La Grande Boucle is kicking off with a bang. Only the opening and the finale are flat. The route is going either up or down during the rest of the day.
The route has a bit of a Liège-Bastogne-Liège feel to it, although, to be fair, there are a couple of longer climbs thrown in. But it’s definitely going to be a tough day. Given how eager the top riders are these days, we can expect the fireworks to rage big time. As far as we are concerned, it will be a showdown between the GC contenders right from the start.
Of course, there’s the Big Four – Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel. In advance, they are the main GC contenders. Pogacar comes into the race in winning form after the Giro (six stages and the overall win), while Vingegaard, Roglic, and Evenepoel crashed so hard in the Tour of the Basque Country that they’ve barely raced since. The two-time Tour de France winner hasn’t raced at all. Roglic and Evenepoel recently got back on their bikes in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Roglic won the overall plus two stages, while Evenepoel didn’t really get involved. But it’s been three weeks since then, and …
As mentioned, the route is a bit like Liège-Bastogne-Liège. After a flat start, the riders tackle the Colle de Valico Tre Faggi (12.5 kilometres at 5.1%), Côte des Forges (2.5 kilometres at 5.2%), Côte de Carnaio (10.5 kilometres at 4.6%), Côte de Barbotto (5.8 kilometres at 7.6%), Côte de San Leo (4.6 kilometres at 7.7%), Côte de Montemaggio (4.2 kilometres at 6.6%), and the Côte de San Marino (7.1 kilometres at 4.8%). From the top of that last climb, it’s 27 km kilometres the finish. The first 10 of which are downhill, and the rest is a gradual descent followed by flat terrain.
Speaking of riders who have been sidelined for a few months. How is Van Aert doing? Since the final climb isn’t too tough, there’s a good chance a group will sprint for the win in Rimini. If Van Aert is still in the mix, he’ll definitely be a one of the riders to watch.
Back to Liège-Bastogne-Liège for a moment. ‘La Doyenne’ was won with a solo attack in the past three years. Twice by Evenepoel and once by Pogacar. We don’t see a solo win happening this time. A sprint from a small group seems more likely. In 2021, Pogacar won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in a sprint of five, and the year before that, Roglic took the win in a sprint of four.
Favourites 1st stage 2024 Tour de France
*** Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert
** Mathieu van der Poel, Pello Bilbao, Tom Pidcock, Matej Mohoric
* Ben Healy, Alberto Bettiol, Santiago Buitrago, Marc Soler, Maxim Van Gils
Another interesting read: route 1st stage 2024 Tour de France.
Tour de France 2024 stage 1: route, profile, video
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