tour de france auto race

History & winners

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The current Tour Auto treads in the footsteps of events dating back to the first Tour de France Automobile in 1899. It’s the oldest motor car race still organized!

The “Tour de France Automobile”, under the wing of the Automobile Club de France, was born in 1899. Run again in 1906, taking into consideration the performance of cars at this time, the 4,000 km event was a veritable adventure. The event was interrupted several times, principally due to the wars. The first post WWII event took place in 1951.

The “Tour de France Automobile” was a unique event in the world of motor racing, with a mix of open road, classic race track and hill track scores across France. By the early 1960s, the Tour de France was a simply amazing event. The grids were full of amazing cars driven by stars like  Rauno Aaltonen ,  Jean-Pierre Beltoise ,  Lucien Bianchi ,  Bernard Darniche ,  Patrick Depailler ,  Vic Elford ,  Gérard Larrousse ,  Willy Mairesse ,  Timo Makinen ,  Henri Pescarolo ,  Jo Schlesser ,  Maurice Trintignant …

FIRST RETURN

Stopped once again in 1965, the rally was revived in 1969 thanks to five-time winner  Bernard Consten .

This golden era saw prototypes such as Matra 650, Ferrari 512 and Ford GT40 on the roads, as well as the “Tour Auto” name for the first time. Ten years later, economic constraints linked to the oil crisis affected the event. In 1986, due to the lack of sponsors and of competitors, the 50th event was the final one in its original form.

In 1992, Patrick Peter brought new blood to the Tour Auto. Supported by several motor racing enthusiasts, he gave the event a second life as an historic event for classic cars of a model that competed in the original Tour de France Automobile between 1951 and 1973. In three years, the Tour Auto became one of the top historic rallies in the world.

The Tour Auto has always been appreciated by renowned drivers and celebrities like  Rauno Aaltonen ,  Rowan Atkinson  (Mr Bean),  Jürgen Barth ,  Félix Baumgartner ,  Derek Bell ,  Guy Berryman  ( Coldplay ),  Jack Brabham ,  Kenny Bräck ,  Claude Brasseur ,  François Chatriot ,  Erik Comas ,  Maëva Coucke  (Miss France),  Yannick Dalmas ,  Bernard Darniche ,  Cyril Despres ,  Luc Ferry ,  Guy Fréquelin ,  Gérard Holtz ,  Arsène Jiroyan ,  Jacques Laffite ,  Gérard Larrousse ,  Simon Le Bon  (Duran Duran),  Jochen Mass ,  Stirling Moss ,  Olivier Panis ,  Henri Pescarolo ,  Emanuele Pirro ,  Jean Ragnotti ,  Walter Rörhl ,  Armin Schwarz ,  Patrick Tambay ,  Ari Vatanen …

LIST OF WINNERS

Tour de France 2024

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2024 tour de france information.

The 111th edition of the Tour de France starts in Florence, Italy, on Saturday, June 29 and ends three weeks later in Nice on Sunday, July 21. It is the first time the Tour starts in Italy and the first time it finishes in Nice to avoid the preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics Games, which begin just a week later.

The route of the world's biggest race covers a total of 3,492km with some 52,320 metres of overall elevation, passing through four nations – Italy, San Marino, France, and Monaco. It features two individual time trials for a total of 59km, four mountain-top finishes, a series of gravel sections on stage 9, and a final hilly time trial to Nice. The official route was unveiled on October 25 in a special ceremony in Paris.

Tour de France champion  Jonas Vingegaard  (Jumbo-Visma) won his second GC title last year and will be back to defend his title against top rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who finished second overall. Vingegaard is likely to face a huge challenge from not just Pogačar, but also Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and former teammate turned rival Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Join Cyclingnews' coverage of the 2024 Tour de France with live coverage, race reports, results, photo galleries, news and race analysis.

• Tour de France 2024 route

The 2024 Tour de France includes 52,230 metres of vertical gain across 3,492km of climbs, sprints and time trialling from Italy into France, with fewer high climbs than in the past and shorter stages. 

It is a balanced three weeks of racing that includes eight flat stages, four mountain-top finishes and two individual time trials, the final test against the clock is a hilly time trial to Nice that could create suspense. The race has 25km of racing above 2,000 metres and 27 mountains classified as second, first, or HC.

Florence, Italy, will host the team presentation, and stage 1 will roll out from Piazzale Michelangelo to open the Grand Tour for the first time. The first two stages are just over 200km each and include climbing, with the third day in Italy a flatter affair at 225km from Piacenza to Turin. 

Stage 4 heads into France and straight away to the Alps, with climbs across Sestriere, the Col de Montgenèvre and the Col du Galibier before a fast descent to Valloire. After two days with opportunities for breakaways and fast finishers, the first time trial comes on stage 7 at 25km. The first week ends with back-to-back stages ending in the champagne capital of Troyes to the southeast of Paris, including stage 9, which is a far tougher day due to the 14 sectors of gravel.

Week two of the 2024 Tour starts with a four-day ride south to the Pyrenees via the Massif Central and the rural France Profonde, with stages to Saint-Amand-Montrond, Le Lioran, Villeneuve-sur-Lot and then Pau. The Tour celebrates the Bastille Day holiday weekend in the Pyrenees with consecutive mountain finishes - stage 14 finishes in Pla d'Adet after climbing the Col du Tourmalet and the Hourquette d’Ancizan while stage 15 climbs the Portet d'Aspet and the Col d’Agnes for the finish up to Plateau de Beille.

