On Sunday 7 July 2024 the 32nd edition of L’Étape du Tour de France will take place for 10,000+ amateur cyclists on serpentine roads of the Alpes-Maritimes, between Nice and Col de la Couillole. Over 138 kilometers in length with 4600 of vertical gain on four massive climbs, the fully closed road event will take the same route (actually 5km longer!) as the 20th penultimate stage of the Tour de France.

After leaving Nice, the route quickly rises towards the first climbing challenge, Col Braus, and its famous hairpin turns that offer panoramic views of the blue Mediterranean on the horizon. At 10km long averaging 6.6% riders best get in a good warm up before the start.

Next is Col de Turini at 20.7km averaging 5.7%. Visited four times by the Tour de France, Louison Bobet was the first to cross it in the lead, in 1948. In 2019, Colombian Egan Bernal stormed into the Paris-Nice leader’s jersey after winning atop the col.

With 80km in their legs riders then head up Col de la Colmiane (7.5 km at 7.1%), the finish of three stages of Paris-Nice. A most welcomed 20km descent on the back side will give legs a bit of time to recover (or not) before assaulting the final test.

At 15.7km in length with an average gradient of 7.1% the 1678m Col de la Couillole, crossed twice by the Tour de France in the 1970s, will take most of the peloton well over an hour to reach the L’Etape du Tour summit finish line – and no doubt crush the hopes and dreams of riders trying to achieve their goal finish time.

The advice of part-time gran fondo rider and full-time Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme, “If the mileage of this stage seems reasonable, it would be a mistake to think that this 32nd edition of the Stage of the Tour de France will be less difficult than those that may have taken place in the Alps in particular. With four climbs for 4,600 m of altitude, descents where vigilance and concentration will have to be at the maximum and very few moments of recovery, participants will have to be well prepared and above all well manage their effort. Good luck to them for the eight months of preparation that separate them from the big day.”

Registration (€150) opens next week on 31 October and is sure to sell out in minutes.

Photo Credit: A.S.O.

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