A Tour de France for climbers. The 2023 edition of the Grande Boucle will give pride of place to mountain enthusiasts. All of the mountain ranges will be crossed by the runners. With a start in the Basque Country, the cyclists will tackle the Pyrenees, then the Massif Central, before heading to the Alps and then the Jura. The Vosges will be the final bouquet of the route.
“We say a Tour for climbers, but there is no Tour that is not for climbers. You have to be good in the mountains to win the Tour. The mountains are the geography of France”, has all of even nuanced Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, at the microphone ofEurope 1 Sport.
30 passes to climb, a record
A route that gives pride of place to climbers. Enough to satisfy some French runners like Romain Bardet, David Gaudu or even Thibaut Pinot, all mountain enthusiasts.
“In total, 30 passes will be covered, it’s a record” for an edition of a Tour de France. “It will be the most mountainous edition in history”, confirms the director of the Tour in Europe 1 Sport. “It was what was planned for 2019, but mudslides had prevented the holding of the initial route”, adds the latter.
With eight stages, the mountains will therefore be the common thread of this 2023 edition. In addition to these, there will be four hilly stages, eight flat stages for the sprinters and finally only one individual time trial.
35 years later, the return of the Puy de Dôme
This Tour de France 2023 will also mark the return of the peloton to the Puy de Dôme. A return after 35 years of absence. Two main reasons motivated this choice. “First the construction of the train which goes up to the top of the puy de Dôme. And then also it also requires an expressed political will, it has been. I would like to express my gratitude to the elected officials who have allowed this return of the Tour at the puy de Dôme”, wished to greet Christian Prudhomme.
Only condition, no spectator will be authorized to settle on the sides of the road of the last four kilometers to reach the summit. But for the director of the Grande Boucle, “the game is worth the candle. The puy de Dôme is the legend of the Tour de France.” And for good reason, it was this road which had allowed the duel between Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor in 1964. “We can’t wait to revive the legend”, declared Christian Prudhomme at the microphone ofEurope 1 Sport.
The Vosges before Paris
Symbol of a Tour with mountainous accents, the penultimate stage will be disputed in the Vosges, the last massif crossed by the 2023 edition. “There was the desire to prolong the suspense as long as possible”, justified the director of the Tower. A last step that should not be overlooked for the runners. “Everything will still be possible if the gap between the first and the second is not too large”, already warns Christian Prudhomme.