Following the second rest day in Gruissan on the Mediterranean coast near the border with Spain on Monday, July 15, the final week leads into the Alps. The contenders should face a final shakeout once the race reaches stage 20, as the 2,802-metre high Cime de la Bonette and final ascent to Isola 2000 will be decisive. The final stage of the 2024 Tour is a 34km hilly time trial from Monaco to Nice.

Check out all the details of the 2024 Tour de France route .

• There's no way to Jumbo-proof the Tour de France - 2024 route analysis
• ‘I think it’s a good parcours for me’ - Jonas Vingegaard keen on 2024 Tour de France route
• Mark Cavendish: 'It might be the hardest route I've ever seen at the Tour de France'
• Jasper Philipsen sees 'a very difficult end' for sprinters in 2024 Tour de France
• Tour de France 2024 gravel stage 'increases chance of bad luck' says Plugge
• Remco Evenepoel tempted by 2024 Giro d'Italia-Tour de France combo
• Regal reveals for Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes 2024 routes - Gallery
• As it happened: All the information about the 2024 Tour de France route unveiled
• Tour de France 2024 routes – All the rumours ahead of the official presentation

Tour de France 2024 Contenders

Defending Tour de France champion  Jonas Vingegaard will again have a strong Jumbo-Visma team to support his quest for a third title, but this time, former team leader Primož Roglič has turned to rival as he looks to give Bora-Hansgrohe top billing. Vingegaard will also face huge challenges from Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep). 

In the flat stages, look for last year's green jersey victor Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to contest for another title against Fabio Jakobsen , now with Team dsm-firmenich, and Caleb Ewan , now with Jayco-AlUIa. And fastman Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) is back for an 18th pro season to mix it up in the sprints, on the hunt for a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage victory.

And there will be opportunities across the three weeks for breakaway riders to shine, including the likes of Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

Tour de France 2024 stages

• Tour de France past winners
• Stage 1 | Florence - Rimini 2024-06-29 205km
• Stage 2 | Cesenatico - Bologna 2024-06-30 200km
• Stage 3 | Piacenza - Turin 2024-07-01 225km
• Stage 4 | Pinerolo - Valloire 2024-07-02 138km
• Stage 5 | Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Saint-Vulbas Plaine de l'Ain 2024-07-03 177km
• Stage 6 | Mâcon - Dijon 2024-07-04 163km
• Stage 7 | Nuits-Saint-Georges - Gevrey-Chambertin (ITT) 2024-07-05 25km
• Stage 8 | Semur-en-Auxois - Colombey-les-Deux-Églises 2024-07-06 176km
• Stage 9 | Troyes - Troyes 2024-07-07 199km
• Rest Day 1 | Orléans 2024-07-08
• Stage 10 | Orléans - Saint-Amand-Montrond 2024-07-09 187km
• Stage 11 | Évaux-les-Bains - Le Lioran 2024-07-10 211km
• Stage 12 | Aurillac - Villeneuve-sur-Lot 2024-07-11 204km
• Stage 13 | Agen - Pau 2024-07-12 171km
• Stage 14 | Pau - Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d'Adet) 2024-07-13 152km
• Stage 15 | Loudenvielle - Plateau de Beille 2024-07-14 198km
• Rest Day 2 | Gruissan 2024-07-15
• Stage 16 | Gruissan - Nîmes 2024-07-16 187km
• Stage 17 | Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Superdévoluy 2024-07-17 178km
• Stage 18 | Gap - Barcelonnette 2024-07-18 179km
• Stage 19 | Embru - Isola 2000 2024-07-19 145km
• Stage 20 | Nice - Col de la Couillole 2024-07-20 133km
• Stage 21 | Monaco - Nice (ITT) 2024-07-21 34km

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The Birth of the Tour de France

By: Christopher Klein

Updated: May 8, 2023 | Original: June 28, 2013

On July 1, 1903, 60 men mounted their bicycles outside the Café au Reveil Matin in the Parisian suburb of Montgeron. The five-dozen riders were mostly French, with just a sprinkle of Belgians, Swiss, Germans and Italians. A third were professionals sponsored by bicycle manufacturers, the others were simply devotees of the sport. All 60 wheelmen, however, were united by the challenge of embarking on an unprecedented test of endurance—not to mention the 20,000 francs in prize money—in the inaugural Tour de France.

At 3:16 p.m., the cyclists turned the pedals of their bicycles and raced into the unknown.

Nothing like the Tour de France had ever been attempted before. Journalist Geo Lefevre had dreamt up the fanciful race as a stunt to boost the circulation of his struggling daily sports newspaper, L’Auto. Henri Desgrange, the director-editor of L’Auto and a former champion cyclist himself, loved the idea of turning France into one giant velodrome. They developed a 1,500-mile clockwise loop of the country running from Paris to Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes before returning to the French capital. There were no Alpine climbs and only six stages—as opposed to the 21 stages in the 2013 Tour— but the distances covered in each of them were monstrous, an average of 250 miles. (No single stage in the 2013 Tour tops 150 miles.) Between one and three rest days were scheduled between stages for recovery.

The first stage of the epic race was particularly dastardly. The route from Paris to Lyon stretched nearly 300 miles. No doubt several of the riders who wheeled away from Paris worried not about winning the race—but surviving it.

Unlike today’s riders, the cyclists in 1903 rode over unpaved roads without helmets. They rode as individuals, not team members. Riders could receive no help. They could not glide in the slipstream of fellow riders or vehicles of any kind. They rode without support cars. Cyclists were responsible for making their own repairs. They even rode with spare tires and tubes wrapped around their torsos in case they developed flats.

