the general title, doing so again to again in 1924 and 1925. Different Italian riders to have gained the Tour embody Gino Bartali, Riccardo Nencini, Marco Pantani and Fausto Coppi.
It’ll mark the third consecutive yr for the Tour to carry the general begin outdoors French borders, the 2022 race starting in Copenhagen, Denmark and subsequent yr’s Tour starting within the Basque Nation, with the crew presentation outdoors the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.
The 2024 Tour de France can be held per week sooner than common, with a time trial in Good on Sunday, July 21, to accommodate the Paris Olympic Video games scheduled for between July 26 and August 11.
It’s the first time in historical past that the race will finish outdoors of the Paris space. It’ll even be the primary time that the Tour concludes with a time trial since Greg LeMond dramatically pipped Laurent Fignon on the Champs-Elysées in 1989.
