2024 The perfect sporting eclipse… Tour de France and Olympics 5 days apart!
The Tour de France is an annual men’s multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, although it often passes through neighboring countries as well. It is one of the most prestigious and well-known bicycle races in the world, attracting top riders from around the globe.
The Tour de France was first organized in 1903 by French newspaper L’Auto as a way to boost circulation. The race usually takes place over a three-week period in July, and covers a distance of around 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) divided into 21 stages, with the route changing each year. The course typically includes both flat and mountain stages, with riders tackling some of the most challenging and iconic climbs in the sport.
Each stage is an individual race, with riders competing for the fastest time. The winner of each stage is awarded a yellow jersey, and the rider with the lowest overall time at the end of the race is declared the winner of the Tour de France and is awarded the final yellow jersey.
In addition to the overall winner, other competitions take place within the Tour de France. These include the green jersey, awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points in the sprint stages, and the polka dot jersey, awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points in the mountain stages.
The Tour de France is watched by millions of people worldwide and is a major event in the cycling calendar. It has seen some of the greatest cyclists in history, including Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Lance Armstrong, who won seven consecutive Tours from 1999 to 2005 before being stripped of his titles due to a doping scandal.
The route for the race is normally announced in the October before the race.
The 2024 race will be extra special as it ends in Paris on July 21, the the Olympics begins in Paris 5 days later on the 26th of July. Its like the perfect sporting eclipse!
Andrew visited the tour a few years ago and saw four stages of the tour, have a chat about where the best stages and positions are.
If you want to talk about planning a trip to Paris and France in 2024, please let us know ASAP!……