And unlike modern-day riders, the cyclists in the 1903 Tour de France, forced to cover enormous swathes of land, spent much of the race riding through the night with moonlight the only guide and stars the only spectators. During the early morning hours of the first stage, race officials came across many competitors “riding like sleepwalkers.”

Hour after hour through the night, riders abandoned the race. One of the favorites, Hippolyte Aucouturier, quit after developing stomach cramps, perhaps from the swigs of red wine he took as an early 1900s version of a performance enhancer.

Twenty-three riders abandoned the first stage of the race, but the one man who barreled through the night faster than anyone else was another pre-race favorite, 32-year-old professional Maurice Garin. The mustachioed French national worked as a chimney sweep as a teenager before becoming one of France’s leading cyclists. Caked in mud, the diminutive Garin crossed the finish line in Lyon a little more than 17 hours after the start outside Paris. In spite of the race’s length, he won by only one minute.

“The Little Chimney Sweep” built his lead as the race progressed. By the fifth stage, Garin had a two-hour advantage. When his nearest competitor suffered two flat tires and fell asleep while resting on the side of the road, Garin captured the stage and the Tour was all but won.

The sixth and final stage, the race’s longest, began in Nantes at 9 p.m. on July 18, so that spectators could watch the riders arrive in Paris late the following afternoon. Garin strapped on a green armband to signify his position as race leader. (The famed yellow jersey worn by the race leader was not introduced until 1919.) A crowd of 20,000 in the Parc des Princes velodrome cheered as Garin won the stage and the first Tour de France. He bested butcher trainee Lucien Pothier by nearly three hours in what remains the greatest winning margin in the Tour’s history. Garin had spent more than 95 hours in the saddle and averaged 15 miles per hour. In all, 21 of the 60 riders completed the Tour, with the last-place rider more than 64 hours behind Garin.

For Desgrange, the race was an unqualified success. Newspaper circulation soared six-fold during the race. However, a chronic problem that would perpetually plague the Tour de France was already present in the inaugural race—cheating. The rule-breaking started in the very first stage when Jean Fischer illegally used a car to pace him. Another rider was disqualified in a subsequent stage for riding in a car’s slipstream.

That paled in comparison, however, to the nefarious activity the following year in the 1904 Tour de France. As Garin and a fellow rider pedaled through St. Etienne, fans of hometown rider Antoine Faure formed a human blockade and beat the men until Lefevre arrived and fired a pistol to break up the melee. Later in the race, fans protesting the disqualification of a local rider placed tacks and broken glass on the course. The riders acted a little better. They hitched rides in cars during the dark and illegally took help from outsiders. Garin himself was accused of illegally obtaining food during a portion of one stage. The race was so plagued by scandal that four months later Desgrange disqualified Garin and the three other top finishers. It, of course, wouldn’t be the last time a Tour winner was stripped of his title.

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A Primer on the Red Škoda ENYAQ iV, the Tour de France’s Leading Car

Besides the Arc de Triomphe, the winding mountain climbs, and, of course, the peloton, the striking red leading car is one of the most characteristic symbols of the La Grande Boucle. Traditionally found at the launch of each stage and the tip of the peloton, the Tour director’s car serves as a ‘mobile captain’s bridge’ and is essential for the race’s organisational efforts. Let’s take a closer look!

The leading cars are basically headquarters on four wheels with one essential job: to chauffeur around the Tour directors. This year, it’s Christian Prudhomme and, after a 33-year hiatus, also a Tour de France Femmes director, Marion Rousse. In 2020, Škoda, the Tour’s sponsor for nearly two decades, introduced the all-electric Škoda ENYAQ iV as the leading car, the model being fresh off the assembly line at the time. As a harbinger of change, the ENYAQ iV was not only the first all-electric vehicle to lead the Tour de France peloton, but also Škoda’s first model using the modular electrification toolkit (MEB) as a powertrain in a bid for sustainability. After the initial run proved successful, the ENYAQ iV replaced the traditional leading Škoda SUPERBs for good.

The manufacturing of the leading cars falls into the “top secret” category, but we were lucky enough to learn a few details last year . The cars’ transformation takes place near Mladá Boleslav, the Czech Republic, under the skilled hands of Mr. Martin Smutný and others at Best Modell, a small specialised workshop. The changes the vehicles undergo before gaining their honourable role aren’t just cosmetic, although the external add-ons – the ‘Velvet Red’ paint job, the banners and decals, the yellow attachment above the windscreen, the six antennas – are usually the details you notice first.

In the workshop, the cars are stripped to the bone, rewired, reupholstered and fitted with a panoramic, retractable sunroof, a two-way radio and a communication console found between the car’s front seats, along with a mini-fridge for two bottles of Champagne accompanied by unique 3D-printed glass holders, and extra batteries to power all this additional hardware. The sunroof, which the builders say is the trickiest part to make, is used by the directors, who stand and wave the starting flag at ‘Kilometre Zero’ and also observe the peloton.

Circling back to the built-in radio, it’s probably the most important piece of equipment that the cars carry. At an event of such massive proportions, communication is key. The race directors use the radio to receive race information and to communicate with their marshals (who also ride in ‘Velvet Red’ ENYAQ iVs ), as well as neutral support cars, and the individual team cars to give orders, advice and, if needed, the permission to break rank. The last situation happens when a rider has mechanical issues, has been injured (or sometimes both) and needs swift assistance. Since the riders’ starting positions in each stage depend on the current points and running order of their teams, a low ranking might mean a team car very far away from a rider in trouble. If requested, the Tour directors can give team cars permission to speed ahead to the rescue.

