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le Tour de France, 2020

27th June - 19th July, 2020

in a strange world

Route map of the 2020 Tour de France
 

Tour de France 2024

official website for le Tour de France
[also official website in French]

 

the cycling zone

la Vuelta a España, 2016 - let's climb!

La Vuelta 2016

giro d'italia 2018
il Giro d'Italia 2018 : Middle East meets West, climbing all the way

Giro d'Italia

 

TDF current and previous years, as seen by abelard.org:

New translation, the Magna Carta

le tour, covid-19, and other developments
 
what to look forward to
climbing here we come
feeling the pinch some more
2020 tour de france route

the stages for 2020
this year’s t-shirts

the teams, and team jerseys/colours
this year’s top ten riders according to betting odds
last year (2019): the first ten riders
mountain stages, uphill and summit finishes
watching tdf broadcasts

Tour de France 2024

watching TDF broadcasts

Le Giro 2018
La Vuelta 2017

le tour, covid-19, and other developments

After false starts and changing dates as covid-19 demands evolved and once a start date was decided, Christain Prudhomme, the TDF Director, made umpteen phone calls in a long day to confirm with fifty mayors, Prefests and othe regional administrators that each one was happy with and could work with the dates set - bubbles' for riders, for support staff, and for administration, visitors and public. Here is the information for their support, and the Tour organisation.

Safe behaviours are also expected from the miriads of spectators

  1. Keep 2 metres away from riders.
  2. 0 autographs.
  3. 2 personal essentials: mask and hand gel.
  4. 0 selfies!

The director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme, speaking at a press conference in Nice, where the Tour started this year, called on roadside spectators to wear a mask during the Tour as a matter of "common sense" in the face of the increase in coronavirus cases. The French stubborn, anarchistic streak vyed with the Republican characteristics of civic responsiblity as part of 'Fraternité' and 'Solidarité' and conforming to rules. This helped by angry comments from various riders

We are told that this year sees the end of the "100% miss" podiums during the event. There will now be, alongside the awarded runners, a hostess and a host. (This is already the format for other races such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège, while Formula One gave up their 'grid girls' two years ago.

Chris Froome and Gerant Thomas are not participating in this year's Tour. After weak performances in the Criterium du Dauphine, their team, Ineos, has transferred them to less prestigeous Grand Tour races. Chris Froome will 'concentrate' on the Vuelta and Gerant Thomas on the Giro. Instead, Egan Bernal will be leading the Ineos squad on the TDF.

(The Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España will follow in October.)

what to look foward to

After the events ofrelative successes of two French riders in the 2019 Tour, The 2019 Tour was eventful, and quite successful for the French, in comparison to recent year's achievements or lack there of, thanks to the performances of two Frenchman Julian Alapahilippe (2 stage victories and 14 days in yellow) and Thibaut Pinot (winner of the Tourmalet and long-time candidate for the final victory). Thus,

This year's race starts in Nice, with the first two days based there. The second has local climbs including ascents of the Col de la Colmiane, Col de Turini and Col d’Eze passes.

After a weekend in the Pyrenees, there will be a 'hike' of three days through the Charente-Maritime region, then climbing starts again in the Central Massif, and onto the Alps, before the finish, as usual, in Paris.

The 2024 Olympics are being held in France, so the proximity of the Olympics road race (July 25), as well as the very mountainous world championship scheduled in Martigny will inevitably influence the preparation programs and the motivation of the Tour's favourites.


2020 race route in 3D (5:14 minutes)

  • 9 étapes de plaine
  • 3 étapes accidentées
  • 8 étapes de montagne avec 4 arrivées en altitude (Orcières-Merlette, Puy Mary, Grand Colombier, Méribel Col de la Loze)
  • 1 étape contre la montre en individuel
  • 2 journées de repos

climbing here we come

4 July Pyrenees Cazères and Loudenvielle

5 July Pyrenees

15 July :  le col de la Loze, Alps, 2304 m and with  a rise of 21.5 km to 7.8% average, which is distinguished by its particularly irregular last 7 kilometres.

feeling the pinch still more

While the 2019 Tour de France [TDF] was held almost entirely in the eastern half of France, except for the required excursion into the Pyrenees and the final day trip to Paris, this year's TDF is even more raphic and extreme in its avoidance of regions that cannot afford stage hosting bills.

In 2020, The only two visits north of Poitiers will be on the last two days, on the 18th Juy a short, shap climb up to La Planche des Belles Filles, and on the 19th July the parade day to Paris and the Champs d'Elysées.

