3 Fast Takeaways: Excursion de France 2024 Direction Expose: The recently-released 2024 Excursion direction teases a showdown between the game’s perfect GC riders, whilst additionally doubtlessly making a race the place the highest contenders lay in wait till the general week. Spencer Martin offers us his 2024 Excursion de France breakdown and takeaways.
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The direction of the Excursion de France 2024
The Excursion de France organizers, ASO, published the direction for the 2024 Excursion de France in Paris at a shiny tournament with one of the most game’s largest stars in attendance. Primary highlights just like the inclusion of a overseas get started in Italy, an important quantity of gravel on Degree 9 (condolences to Jumbo-Visma GM Richard Plugge), the Col du Galibier on Degree 4, and a big departure from custom via completing the race with a mountainous time trial between Monaco and Great as an alternative of the standard dash degree at the Champs-Élysées in Paris have many enthusiasts and pundits humming and pouring over each to be had element so to forecast how the race will play out. On the other hand, one thing to remember is solely how little the direction unearths to us about how the race will in reality spread at the street come July. The direction is a smart information, however since issues hardly ever play out as anticipated, reputedly benign levels can explode the race, and extremely expected Queen levels can turn out to be action-less stalemates, you will need to rigidity that it’s the riders and stipulations, no longer the direction, that makes the race.
2024 Excursion de France map
2024 Excursion de France Direction Assessment:
As discussed above, the highlights for 2024 are the overseas get started in Florence, Italy, an early Alpine day with the peloton tackling the brutal Col du Galibier on Degree 4 at the street again to France, a gravel problem on Degree 9, the tough 3rd week and the end with an especially tricky time trial in Great as an alternative of the standard procession in Paris (because of the 2024 Olympics taking up town). Significantly, the areas within the Northwest of the rustic, just like the cycling-mad Brittany, were totally excluded for the 3rd consecutive 12 months.
Complete Degree Record:
Degree 1: Florence > Rimini (205km)-hills
Degree 2: Cesenatico > Bologna (200km)-hills
Degree 3: Piacenza > Turin (225km)-flat
Degree 4: Pinerolo > Valloire (138km)-mountains
Degree 5: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Saint Vulbas (177km)-flat
Degree 6: Mâcon > Dijon (163km)-flat
Degree 7: Nuits-Saint-Georges > Gevrey-Chambertin (25km)-ITT
Degree 8: Semur-en-Auxois > Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises (176km)-flat
Degree 9: Troyes > Troyes (199km)-Gravel
July ninth: Relaxation Day #1
Degree 10: Orléans > Saint-Amand-Montrond (187km)-flat
Degree 11: Évaux-les-Bains > Le Lioran (211km)-mountains w/summit end
Degree 12: Aurillac > Villeneuve-sur-Lot (204 km)-flat
Degree 13: Agen > Pau (171km)-flat
Degree 14: Pau > Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet (152km)-mountains w/summit end
Degree 15: Loudenvielle > Plateau de Beille (198km)-mountains w/summit end
July fifteenth: Relaxation Day #2
Degree 16: Gruissan > Nîmes (187km)-flat
Degree 17: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Superdévoluy (178km)-hills
Degree 18: Hole > Barcelonnette (179km)-hills
Degree 19: Embrun > Isola 2000 (145km)-mountains w/summit end
Degree 20: Great > Col de l. a. Couillole (133km)-mountains w/summit end
Degree 21: Monaco > Great (34km)-ITT (mountainous)
Breakdown via Degree Sort:
- 7 mountain levels
- 8 flat(ish) levels
- 4 hilly levels
- 2 time trials
Emilia-Romagna Grand Départ – TourdeFrance 2024
3 Preliminary Takeaways
1) At the floor, this can be a balanced direction, however dig just a little deeper, and primary eccentricities emerge
- Probably the most primary headlines popping out of Wednesday’s expose was once how a lot this direction has discovered a stability between person time trial and mountain climbing.
- For instance, the 59 kilometers of person time trialing is essentially the most since 2013, and neatly above the 2010-2023 reasonable of 46.4kms.
- And, at the turn facet, the estimated 53,095 of vertical meters received is not up to remaining 12 months, which takes the BTP Issue Ranking (overall vertical meters received over overall TT kilometers) down from 2023’s insane 25.4 to a extra affordable 9.0.
