The 2024 Tour de France will finish with a mountain stage from Nice to Col de la Couillole followed by a time trial between Monaco and the historic Place Massena in Nice, event organisers said on Monday.
The final stage of the Tour, which will start in Italy for the first time, is traditionally held on the Champs Elysees in Paris but has been moved to Nice with the French capital hosting the Olympic Games next year.
“For the Tour de France to finish far from its traditional Parisian finale is already a historic first,” organisers said in a statement.
“But for the last two days of the 2024 edition, an extremely promising menu has been prepared, including all the necessary ingredients for major upsets at the top... on the Saturday as well as on the Sunday.”
The penultimate stage will be a tough 132-kilometre ride while the 21st stage is a challenging 35-km time trial with climbs on La Turbie and Col d’Eze as organisers look to make competition for the Yellow Jersey tougher.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Pavel Sivakov, who came ninth in last week’s Paris-Nice race, said that the changes are “taking away some of the charm of the tour”.
“You always finish on the Champs Élysées and it’s so special. It’s such an iconic, nice finish”, he added.
“It’s going to be something different. I think it’s going to be interesting. The race will be more open until the end”.
The Tour will start on June 29, with the opening stage from Florence to Rimini on the Adriatic coast.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos.