Last but not least, the leading cars serve as the representative office where the Tour directors receive their esteemed VIP guests, including the French president. Thanks to the abovementioned Champagne fridge and holders, they can treat their lucky visitors to a one-of-a-kind sightseeing tour of the, well, Tour, accompanied by refreshments.

With the Tour de France (1–24 July) underway and the Tour de France Femmes (24–31 July) coming soon, we are elated to get twice as much action this year. We hope you’ll join us in the grandest celebration of our beloved sport!

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Stage 1 | 06/29 Florence > Rimini

Stage 2 | 06/30 cesenatico > bologne, stage 3 | 07/01 plaisance > turin, stage 4 | 07/02 pinerolo > valloire, stage 5 | 07/03 saint-jean-de-maurienne > saint-vulbas, stage 6 | 07/04 mâcon > dijon, stage 7 | 07/05 nuits-saint-georges > gevrey-chambertin, stage 8 | 07/06 semur-en-auxois > colombey-les-deux-églises, stage 9 | 07/07 troyes > troyes, rest | 07/08 orléans, stage 10 | 07/09 orléans > saint-amand-montrond, stage 11 | 07/10 évaux-les-bains > le lioran, stage 12 | 07/11 aurillac > villeneuve-sur-lot, stage 13 | 07/12 agen > pau, stage 14 | 07/13 pau > saint-lary-soulan pla d'adet, stage 15 | 07/14 loudenvielle > plateau de beille, rest | 07/15 gruissan, stage 16 | 07/16 gruissan > nimes, stage 17 | 07/17 saint-paul-trois-châteaux > superdévoluy, stage 18 | 07/18 gap > barcelonnette, stage 19 | 07/19 embrun > isola 2000, stage 20 | 07/20 nice > col de la couillole, stage 21 | 07/21 monaco > nice, tour culture, grand départ florence émilie-romagne 2024, grand départ lille-nord de france 2025, 2024 tour de france finale in nice, riding into the future, all the news, official tour operators, history of tour de france, accessories.

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Tour de France 2024 route revealed as race finishes outside Paris for first time in 120-year history

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The unique 2024 Tour de France will begin in Florence and end with a potentially dramatic time-trail in Nice, as the race finishes outside Paris for the first time in its 120-year history while the capital focuses on the Olympic Games.

In another first, Italy will host the Grand Depart and the first three stages of the race, before an early climb into the Alps on stage four, from the Italian town of Pinerolo to Valloire in France. The race will then head to the vineyards around Dijon, the Massif Central and over the Pyrenees, before returning to the French Alps and down to the Riviera for a finale against the clock, from Monaco to Nice .

The final section in the Alps is set for a stage 20 showdown on the Col de la Couillole (15.7km at 7.1 per cent average gradient), ahead of the first competitive 21st stage since 1989, as a time-trial replaces the traditional Parisian parade before a sprint on the Champs-Elysees.

“It’s difficult to replace Paris, so what better scenery could we give than than a dazzling Monaco to Nice time-trial,” said race director Christian Prudhomme, at the route’s unveiling. Of the stage-four ascent in the Alps, he added: “The Tour has never climbed so high, so early.”

The Tour de France Femmes will also break new ground when it begins abroad for the first time, with the first three stages to be held in the Netherlands. And the women’s race is set for an eye-catching finish atop the iconic Alpe d’Huez.

“We went to the Tourmalet last year, we wanted to go to iconic places and L’Alpe d’Huez is part of cycling’s history,” women’s Tour director Marion Rousse said. “It’s the toughest stage in Tour de France Femmes history with 4,000m of altitude gain. The stage also features the Col du Glandon, which I think is the hardest in France. Women have proved they have the level for that.”

Eight of the men’s 21 stages are categorised as ‘flat’ days but in reality there are few clear-cut opportunities for the sprinters, something noted by Mark Cavendish after the Manxman, who will be 39 when the race rolls around, reversed his decision to retire earlier this month.

“It’s so hard,” Cavendish told reporters after assessing the route. “I am actually in a bit of shock. It might be the hardest route I’ve ever seen at the Tour de France.”

Geraint Thomas, a year younger than Cavendish, has signed a new two-year contract with Ineos Grenadiers, which he says is likely to be his last, and the 2018 yellow-jersey winner could feature in the race, although Ineos’s focus will be on younger riders like Tom Pidcock, who continues to balance his love of mountain biking with grand tour racing.

After a mixed performance at this summer’s Tour de France, Ineos will hope for a yellow-jersey challenge from one of their riders, most likely the young Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez, who finished fifth and has just signed a four-year contract extension, quashing rumours of a transfer away.

But he will face a difficult challenge once more, with reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard set to return as the man to beat. Two-time winner Tadej Pogacar will among the favourites should he be fit and ready on the startline, while Belgian multiple world champion Remco Evenepoel is likely to make his Tour debut and four-time grand-tour winner Primoz Roglic is looking for a new team to lead.

“Could this herald a duel playing out between two, three, or – let’s dream a little here – even four contenders?” Prudhomme said.

The men’s race will run from 29 June to 21 July. The Olympics will begin five days after the Tour de France ends, and authorities did not want to stretch police resources in Paris, prompting the decision to finish on the south coast.

The women’s race will begin the day after the Games close, on 12 August, culminating in the Alps on 18 August.

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A Spectator’s Sign Felled Dozens of Tour de France Racers

The French authorities were searching for a woman who they said left the scene after a German cyclist crashed into her sign, setting off a pileup during the first stage of the race.

