Tour competition directors have just made public the full route of Tour de France for 2018. It seems the next year’s selected routes contain several challenges and of course, the 21.7 –kilometer on cobbles during the ninth stage in Roubaix that finishes every single year, is definitely the Queen of the Classics most commonly known as the “Hell of the North”.
Immediately after that stage ends, a rest day will follow before the riders head to a three-day challenge and punishment in the Alps finishing on top of Alpe d’Huez.
At the launch of 2018 @letour route today. ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL. Some of the toughest stages I’ve ever seen. Sure not many sprinters in Paris. pic.twitter.com/1fpiag33Py
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) October 17, 2017
“That’s a special challenge for the riders as they will need to switch from flat-stage mode to mountain-stage mode,” Thierry Gouvenou, Tour competitions director, told Reuters.
Again, one of the most difficult and trickiest stages might potentially be the stage 17 which starts in Bagneres de Luchon and ends in Saint-Lary Soulan. The fact that it’s only 65 kilometers long, makes that stage more difficult to control especially for favourites. It is considered to be the Tour’s shortest stage since the year 1971.
⭐️⭐️ PARCOURS OFFICIEL DU #TDF2018⭐️⭐️ / ⭐️⭐️ HERE IS THE #TDF2018 OFFICIAL ROUTE ⭐️⭐️ #TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/JxNsEXuWeI
— Le Tour de France (@LeTour) October 17, 2017
2018: Full Tour de France route
Stage 1 – Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile to Fontenay-le-Comte, 189km
Stage 2 – Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to La Roche-sur-Yon, 183km
Stage 3 – Cholet to Cholet, team time trial, 35km
Stage 4 – La Baule to Sarzeau, 192km
Stage 5 – Lorient to Quimper, 203km
Stage 6 – Brest to Mur de Bretagne, 181km
Stage 7 – Fougeres to Chartres, 231km
Stage 8 – Dreux to Amiens, 181km
Stage 9 – Arras to Roubaix, 154km
Rest day in Annecy
Stage 10 – Annecy to Le Grand Bornand, 159km
Stage 11 – Albertville to La Rosiere, 108km
Stage 12 – Bourg-Saint-Maurice to L’Alpe d’Huez, 175km
Stage 13 – Bourg d’Oisans to Valence, 169km
Stage 14 – Saint-Pauol-Trois-Chateaux to Mende, 187km
Stage 15 – Millau to Carcassonne, 181km
Rest day in Carcassonne
Stage 16 – Carcassonne to Bagneres-de-Luchon, 218km
Stage 17 – Bagneres-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan, 65km
Stage 18 – Tries-sur-Baise to Pau, 172km
Stage 19 – Lourdes to Laruns, 200km
Stage 20 – Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle to Espelette, individual time trial, 31km
Stage 21 – Houilles to Paris Champs-Elysées, 115km
