The 2023 Tour de France will begin on July 1 in Bilbao in what will be the steepest start in its history and will continue to cling to the mountain during the three weeks, in which the country’s five massifs will be climbed, with four final climbs and some promising stages rising fight.
With only 22 kilometers of time trial, also disputed between the alpine cabbages and with uneven terrain, the 110th edition of the gala round will force you to bet on light developments, because you cannot win without being a great climber, according to the 3,404-kilometre route presented this Thursday in Paris.
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“We wanted to show once again that the mountains are not just the Alps and the Pyrenees”, assured the race director, Christian Prudhommewhich has sought the greatest possible difficulties in the Massif Central, the Jura and the Vosges.
The latter will be the final judge of the edition, with a final promotion to Alsace ball and goal in Markstein que, although it is not considered high, it will test the climbing ability of the favorites for the general.
Following the trend of recent years, the Tour is once again betting on shorter stages, with the mountain concentrated in a few kilometers and with heights on all days, to avoid tedious long rides without battle.
This will start the editing in the Basque Country, the second in Spain after in 1992 it began to walk in Saint Sebastian, with two mid-mountain stages that, according to Prudhomme, is “the hardest start in memory”.
“There are 3,300 meters of unevenness, something enormous, but we wanted to convey what the Basque Country is. Its beauty, which is on the coasts, but also in its mountains, and also the passion that is felt there for cycling, which is unquestionable Prudhomme said. Five ports on the first day, with final ascent to pike and its 2 kilometers at 10 percent, and many others in the second, which will be judged in Jaizkibel, 8 kilometers at a 5.4 percent gradient.
The peloton will enter France via Irún to finish the third stage in Bayonne and after two transition days will face the Pyrenees, with two stages that include ascents to Marie Blanque in the first one and Tourmalet in the second, which will end on the ramps of Cauterets16 kilometers at 5.4 percent elevation gain.
A Tribute Tour
The plain returns again to the central massif, where after a tribute to Luis Ocaña during his visit to Mont-de-Marsans, the French city where he lived, stands the puy de dome and its 13.3 kilometers at 7.7 percent, with a gradient concentrated in the final section, which will be the end of the ninth stage, which will have started in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, where Raymond Poulidor lived.
The Tour thus explores another almost unprecedented goal in which the public will have to follow the final stretch on television, since the site, a World Heritage Site, will not be accessible to spectators.
After a break in Clermont-Ferrandthe peloton will make a stage in Auvergne and its volcanoes, before facing Grand Colombier in stage 13 and its 17.4 kilometers at 7.1 percent gradient, another little-known finish.
The next day, the Alps come into action on a day with 4,200 meters of elevation gain and the finish line in Morzine after having climbed four ports, the last one, La Joux Plane, 13 kilometers from the finish line.
Two more alpine days, a typical mountain one ending in Saint Gervais Mont Blanc7.2 kilometers at a 7.7 percent drop and, after the second rest day, the 22-kilometre time trial with a 650-meter drop, concentrated in the final section.
“It will be a real puzzle for the teams, who will have to analyze which bike they face it with, the flat one for the middle section or the mountain one for the end. I think everyone will change bikes,” analyzes Prudhomme.
The Tour will enter its final stretch, with what will possibly be the queen stage in which the ascent to the already mythical loze cabbage and its 28.4 kilometers at 6 percent with ramps at 24 percent in the final section, whose summit is just 6 kilometers from the finish line in Courchevel.
“A short lead at the top does not mean winning the stage, the descent is very technical and the final stretch to the Courchevel plateau is one kilometer at 18 percent”, analyzes the race director.
The same scheme will be repeated, after two days on the flat, in the penultimate stage, with up to five ascents concentrated in 133 kilometres, the last being the col de Platzerwasel, whose summit is located 8 kilometers from the arrival in Markstein, where whoever has the yellow jersey will wear it with honors the next day, July 23, in the Elysian Fields.
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the #PTO2023 :
🚩 3,404km
📍 12 new stage towns and sites
⛰ 8 Mountain stages
4 altitude finishesYou #PTO2023 in short:
🚩 3,404km
📍 12 unpublished cities and sites
⛰ 8 mountain stages
4 arrived at altitude pic.twitter.com/N4z7GrAn1p— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) October 27, 2022
EFE
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