By Jacey Fortin

The French authorities said they were looking for an unidentified woman who held a banner along the side of the road at the Tour de France on Saturday, leading to a collision that sent dozens of cyclists tumbling to the ground.

Footage from the scene shows fallen athletes in a heap of tangled legs and spinning wheels after a German rider, Tony Martin, crashed into the sign along the side of the road before falling. That set off a cascade of collisions in the middle of the peloton, a French word meaning “ball” or “group” that also refers to a cluster of cyclists in a race.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, the authorities in the French department of Finistère, in Brittany, asked for witnesses to help them identify the woman who held the banner, which said: “ALLEZ OPI-OMI!” — the French word for “go” along with two German terms of endearment for grandparents. Before the crash , she appeared to be facing away from the racers and toward the television cameras.

The accident happened during the first of the race’s 21 stages, in the municipality of Saint-Cadou, according to the authorities. The police said that the woman, who was wearing glasses and a yellow jacket, left the scene before investigators arrived.

Pierre-Yves Thouault, the deputy director of cycling with the Amaury Sport Organisation, which runs the Tour de France , told Agence France-Presse this past weekend that the organization planned to sue the woman. “We are doing this so that the tiny minority of people who do this don’t spoil the show for everyone,” he said.

On Monday, the Amaury Sport Organisation confirmed that it had made a complaint about the woman to the French authorities but did not immediately respond to a question about the potential lawsuit.

The collision was one of two major crashes on the first day of the race, causing injuries that led to the withdrawals of four cyclists: Jasha Sütterlin of Germany, Marc Soler of Spain, Cyril Lemoine of France and Ignatas Konovalovas of Lithuania.

It is not uncommon for Tour de France fans to crowd the roads and inadvertently (or even intentionally ) trip up the competitors, and the rise of spectator selfies over the past decade has compounded that risk .

But the racers have always contended with unexpected obstacles.

In 2011, a car belonging to a news crew clipped a group of riders and sent one of them, Johnny Hoogerland of the Netherlands, barreling into a barbed-wire fence . In 2018, several cyclists rode into a cloud of police tear gas that had been intended for protesters, stopping the race for about 15 minutes as the riders were treated with eyedrops.

And in a remarkable sequence of events in 2016, a swarm of spectators caused a television motorbike to stop in the cyclists’ path during Stage 12. Amid the confusion, a police vehicle crushed the bicycle of a leading competitor, Chris Froome, who then began running toward the finish line while he waited for a replacement bike to catch up with him.

After the pileup on Saturday, Martin was able to stay in the race. His team, Jumbo-Visma, said on Twitter on Sunday that “all of our riders seem to be okay after the massive and despicable crash.”

On Instagram , Martin thanked his fans for their support and added a message for “all the people next to the road who think that the #tourdefrance is a circus.”

He then offered a message “to people who think it’s nice to show their naked butt, to drunken people who push us sideways on the climbs, to people who think that it is a good idea to hold a sign into the road while the peloton is passing.”

“Please respect the riders and the #tourdefrance !” he wrote. “Use your head or stay home!”

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• Spring Classics

A Beginner's Guide to the Tour de France

All you need to know about the biggest race in the world, from how the race works, and where you can watch all the action

Will Newton

Race news editor.

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The Tour de France is a bike race cut above all others

The biggest bike race on the planet, the Tour de France , is the pinnacle of the cycling calendar, but what is this race, why is it so famous and how on earth does one win it? If you’ve ever found yourself asking one of these questions then worry not, for this Newcomer’s Guide is going to help you decrypt and decipher this summer’s ‘Big Loop’ around France…

Ask somebody to name a bike race and nine times out of ten that person will reply, ‘the Tour de France’. Ask that same person to explain the Tour de France and you’ll be lucky to be given a coherent sentence devoid of ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’. You see, while the Tour may be one of, if not the most, watched sporting events in the world - with 3.5 billion viewers annually - it’s also one of the most confusing with a rule book almost as long as the route itself.

This confusing aspect of the Tour can be an obstacle to many, so to ease you in we’ve put together this handy guide explaining the basics behind the race - from what is the Tour de France, to how does one win it. Whether you’re a complete newcomer or perhaps an annual Tour watcher, there’ll be something in this guide for you and something that will finally give you an answer to - at least one of - your many questions about the race.

Velo Collection/Getty Images

The Tour is made up of 21 mini races called ‘stages’ - complete them all in the fastest cumulative time and you’ll be crowned the overall winner

What is the Tour de France?

The Tour de France is what’s known as a ‘stage race’, which is a collection of smaller races - or stages - ridden consecutively across a set period of time. In the case of the Tour, this time period encompasses three weeks, or 21 days (23 if we include the two rest days where there’s no racing). There are only two other stage races on the cycling calendar that last for three weeks and those are the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España. Together with the Tour, these races are known as the ‘Grand Tours’.

As its name suggests, the Tour takes place in France - although this comes with some caveats. While the majority of the three-week race takes place within mainland France, some stages do occasionally pass through neighbouring countries, like Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium. The race is also known for hosting ‘Grand Départs’ - the term for the celebratory opening stages of the race - in foreign countries. For example, in 2023 the race began with three stages in the Basque Country, an autonomous community of Spain. The 2024 edition, on the other hand, will start with three stages in northern Italy taking in the cycling rich regions of Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Piemonte.

With the race taking place across France, and across some other European countries, terrain can wildly differ between stages. Some stages stick to the flatlands along the coasts, while others head deep into the mountains. Several stages may also take the form of a ‘time trial’, where riders compete to set the fastest time over a set course after a staggered start. This changing of terrain between stages, and also within stages, is what poses the main challenge to the riders and ultimately dictates who wins the Tour de France overall, but more on that later!

