In a major break with convention, the 2024 Tour de France will end with a hilly time trial on the Riviera near Nice, organisers announced Monday.
On Saturday, 20 July, the 20th stage will link Nice to the Col de la Couillole, while the Tour will finish on Sunday 21 July with a time trial between Monaco and Nice.
It was already known that the final stage would be an individual time trial, 35 years after Greg LeMond’s eight-second victory over Laurent Fignon on the Champs-Elysées in 1989. A similar spectacle unfolded in 2020 when Tadej Pogacar beat fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic in a last-minute time trial upset, though this was on the penultimate (rather than last) stage.
The route was presented on Monday by the organisers ASO in Nice and will climb to La Turbie (8.1km at 5.6%) and then to the Col d’Eze via its shortest slope (1.6km at 8.1%) before finishing at Place Massena in Nice, after 35.2km of effort.
Will it be the stage to decide the title? from the usual procession on the last Sunday to Paris where champagne is often out during the stage, except for sprinters magnetised by a prestigious success on the Champs.
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The 20th stage (of 21) will be no walk in the park either with a relatively short (132km) but no less dizzying stage featuring ascents of the Col de Brais, the Col de Turini, the Col de La Colombine and finally the difficult Col de la Couillole (15.7km at 7.1%).
It will be the first time in the over 100-year history of the race that it finishes in Nice. Decidedly like no other, this 111th edition, will start in Florence, Italy.
