The Tour de France is also the Tour de LA... We won't finish this overly heard sentence, but you get the idea: these three weeks, it's the pleasure of seeing great battles on the bike as much as beautiful landscapes.
After meticulous analysis of the 21 stages, we have chosen to put our finger on some of the moments which promise to be grandiose and which should not be missed under any circumstances.
Step 1: Madness in the Basque Country and the Pike Coast
We do not know if he will be at the start.
But here is a place that could well please Julian Alaphilippe.
As an aperitif, the Pike coast, less than 10 km from the finish, in Bilbao (Spain), with its average 10% slope, will tickle the legs of the adventurers.
The huge crowd expected in this bike-crazed Basque Country, more than 3300 m of elevation from the first stage: this will put the Tour de France on the right track.
And allow, perhaps, the former double world champion to adorn himself with yellow from the first day to put an end to 2022 and its procession of bad news.
That would launch this Tour on beautiful promises, wouldn't it?
Stage 1 / Stage 1
🚩@bilbao_udala - @bilbao_udala 🏁 182 km
🚴 3.300 meters of vertical gain and a double springboard where gaps can already be created!
🚴 We're going straight to the heart of the matter!
3,300 meters of D+ including the Pike coast 10 km from the finish!
#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/bnAPN0sMy4
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) October 27, 2022
Stage 9: a shower of tributes, an emotional moment in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat
In the Pyrenees, the Tour will pay tribute to Luis Ocana to salute the memory of the dark Spaniard, winner in 1973. It will already be fifty years.
In Dax, at his home, he will bow with respect to André Darrigade, the greatest sprinter of the 1950s and 1960s. The legend of the Tour de France will be there, as he was at the Palais des Congrès in Paris for the presentation of the Round 2023.
The homage of the Grande Boucle to its legends will continue in apotheosis on July 9 in Saint-Léonard-Noblat, departure town for Puy-de-Dôme.
This small town in Haute-Vienne was the stronghold of Raymond Poulidor, who died in 2019. Poupou rests there for eternity.
The tribute will live up to the memory it leaves behind: immense.
What if Mathieu Van der Poel, his grandson, was also the hero of the day by winning the stage?
Stage 9: the ascent of the Puy de Dôme, the myth is back
The Tour de France taught the geography of their country to the French.
Without him, who would know the Aubisque, the Tourmalet and all these mythical passes?
Who, apart from the Auvergnats, could identify the Puy de Dôme?
Absent from the Tour for practical traffic and property rights reasons since 1988, the dormant volcano is back.
What good news !
Read alsoTour de France 2023: 59 years after the duel against Anquetil, the Puy de Dôme will vibrate again in memory of Poulidor
We will remember on July 9 the duel between Poulidor (him again) and Anquetil in 1964, but also the tragedy of Eddy Merckx, struck by a spectator eleven years later.
The Tour feeds on the myths it builds: the giant of Auvergne that we see from so far away, with its giant antenna, is one of them.
The whole world will see it next summer and that's good.
In 1964, Jacques Anquetil (left) and Raymond Poulidor battled it out for the yellow jersey on the slopes of the Puy de Dôme.
Roger Krieger
Stage 13: the Grand Colombier and a blue-white-red July 14th?
In September 2020, a Slovenian who was starting to make a name for himself triumphed at the top of the aptly named Grand Colombier (Ain).
At the time, he still wore the white jersey of the best young player.
He didn't know it yet, but a week later he was going to grab the yellow and make history.
His name was Tadej Pogacar.
The double winner of the Tour noted this stage, the 13th on his notebook.
It is not the only one: with its 360° view, the Grand Colombier is a magnificent giant, regularly used by the Tour route.
The Grand Colombier, a veritable belvedere over the Alpine chain, offers a breathtaking panorama from its summit.
LP/David Charpentier
It generally succeeds in the French when a stage stops there: Thomas Voeckler, in 2012, and Warren Barguil, in 2017, also won there.
Whose Tour in 2023?
David Gaudu?
“A finish at the top on July 14 on a steep climb like that, I would like to win it” hopes the leader of Groupama FDJ.
Stage 17: the Col de la Loze is brutal
Look no further for the queen stage of 2023: it will be run between Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc and the Courchevel altiport (Savoie).
On the menu ?
Brutal, nothing but brutal: the Col des Saisies, the Cornet de Roselend, the Côte de Longefoy to finish (or almost) with the formidable Col de la Loze.
This will be crossed by the riders for the second time since 1903 and it is one of the toughest in the history of the Tour.
In 2020, Primoz Roglic lost his yellow jersey a bit there.
Admittedly, he had beaten a certain Tadej Pogacar, but without knocking him out when he had the opportunity.
He regretted it three days later when his Slovenian compatriot stole his tunic at the Planche-des-Belles-Filles.
Stage 17 / Stage 17
🚩@Saint_Gervais - @courchevel 🏁 166 km
😱 More than 5,000 meters of vertical gain, the infamous Col de la Loze before reaching Courchevel's altiport!
😱 More than 5,000 m of D+, the return from the Col de la Loze before diving towards Courchevel! #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/gAH3VVEG1i
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) October 27, 2022
Stage 18: the Domancy coast, so dear to Hinault
Memories, memories, but those under 42 don't know it.
It was on this coast, in 1980, that Bernard Hinault went to get his world champion's rainbow jersey.
The race took place around Sallanches (Haute-Savoie), which entered the collective imagination of French sport that day.
Domancy remains a blessed place for blue-white-red cycling and the coast is regularly used by the peloton.
In 2021, this was the case on the road to Tignes, in cold and driving rain.
This time, the riders will cross it alone, against the clock, and the pure riders will not be at the party on the bumpy roads.
Stage 20: the small Strava hills of the Vosges
The Tour de France will ride on the Ballon d'Alsace and return to its roots.
In 1906, this hill in the Vosges was the first summit climbed by the pioneers of the Tour.
René Pottier remains the first climber in the history of the Grande Boucle.
His distant successors will play roller coaster the day before the arrival on the Champs.
Stage 20 / Stage 20
🚩@BelfortOfficiel - Le Markstein 🏁 133 km
💛 A final chance in the mountains with an enticing program for the leaders!
💛 Last chance in the mountains for the leaders with a magnificent Vosges program!
#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/r9NgSBkTTM
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) October 27, 2022
The Vosges massif, the last relief crossed after the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Jura and the Alps, promises beautiful climbs and nice descents which delight the users of a famous app, Strava, where the organizers of the Tour have succeeded to unearth new routes.
Enough to blow up the peloton one last time before the Champs-Élysées the next day.