Why is the Tour de France so famous?

Velo Collection (TDW)/Getty Images.

The maillot jaune is the most iconic jersey in all of cycling

The Tour is the oldest of the three Grand Tours, with its debut edition taking place way back in 1903. It’s also the race which inspired the likes of the Giro and the Vuelta. At 120-years-old, it’s the oldest still-running stage race on the international calendar. There are one-day events which are older, but no professional, multi-day stage race is older than the Tour de France - one of its many claims to fame.

Born from a newspaper marketing scheme, devised by French journalist Henri Desgrange, the first Tour took place in an attempt to boost sales of L’Auto - a nationwide daily newspaper dedicated to sport. This inaugural race only featured six stages, but with each stage covering ~400km it quickly made its way around the perimeter of France. Due to the length of these stages and the comparatively poor technology of the time riders often had to race through the night.

Home favourite Maurice Garin, a man affectionately known as ‘The Little Chimney Sweep’, won this first ever Tour de France, writing his name into cycling’s history books in the process. The race was a sudden hit so Desgrange decided to bring it back the following year, and then the next one, and the one after that. Before long it soon became the go-to event for masochists across Europe to attend and shed blood, sweat and tears over. This blood, sweat and tears made for great stories back in the day and now, fantastic TV.

The race’s longevity and the fact that it has been the site of some of sport’s greatest stories aren’t the only factors which make the Tour so famous, however. In recent decades the race has become truly global with riders from all six of Earth’s major continents not just taking part, but winning too. This globalisation of the Tour has helped it to expand to all four corners of the globe and reach billions of people.

According to the Tour’s organisers, ASO, around 12 million people line up along the route every single year, cheering on their heroes from the roadside. This figure pales in comparison to the race’s total viewers though, which is estimated to be as high as 3.5 billion annually. This mind-boggling figure makes the Tour de France the most watched sporting event in the world, more so even than the World Cup (3.3 billion), Summer Olympics (2 billion), UEFA Champions League (380 million) and Super Bowl (96.4 million).

How does one win the Tour de France?

Velo Collection (TDW) /Getty Images

Egan Bernal on his way to winning the Tour de France in 2019

To put it simply, only one rider can win the Tour de France. This is the rider who, once all is said and done, has completed all of the stages in the lowest cumulative time. They’re declared the overall, or general classification (GC), winner and they get to stand on the top step of the podium in Paris at the end of the race, receiving all of the plaudits - and prize money.

But there’s never just one rider who leaves the Tour as a ‘winner’, and this is where things can get quite confusing. First of all, a ‘stage winner’ is crowned at the end of every stage - this is the rider who simply crosses the finish line first. Some riders win multiple stages throughout the three weeks but get nowhere close to winning the race overall, while the overall winner could go the entire three weeks without ever winning a stage. Are you still with us?

And then there are the different coloured jerseys, individual prizes and team prizes. These are handed out to riders at the end of every stage to denote the rider who’s currently leading each respective classification, but they’re not officially ‘won’ until the three weeks is up and the riders cross the finish line on the final stage. Let’s go through each of those in turn now, from the iconic yellow jersey to the lesser-known combativity prize.

Yellow Jersey - The famous maillot jaune , or yellow jersey, denotes the leader of the general classification. As explained above, this is the rider who has completed all of the stages in the lowest cumulative time. This is the biggest prize in the Tour and something that every rider dreams of wearing, although only a handful ever will.

Green Jersey - The maillot vert , or green jersey, denotes the leader of the points classification. Points are accumulated at each stage finish, with a rider being awarded a certain number of points based on their finishing position. The higher they finish, the more points they score.

Different stages have different weightings of points on offer at the finish, with flatter stages offering more and mountain stages less. Points can also be scored at ‘intermediate sprints’ which are placed within a stage, usually around the midway point. In the Tour there’s one intermediate sprint per road stage (so not during time trials).

Polka-Dot Jersey - The maillot à pois , or polka-dot jersey, denotes the leader of the King of the Mountains classification. Like the green jersey, this is a points-based classification where riders score points for being one of the first few over the tops of hills/mountains. Only categorised hills/mountains count towards this classification and the number of points awarded depends on this categorisation.

Hills/mountains are ranked based on their difficulty and assigned either Cat-4, Cat-3, Cat-2, Cat-1 or HC ( hors categorie ) status. Cat-4 climbs offer fewer points, because they’re the easiest, while HC climbs offer the most points, because they’re the toughest. The winner of this jersey can be someone who’s specifically targeting the classification, but it can also go to the overall Tour winner by virtue of them often being at the front of the race day in, day out.

White Jersey - The maillot blanc , or white jersey, denotes the leader of the Young Rider classification, which - like the yellow jersey - is a time-based classification. It’s restricted to riders that are under the age of 26 when the Tour begins. From those riders who are eligible, the one who has completed the stages in the lowest cumulative time wears the jersey.

Team Prize - This prize is awarded to the winner of the team classification, which assesses teams by adding the times of their three best-placed riders each day - in other words, their first three riders across the finish line on each stage. The team with the lowest accumulated time over the three weeks wins. Unlike the classifications explained above, no jersey is awarded to the leaders of this classification - instead members of the leading team wear a yellow number on their backs.

