Cycling: Tomorrow is finally the day. The Tour de France 2024 begins. This time the Grand Départ is in Italy. From Florence to Rimini, the pros have to cover over 200 kilometers - and climb many mountains. Many experts are talking about the toughest Tour start of all time.
Tour de France 2024: Easy warm-up? Not an option!
The start of a Tour de France is never boring. Riders are nervous, team managers tense, and spectators brimming with anticipation. It's rare for all the professionals to make it through the Grand Départ unscathed. This time, however, the opening of the Tour de France is special in a completely different way. Instead of a prologue, a flat stage, or a gently undulating section, it's straight into the action. Seven categorized climbs await on the 206-kilometer stage from Florence to Rimini. While none of them are classified as first or even the highest category climbs, they are still serious contenders. The first breakaway group of the tour will form on the Col de Valico Tre Faggi . It will already provide clues as to which riders have their sights set on the polka dot jersey. However, the whole thing is tricky. The peloton won't tolerate any truly strong climbers in the breakaway. It could therefore take quite some time before the composition of the breakaway group is finalized and the peloton is satisfied with it.
The Côte de Barbotto heralds the finale
Once the breakaway group is established, they will cross the Côte des Forche and the Côte de Carnaio together. Then the finale will begin. The leading group will splinter on the climb to the Côte de Barbotto , and the pace will noticeably increase in the peloton as well. Everyone wants to know how well defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma – LaB) is really doing. The Dane doesn't particularly like these short climbs anyway, and after his crash at the Tour of the Basque Country, many team managers and experts doubt that he will even be in top form at the start. So, if there's an opportunity to gain time on him right from the first stage, it will be taken. The Côte de San Leo or the last two climbs, the Côte de Montemaggio and the Côte de San Marino, are also suitable for this. After that, it's all downhill and then flat to the finish line in Rimini. It will be difficult for a solo rider to make a break for this. However, if a strong group has formed that works well together, the riders who have fallen behind will not be able to catch up.
Velomotion forecast: Pogacar will immediately take the yellow jersey
Admittedly, this tip is boring. Tadej Pogacar dominated the Giro d'Italia and now he's aiming to win the Tour de France. The Slovenian could be the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve the Giro/Tour double. We don't know how well he's recovered. But we know even less about Jonas Vingegaard's condition. And that's precisely what UAE Team Emirates will want to find out tomorrow. Therefore, with their strong climbing team, they'll set such a high pace that only a few riders will be left together over the final climb. It's also possible that Pogacar will attempt a legendary solo attack to immediately establish dominance. Then it will be every rider for themselves. But the competition will have to band together to withstand this UAE onslaught. If the pace doesn't increase as expected, even riders like Wout van Aert or Mathieu van der Poel could survive this stage.
* * * Tadej pogacar (UAE)
** Primois Roglic (Bora – hansgrohe), tom pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)
* wout van aert (Visma – LaB), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick Step)