- Whilst this will likely make the route seem balanced, if we glance deeper, the outlet weekend in Italy, which options 3 levels over 200 kilometers, at the side of an important quantity of mountain climbing, and the passage of the Col du Galibier en path to France on Degree 4, are extraordinarily abnormal and can create a hard opening few days of racing.
- For reference, all of the 2023 Excursion de France simplest featured two levels over 200 kilometers, whilst the 2024 will function that within the first two levels, and finish with a complete of 5 200+km levels.
- Along with a considerable amount of gravel on Degree 9, those lengthy, tough levels throughout the opening week nearly undoubtedly gained’t be exhausting sufficient to create important sunlight between the most important GC contenders however might be tricky sufficient to weed out somebody no longer at the degree vital to compete for the win, complicate the race for the highest contenders, and in the end, have them racing extremely conservatively (See: Takeaway 3).
The White Roads on degree 9 – TourdeFrance 2024
2) Apparently, those route main points will most likely have little impact at the eventual winner
- The open secret concerning the Excursion de France is that it doesn’t matter what the route looks as if and what number of time trial kilometers and vertical mountain climbing meters, the race performs out extremely in a similar fashion, and the winners are nearly at all times the similar form of rider.
- For instance, since 2015, in spite of all kinds of problem scores, all however two editions were gained via the rider who’s each an especially sturdy time trialist and climber who, for loss of deeper evaluation, is solely the most powerful rider throughout each form of terrain.
Previous Winner Record, Area of expertise & Direction Issue Ranking:
2010: Alberto Contador, climber, 8.32
2011: Cadel Evans, hybrid climber/time trialist, 11.98
2012: Bradley Wiggins, time trialist, 5.03
2013: Chris Froome, hybrid climber/time trialist, 7.8
2014: Vincenzo Nibali, climber, 9.41
2015: Chris Froome, hybrid climber/time trialist, 34.7
2016: Chris Froome, hybrid climber/time trialist, 9.88
2017: Chris Froome, hybrid climber/time trialist, 13.27
2018: Geraint Thomas, hybrid climber/time trialist, 15.48
2019: Egan Bernal, climber, 19.36
2020: Tadej Pogačar, hybrid climber/time trialist, 16.36
2021: Tadej Pogačar, hybrid climber/time trialist, 8.90
2022: Jonas Vingegaard, hybrid climber/time trialist, 9.22
2023: Jonas Vingegaard, hybrid climber/time trialist 25.4
2024: ?, 9.0- This predictability of racing taste and winner sort is because of the extraordinarily top stakes of even minor effects on the Excursion developing an all-out form of racing that neutralizes street levels via restricting the time gaps on even the toughest levels and puts a big emphasis on time trials, although the uncooked quantity is very small, since TTs are one of the crucial simplest items of the route the place the most powerful rider can pull transparent of the others.
- For instance, since 2015, in spite of all kinds of problem scores, all however two editions were gained via the rider who’s each an especially sturdy time trialist and climber who, for loss of deeper evaluation, is solely the most powerful rider throughout each form of terrain.
Maillot Jaune LCL – TourdeFrance 2024
3) The back-loaded nature of this route may just, sadly, make the racing extra paying homage to the slogs of latest Giros than the early motion of latest Excursions
- With one much less summit end and no more total mountain climbing than the 2023 Excursion, the 2024 version might seem to function a milder route, however the truth that it’s so weighted in opposition to dash levels within the first two weeks, and so loaded with mountains within the ultimate one, together with the general time trial, will create a hard race that can most likely produce extremely cagey and conservative racing till the general few levels.
- For instance, seven of the 8 attainable dash levels happen within the first two weeks, and 4 of the 5 summit finishes happen within the ultimate week, without a important uphill end sooner than degree 11.
- It’ll be a terrifying prospect for somebody who intently watched the 2023 Giro d’Italia, however this direction has the prospective to replicate the near-absurd loss of GC motion in the course of the first 3/4ths of race as all of the primary contenders understand that Primož Roglič’s tactic at that race of sitting tight for almost all of the race sooner than banking the entirety at the ultimate few uphill finishes and the general time trial is the most efficient trail to profitable this Excursion.
The Excursion’23 podium
# Spencer Martin is the creator of the cycling-analysis e-newsletter Past the Peloton that breaks down the nuances of each and every race and solutions giant image questions surrounding workforce and rider efficiency. Enroll now to get complete get admission to to all of the to be had content material and race breakdowns. #
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