Combativity Prize - The prix de la combativité , or combativity prize, is awarded to the rider who most animates the day’s racing. This is a subjective classification and one that is decided by the race officials. The winner is given a red number to wear the following day, which is then passed onto the next combativity prize winner. A Super Combativity award is also handed out at the end of the three weeks and goes to the rider who has animated the entire race, rather than just a single stage.

Where can I watch the Tour de France?

Now you know what the Tour de France is all about you’re probably itching to start watching it. Fortunately, the 2023 edition is just around the corner with the opening stage set to take place on Saturday, July 1st. Following the Grand Départ in the Basque Country, Spain - which encompasses three stages this year - the race will head to France and take on stages in the perilous Pyrenees and infamous Alps before drawing to a close with a traditional final stage in Paris on Sunday, July 23rd.

We’ll be showing live coverage of every single stage, start-to-finish, in RaceTV on the GCN App. We’ll also have the daily Breakaway show for you to tune into before and after every stage, where our panel of talking heads discuss the upcoming day’s racing and break down the action afterwards. It’s going to be an incredible three weeks of action and a race that you won’t want to miss, so make sure you have an a ctive GCN+ subscription . There’ll also be a ton of additional stuff for you to get your teeth stuck into during the Tour on the GCN App. As well as live coverage of the race, we also have articles covering all of the action, stage-by-stage previews, daily polls and quizzes and much, much more. Scroll through our Home and Racing feeds now to start getting involved with all of that fantastic, additional content.

Tour de France

• Dates 1 Jul - 23 Jul
• Race Length 3,401 kms
• Race Category Elite Men

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Tour de France stage winner in intensive care after being hit by car driver on training ride

Lennard Kämna in stable condition and able to communicate after incident in Tenerife

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Tour de France stage winner Lennard Kämna is in intensive care after he was struck by a car driver on a training ride in Tenerife.

The Bora-Hansgrohe rider is in a stable condition and awake after the incident, which took place on Tuesday, but the extent of his injuries is unknown, just that they are "numerous". His team said that members of his family were with him at a hospital on the island.

He was on Tenerife preparing for the Giro d'Italia this year, with the Tour of the Alps, where he has won stages for the past two years , supposed to be his next race.

The German rider was hit by a driver who turned left into his lane, according to a spokesperson for Bora. The team sent out an initial message on Wednesday afternoon saying that the Kämna had gone to hospital for "further examinations" after the crash, but updated their message on Thursday afternoon.

"Lennard Kämna is in a stable condition, he is awake, responsive and able to communicate," a message from Bora read. "Lennard Kämna suffered numerous injuries in yesterday's training accident on Tenerife. He is receiving very good care in the hospital on Tenerife and will be monitored in the intensive care unit over the next few days. Members of his family and the team are with him.

"According to initial findings on the accident, the driver of an oncoming vehicle turned left into Lennard Kämna's lane and collided with him. At the time, he was riding with the training group, which was accompanied by team coaches. No other team riders or coaches were involved in the accident."

 "We are relieved that Lennard's condition has stabilized after this serious accident and that he is doing well under the circumstances," Ralph Denk, the team manager of Bora said on Thursday. "The whole team feels for him, and we all wish him a speedy recovery. 

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"From the team side, we will continue to do everything necessary to ensure that he makes a full recovery from this accident. That's all that matters now - anything else can wait."

The 27-year-old announced himself with stage wins at the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de France in 2020 , before winning a stage of the Giro d'Italia in 2022 , and at the Vuelta a España last year .

In 2021, he took a break from the sport, explaining to German outlet  Weser-Kurier  that his "stress increased and I could no longer manage it".

Last year, Belgian 22-year-old  Tijl De Decker, winner of the under-23 Paris-Roubaix, died in a training crash . In 2021, seven Bora-Hansgrohe riders were hit by a driver while on a training ride in Italy. 

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Adam is Cycling Weekly ’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.

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17. Tour de France Automobile 1972

Final results.

Who’s #1? Ranking the Top 2024 Tour de France Contenders

This is the second edition of Bicycling’ s Power Rankings for the 2024 Men’s Tour de France, where we rank the top contenders leading up to July’s race. This continuously updated list will give you an in-depth look at the riders that have the best shot to stand atop the podium at the end of the Tour—and how they’re performing in the races leading up to July.

These rankings will be constantly refreshed, so you can see who’s up and who’s down on the road to the 2024 Tour de France.

The 2024 Tour de France is expected to bring together the sport’s four best grand tour riders: Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), winner of the last two Tours de France; Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), winner of the 2020 and 2021 Tours de France; Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), winner of the 2022 Vuelta a España; and Slovenia’s Primož Roglič (BORA-hansgrohe), a 3-time winner of the Vuelta and the winner of last year’s Giro d’Italia.

Each rider is taking a different path to the Tour de France, with each choosing to mix race days with extended periods of time spread all over Europe at training camps–either alone or with their teammates. And while some of their paths will cross at certain races throughout the first half of the season, they won’t all race together until the Tour.

Three of the five riders in our last power ranking haven’t raced since, but the other two made headlines in an important Spanish stage race–one for his domination and the other for his continued improvement.

Below, you’ll find the first edition of Bicycling ’s Men’s Tour de France Power Rankings.

Jonas Vingegaard

Read the complete analysis.

Race Days : 11

Race Wins : 7

Best Result : 1st-place, General Classification - Tirreno-Adriatico

Next Race : Tour of the Basque Country, April 1-6

The Tour’s 2-time defending champion, Vingegaard hasn’t raced since winning two stages and the General Classification at the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race in March. Instead of racing, the Dane stayed in Italy to recon the opening stages of the upcoming Tour de France (the race is starting in Italy) [Link to TDF Course Overview.], and then went to his home in Lugano, Switzerland to train for the next race on his program, the Tour of the Basque Country, where he’ll race for the first time against his former teammate, Slovenia’s Primož Roglič (BORA-hansgrohe).

