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The 112th version of the Tour de France will get beneath means in Lille on Saturday with the three-week race ending on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Sunday, 27 July.

The riders will sort out six mountain levels together with journeys to the Pyrenees and Alps throughout the gruelling 3,320km (2,063-mile) race.

There will even be two particular person time trials, with the second that includes the steep climb as much as the Altiport in Peyragudes.

BBC Sport seems to be in any respect 21 levels of La Grande Boucle analysing the place it may very well be gained and misplaced.

This web page might be up to date all through the Tour with the winner and a quick report following every stage.

The Grand Depart takes place in France or the primary time since 2021 with a comparatively flat route round Lille served up for starters.

That ought to imply the sprinters will get an early alternative to take centre stage on the ultimate straight beneath the Citadel.

The end in Lille will even be one among seven with prolonged security zones on this 12 months’s Tour with the standard three-kilometre buffer on the finish of every stage, elevated to 5km to take the stress off the peloton.

The second stage can also be the longest on this 12 months’s race masking 209.1km with the peloton making their means by the countryside of the Hauts-de-France area, heading in the direction of the Strait of Dover.

A rolling route with a punchy finale seems to be ideally arrange for the puncheurs, who will fancy their possibilities of ending the day in yellow.

This ought to be one other good probability for the Tour’s quick males to shine.

Nonetheless, a late cobbled climb to Cassel and the potential for crosswinds and echelons to type within the remaining 35km may spoil their day.

Each Amiens and Rouen have been the protect of sprinters in earlier editions of the Tour however that won’t be the case this time round.

The journey into Normandy comes with a relentless up-and-down stretch within the remaining 50km the place explosive climbing and skilful descending will possible come to the fore and permit the specialists over that terrain to focus on victory.

The primary of two particular person time trials arrives on broad and fully flat roads of Caen.

The strongest rouleurs ought to be of their ingredient on a stage designed for time-trial specialists like Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna.

Six categorised climbs and greater than 3,400m of vertical acquire imply that is considered probably the most difficult flat stage within the Tour’s current historical past.

A troublesome day within the saddle concludes with a 700m-long 10% ascent to the end line.

The race passes by the house village of five-time winner Bernard Hinault throughout a comparatively tame opening 175km of stage seven.

Nonetheless, count on bedlam because the ending line approaches with a closing circuit that mirrors the 2021 stage.

The Mur-de-Bretagne, which ramps up above 10% options twice and explosiveness and tactical nous will decide how issues play out.

A largely flat stage with an occasional mild rise plus a comparatively straight remaining three kilometres in in the direction of the ending line marks this as a day for the sprinters.

Whenever you consider Chateauroux one rider instantly springs to thoughts – Mark Cavendish.

The primary of the Manx Missile’s file 35 stage wins arrived within the metropolis in 2008 and he repeated that success on the Avenue de la Chatre in 2011 and 2021.

And with a comparatively easy parcours a bunch dash will nearly definitely be on the menu when the peloton embarks from the historic city of Chinon which is thought for its wine.

Whereas the 4,400m of elevation acquire throughout seven category-two climbs and a category-three ascent is more likely to put the sprinters in bother nearly from the beginning, the overall classification contenders are more likely to maintain their powder dry on a stage that appears made for the breakaway specialists.

There’ll possible be a powerful posse of residence riders making an attempt to get in any group heading up the street with the target of turning into the primary French stage winner on Bastille Day since Warren Barguil in 2017.

The primary journey into the mountains ought to present an honest shake up of the GC standings though it unlikely to trigger any of the primary favourites points.

Following a relaxation day, stage 11 provides a delicate return to racing though the concluding 16km comprises two kickers that would alter the composition of any quick end to the road on Boulevard Lascrosses.

The primary actual large day within the mountains may see fireworks within the GC race.

The route as much as the ski resort at Hautacam on the roads above Lourdes takes the peloton on the route the place five-time champion Miguel Indurain tore the race (and his rivals) aside in 1994.

