The 2023 Tour de France is expected to include a team time trial in the first week, a hilly individual time trial in the Alps and lots of mountain stages but no final time trial before the ride into Paris.
Full details of the route will be unveiled in Paris on Thursday but the VeloWire website and a detailed report by French news network France Bleu have lifted the lid on the likely route, revealing some details of the time trials.
The French Grand Tour is also expected to include lots of mountains, with a brief but intense visit to the Pyrenees, a finish atop the Puy de Dôme dormant volcano in the Massif Central and eight days in the Alps, with a finish on the Grand Colombier on Bastille Day and a stage to Morzine via the Col de Joux Plane and its testing descent.
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The Alpine time trial comes after the second rest day followed by stage 17 to the Courchevel altiport after climbing the mighty Col de la Loze, where Primož Roglič distanced Tadej Pogačar in 2020 when stage 17 finished at the 2,304 metre-high summit.
The final week of the Tour heads north into the Vosges mountains to climb the Grand Ballon and finish at the Le Markstein ski resort on the final Saturday, with a transfer to Paris apparently leaving no space for a traditional stage 20 time trial.
The 2023 Tour de France will start in Bilbao in the Basque Country on Saturday July 1 and end in Paris on Sunday July 23.
The Tour hasn't included a team time trial since 2019, when Jumbo-Visma won the 27.6km stage around Brussels. Race organisers ASO had become frustrated with how a few teams dominated team time trials and gained significant time on their weaker rivals, especially the French teams.
The team time trial is expected to be on stage 6 and around the town of Tarbes at the foot of the Pyrenees. The distance is unknown but is likely to be less than 30km. It could help convince Remco Evenepoel to ride the Tour de France and also set up a huge battle for every second between Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team Emirates and Ineos Grenadiers.
The team time trial is expected to be preceded by a first mountain stage to Cauterets via the Pont d'Espagne, before heading to Bordeaux from Mont-de-Marsan – the adopted hometown of 1973 Tour winner Luis Ocaña, and then on to the Massif Central.
Reports of a return to the Puy de Dôme have been circulating for a while and the mountain will dominate the second weekend.
The climb up the dormant volcano hasn't been used since 1988 but has a storied history, including the Poulidor-Anquetil duel in 1964 and the time a spectator punched Eddy Merckx in 1975. Although not overly long, the main 5.8-kilometre ascent of the climb, which spirals around the central cone of the volcano, is unremittingly steep and spectacular, with gradients averaging around 12%.
The only individual time trial is set for stage 16 in the valley south of Sallanches after the second rest day on Monday July 17.
The route is expected to start in Passy on the north side of the Arve valley and then climb the Côte de Domancy and finish in the village of Combloux on the southside. The Côte de Domancy has been named the Montée Bernard Hinault after the French rider attacked alone to set up his historic victory at the 1980 World Championships in Sallanches. The côte de Domancy is only three kilometres long but has an average gradient of 8.5% and a section at 16%.
After climbing the Col de la Loze and the finish at the Courchevel altiport, the Tour route is expected to head north to the Jura and the Vosges via Bourg-en-Bresse and Poligny.
The Vosges has seen several visits to La Planche des Belles Filles in recent years. The 2023 Tour seems centred around the Grand Ballon, last used in 2019 but never as a summit finish.
France Bleu notes that local officials are planning to build a 5km path from Geishouse up the Col du Haag to create a 13km climb with nearly a kilometre of vertical altitude gain, making it the only hors-catégorie climb in the Vosges mountains.
With no closing time trial, the Tour de France peloton will transfer to Paris on Sunday morning. The final parade stage is set to start inside the national velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which will host the track racing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The final winner of the stage will again be crowned on the Champs-Elysées after the sprinters fight for one last victory.