Tadej Pogačar

Race Days : 9

Race Wins : 6

Best Result : 1st-place, General Classficiation - Volta Ciclista a Catalunya

Next Race : Liège-Bastogne-Liège, April 21

Winner of back-to-back Tours in 2020 and 2021–and runner-up to Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023–Pogačar has cemented his place as the Dane’s top challenger with a third-place finish in last Saturday’s Milan-Sanremo and the overall victory at last week’s Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

The Slovenian left no doubt as to who was the strongest rider in Catalunya, finishing second in an uphill sprint on Stage 1 and then blowing the doors off everyone on back-to-back summit finishes on Stages 2 and 3.

At that point, with more than a 2-minute lead, most riders would have shifted into defense-mode. But not Pogačar, who said earlier in the week that one of his career goals is to win all seven of the sport’s most important week-long stage races. Instead of riding to defend his lead, Pog continued to attack, winning Saturday’s Stage 6–which took the race over the monstrous Coll de Pradell–and then just for good measure, Sunday’s Stage 7–in a small group sprint.

By the end of the week Pogačar had a 3:41 advantage over the race’s next-best rider–Spain’s Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quick Step). He’s now won six races in only nine days of racing. Wow.

That could have been enough of a performance to vault him over Vingegaard at the top of our ranking, but here’s the thing: Pogačar’s first goal of the season is May’s Giro d’Italia, a race which could leave the Slovenian a bit depleted heading into the Tour. No one has won the Giro and the Tour de France in the same season since Italy’s Marco Pantani in 1998, and those were–for many reasons–different days.

But we can’t ignore how strong the Slovenian is currently (a rider competing against him last week said that everyone is basically racing for second-place whenever he shows up on the start list), and if he maintains–or even improves upon–his current level of fitness, the Italian grand tour will be his race to lose.

Remco Evenepoel

Race Days : 14

Race Wins : 4

Best Result : 2nd place, General Classification - Paris-Nice

Like Vingegaard, Evenepoel hasn’t raced since our first power ranking. And like Vingegaard, he stuck around after his last race–France’s Paris-Nice–to take an early look at some key stages in the upcoming Tour de France.

But while Vingegaard focused on the Tour’s opening stages, Evenepoel focused on the Tour’s final weekend, which takes place in and around Nice.

While Evenepoel was training, his team’s big off-season signing, Spain’s Mikel Landa, raced well at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. The Spaniard was by-far the best of the men trying to keep up with Pogačar in the mountains and finished second overall. That’s a good sign for Evenepoel and his team, which will be doing everything it can to measure up to the depth of teams like Visma and UAE at this year’s Tour.

Up next for the Belgian is Spain’s Tour of the Basque Country, where he’ll join forces with Landa to take on Vingegaard and Roglič. It will be interesting to see how Evenepoel approaches the race: he could do everything possible to win the overall, but a better move might be to save a little bit for the Ardennes classics that he’s slated to ride after leaving Spain.

Primož Roglič

Race Days : 8

Race Wins : 0

Best Result : 3rd place, Stage 7, Paris-Nice

Roglič is the biggest unknown of the riders on this list. He’s raced just once–at Paris-Nice earlier this month–and didn’t do much to make anyone think he has the leg to challenge men like Vingegaard and Pogačar at the Tour.

But the Slovenian has not been shy about the fact that he is taking a slow and steady approach to preparing for the Tour de France, a strategy that could pay off for him if his younger rivals burn too many matches too early in the season.

His next race will be the Tour of the Basque Country. This will be Roglič’s biggest test so far, both because of the terrain–the Tour of the Basque Country is one of the hardest races of the season–and the competition–Vingegaard, Evenepoel, and Egan Bernal are all expected to start the race.

But here’s the good news: Roglič is a two-time winner of the event, and he knows these roads well. Anything other than a top-3 finish would be a disappointment.

Egan Bernal

Race Days : 27

Best Result : 3rd place, General Classficiation - Volta Ciclista a Catalunya

Bernal keeps piling on the race days, perhaps trying to make-up for the time he lost when a crash in early 2022 nearly ended his career.

The Colombian just finished third overall at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, his fourth stage race of the season, and scored his first WorldTour podium finish since 2021. That’s a big deal for a rider who wasn’t even sure if he’d race again–let alone be a contender in some of the sport’s biggest races.

But as much as we’re impressed with his consistent improvement so far this season, we’re more excited about the tenacity he’s displayed. Last year he seemed happy just to be racing again, but now he looks like he wants to start winning again–and we love it.

INEOS must love it as well, but the British team is still playing it safe with the Colombian, and they still haven’t announced which grand tour he’ll be targeting this summer. It will be either the Tour de France or the Vuelta a España, but our guess is that the team will ultimately send him to the Tour.

Under Consideration

A 3-time runner-up at the Tour of Spain, Spain’s Enric Mas (Movistar) has failed to finished the last two Tours de France. But he rode well in Catalunya, finishing fifth overall. If he keeps it up, he could be on track to equal (and possibly better) his fifth-place overall finish at the Tour in 2020.

Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose (LIDL-Trek) hasn’t raced since winning a stage and finishing fourth overall at Paris-Nice. He’s next slated to race at the Tour of the Basque Country, where we’re eager to see how he does.

Pogacar on good path ahead of Tour de France, Giro d'Italia

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Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing

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