Extra just lately, Jonas Vingegaard rode away from Tadej Pogacar in 2022 on his solution to his first total Tour victory.

A person time trial takes the riders from the valley flooring as much as the runway of Altiport 007 in Peyragudes.

After a flat begin, there might be over 8km uphill and no hiding place for the GC favourites within the race of reality.

A gradient of seven.8% ramps as much as a punishing 13% within the remaining kilometre and it may present a powerful indicator of who might be carrying the yellow jersey in Paris.

A basic and mouth-watering mountain stage within the Pyrenees arrives on the finish of week two.

Practically 5,000m of elevation acquire is packed into climbs up the mighty hors-categorie Tourmalet adopted by the Col d’Aspin and Col de Peyresourde.

On a day when the GC riders might be must be at their best possible, the strongest climbers may have their concentrate on the battle for the King of the Mountains jersey and hope to contest the stage on the pull as much as the ski resort of Luchon-Superbagneres.

The gruelling 12.4km slog at 7.3%, which rises as much as 10% in a few sections, ought to be the scene for an epic battle within the race for yellow.

A transitional stage arrives because the race heads from the Pyrenees in the direction of the Alps, which seems to be suited to the strongman sprinters who can address some climbing.

The likes of Wout van Aert and Biniam Girmay ought to view this a possible probability triumph within the medieval ending city of Carcassonne.

Stage 16 is a flat route till some of the legendary mountains in Tour historical past comes into view on the finish with the potential to show the race on its head.

With no categorised climbs all day earlier than Mont Ventoux, and the intermediate dash that includes 112km into the stage, it could be no shock if the peloton stays largely intact till then.

In 2016, sturdy winds meant the end was moved to Chalet Reynard midway up the climb as Thomas de Gendt gained from the breakaway and drama unfolded on the slopes behind with the yellow jersey, Chris Froome, initially working up the mountain after a crash.

With two large Alpine exams nonetheless to return the GC groups will in all probability play second fiddle to the dash groups in relation to making an attempt to rein in any breakaways.

The final three winners of a Tour stage in Valence had been Mark Cavendish (2021), Peter Sagan (2018), and Andre Greipel (2015) and the one factor more likely to stop a bunch dash is the mistral winds that may be fierce within the Rhone Valley.

This 12 months’s queen stage comes with greater than 5,500m of elevation throughout 171.5km of racing and three legendary climbs which makes it arguably the hardest run of the complete Tour.

All three ascents fall beneath the hors categorie, with the Col du Glandon, a 21.7km drag with with sections at double digits only for starters.

The Col de la Madeleine, is shorter however steeper and the whereas there’s a speedy descent and the rises within the street come sharply once more on the monstrous Col de la Loze, a climb of over 26km with gradients hitting 11% because the Tour reaches it is highest level.

The final actual mountain stage represents the ultimate alternative for these excessive within the GC standings to make a play for the yellow jersey.

The route from Albertville to La Plagne covers nearly 130km, and consists of 5 leg-sapping ascents.

Loads of factors might be up for grabs once more within the race for the the polka-dot jersey factors obtainable however that is actually a last-chance saloon when it comes to the general race.

Whoever is main at finish of the day might be assured, that barring an unforseen catastrophe, they are going to be stood atop the rostrum, draped in yellow on the Champs-Elysees.

The penultimate stage sees the race snake over the hills of the Jura in the direction of Pontarlier.

The rolling terrain ought to favour an escapee triumphing, whereas the GC groups shield their leaders.

The Tour returns to it is conventional Paris end after relocating to Good final 12 months as a result of Olympics.

Nonetheless, it does so with a twist, given the cobbled climb as much as the Sacre-Cœur Basilica options thrice in a throwback to the street race within the 2024 Paris Video games.

It is a 1,1km ascent at a gradient of 5.9% added to the unique ending circuit within the French capital designed to whittle down the sphere earlier than a high-speed end albeit probably with out a few of the pure sprinters.