2020 tour de france route

The race will cover 2,473 km, with:

  • 8 flat stages (stages 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 14, 19, 21)
  • 4 hilly stages (stages 1, 4, 6, 12)
  • 2 medium mountain stages (stages 2, 13)
  • 6 high mountain stages (stages 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 18)
  • x mountain passes
  • 4 summit finishes
    Orcières-Merlette 1850 (Alps)
    Mont Aigoual and Puy Mary (Central Massif)
    Grand Colombier (Juras)
  • 1 individual time trial stage (stage x)
  • 0 team time trial stage
  • 2 rest days

    There will be x towns not visited before by the Tour de France:

First-times climbs are the
Col de la Lusette (end of the 6th stage),
the Suc au May (12th stage),
the Col de la Hourcère (9th stage) and
the col de la Loze (arrival of the 17th stage). 

the stages for 2020

[Note: blue links go to profile section on this page,
            yellow links go to associated pages at abelard.org]

Flat stages, hilly stages, medium mountain stages,
mountain stages
, time trials, rest days
1 Nice, Moyen Pays > Nice
Sat. 29 August [170 km / 106 mi]
12 Chauvigny > Sarran Corrèze
Thurs. 8 September [x km / x mi]
2 Nice, Haut Pays > Nice
Sun. 30 August [190 km / 118 mi]
13 Châtel-Guyon > Puy Mary Cantal
Fri.9 September [x km / x mi]
3 Nice > Sisteron
Mon. 31 August [198 km / 123 mi]
14 Clermont-Ferrand > Lyon
Sat. 10 September [x km / x mi]
4 Sisteron > Orcières-Merlette
summit finish: 18xx m
Tues. 1 September [x km / x mi]
15 Lyon > Grand Colombier
Sun. 11 September [x km / x mi]
5 Gap > Privas
Wed. 2 September [x km / x mi]
R rest day - Isère
Mon. 12 September
6 Le Teil > Mont Aigoual
Thurs. 3 September [x km / x mi]
16 La Tour-du-Pin > Villard-de-Lans
Tues. 13 September [x km / x mi]
7 Millau > Lavaur
Fri. 4 September [x km / x mi]
17 Grenoble > Méribel (Col de la Loze) summit finish: 2304 m
Wed. 14 September [x km / x mi]
8 Cazères-sur-Garonne > Loudenvielle
Sat. 5 September [x km / x mi]
18 Méribel > La Roche-sur-Foron
Thurs. 15 September [x km / x mi]
9 Pau > Laruns
Sun. 6 September [x km / x mi]
19 Bourg-en-Bresse > Champagnole
Fri. 16 September [x km / x mi]
R rest day - La Charente-Maritime
Mon. 7 September
20 Lure > La Planche des Belles Filles
Sat. 17 September [x km / x mi] individual time-trial (ITT)
10 Île d'Oléron, Le Château-d'Oléron > Île de Ré, Saint-Martin-de-Ré
Tues. 7 July [x km / x mi]
21 Mantes-la-Jolie > Paris Champs-Élysées
Sun. 18 September [x km / x mi]
11 Châtelaillon-Plage > Poitiers
Wed. 8 July [x km / x mi]
blue links go to related sections on this page
yellow links go to related articles at abelard.org

There will be 21 stages. These include x high mountain stages, x medium mountain stages, x hilly stages and x against-the-clock (stages x) [contre-le-montre] time trials. There are x rest days (x). All other days are 'on the plain' - relatively flat days. The race's distance is be about 3,470 kilometres, or roughly 2,156 miles.

this year’s t-shirts

Again, this year's TDF t-shirts are standard and without imagination, and the prices are still daftly steep. For those with a certain morbid curiosity. this is the TDF online boutique.

the teams for 2020

We will provide this information when it is available, closer to the race start.

team jerseys/colours

We will provide this information when it is available, closer to the race start.

this year’s top ten riders according to betting odds

We will provide this information when it is available, closer to the race start.

last year (2019): the first ten riders

Position No. Name First name Team Nat. Time diff.
1 2 BERNAL  Egan INS COL 82h 57' 00''
2 1 THOMAS Geraint INS GBR + 01' 11''
3 81 KRUIJSWIJK Steven TLJ NED + 01' 31''
4 12 BUCHMANN  Emanuel  BOH GER + 01' 56''
5 21 ALAPHILIPPE Julian DQT FRA + 04' 05''
6 65 LANDA Mikel MOV ESP + 04' 23''
7 91 URAN Rigoberto EF1 COL + 05' 30''
8 61 QUINTANA Nairo MOV COL + 05' 30''
9 62 VALVERDE Alejandro  MOV ESP + 06' 12''
10 211 BARGUIL Warren PCB FRA + 07' 32''
             
Overall winner BERNAL Egan 2 INS COL 82h 57' 00''
(Yellow Jersey)
By points SAGAN Peter 11 BOH SVK 477 pts
(Green Jersey)
Climber

BARDET Romain

31 INS FRA 86 pts
(Polka dot Jersey)
Under 25

BERNAL Egan

2 INS COL 82h 57' 00"
(White Jersey)
Combativity

ALAPHILIPPE Julian

21

DQT FRA 86h 30' 20"
Team winner

MOVIESTAR

MOV ESP 248h 58' 15''

mountain stages, uphill and summit finishes

watch tdf broadcasts

We will provide this information when it is available, closer to the race start.


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