Tour de France 2020

Organisers of the Tour de France, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), have revealed the route of the 2020 Tour de France at the Palais des Congrès in Paris on Tuesday October 15. After delays due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the 107th edition of the Grande Boucle is scheduled to begin in Nice on August 29 and conclude on September 20 in Paris.

The new date, should it go ahead, will see the race come into conflict with the UCI World Championships, specifically the men's time trial which runs on September 20.

The Grand Départ will take place in and around the coastal mediterranean city of Nice. It will begin with a 156km road stage on Saturday, August 29, followed by a 190km road stage the next day.

ASO have routed the race through five mountain ranges: Alps, Massif Central, Pyrenees, Jura and the Vosges. It will be an unconventional and mountainous route that will include includes 29 categorised climbs and five mountain finishes.

There will be no finishes on iconic ascents such as L'Alpe d'Huez and Mount Ventoux. The stand-out mountain finishes in this edition will happen on the ascents of the Puy Mary in Massif Central on stage 13 and on the Col de la Loze at Méribel in the Alps on stage 17.

There will be the introduction of four new climbs: Col de la Lusette and Suc au May in the Massif Central, Col de la Hourcère in the Pyrenees and summit of the Col de la Loze.

Other ascents include Grand Colombier, Pyramide du Bugey and Mont Aigoual, Col de Peyresourde, Cormet de Roselend, Col des Saisies and Les Aravis.

There will be no team time trial in this year's edition of the race, but there is one 36km individual time trial between Lure and La Planche des Belles Filles on stage 20.

The route is designed for the best climbers in the world to contest the overall title at the 2020 Tour de France. 

There will be stages that favour the sprinters, too. Flat parcours are schedule on stage 1 and 3 in Nice, stage 5 in Privas, stage 7 in Lavaur, stage 10 in Ile de Re Saint-Martin-de-Re, stage 11 in Poiters, stage 14 in Lyon, stage 19 in Champagnole and the stage 21 finale in Paris.

Tour de France 2020 Contenders

The 2020 Tour de France route will suit the pure climbers of the peloton. Team Ineos are expected to line up with three main contenders in defending champion Egan Bernal, 2018 champion Geraint Thomas and four-time winner Chris Froome.

The French contenders should not be underestimated. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) astounded the cycling world this July after winning two stages, placing fifth overall and spending 14 days in the yellow jersey. He will return in 2020 as will his compatriots Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).

Tom Dumoulin, who has moved to Jumbo-Visma, but has yet to race for the team, has stated that he intends to target the Tour. Jumbo-Visma have multiple contenders, including Steven Kruijswijk and Primož Roglič, should they choose to line them all up.

Other contenders include Nairo Quintana, who got a great start to the year with Arkéa-Samsic, Mikel Landa, a new addition at Bahrain-McLaren, Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First).