Tour de France 2024 preview: Full schedule, teams and how to watch live cycling (2024)

The Tour de France 2024 is almost upon us with the world’s most prestigious cycling race getting underway on Saturday 29 June.

All eyes are on the duel between Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark. The pair have won the last four titles between them with each aiming to win a third Tour de France.

After his emphatic victory in the Giro d'Italia, Pogačar goes into the event as favourite to add to his two wins from 2020 and 2021. It could be an incredible few weeks for the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist with the Tour de France ended just days before the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

Meanwhile, Vingegaard has made a late comeback from injury to be fit for the Tour as he seeks to become the sixth rider - and the first Scandinavian - to win three consecutive yellow jerseys.

This year’s race is unique for a number of reasons. It will be the first edition to begin in Italy, marking 100 years since Ottavio Bottecchia became the first Italian winner of the Tour de France.

The 'Grand Départ' is in Florence with the field traversing the Italian Alps before crossing the border into France during Stage 4. This will also be the first Tour to finish outside of Paris - due to its proximity to the Olympic Games - with the final stage an individual time trial from Monaco to Nice which will decide overall victory.

Here is everything you need to know about this year’s Tour de France.

Riders to watch at the Tour de France 2024

As well as the big two - Pogačar and Vingegaard - other challengers for the yellow jersey include Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič.

Evenepoel has played down his chances of general classification success on his Tour debut, but his pedigree suggests he will be a threat. The Belgian has some impressive results to his name including winning the 2022 road race world title, and GC at the 2022 Vuelta a España in 2022. He also boasts two Liège-Bastogne-Liège victories.

Roglič, the 2020 runner-up behind compatriot Pogačar, will take some confidence from his overall victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Jasper Philipsen is the favourite to retain the sprinters' green jersey after winning Milan-San Remo and finishing second at Paris-Roubaix. Denmark's Mads Pedersen, road race world champion five years ago, is among his main challengers while Mark Cavendish needs just one stage win to break his tie with Eddy Merckx (both on 34) for the most stage victrories in race history.

Old cyclocross rivals Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert will also be in the mix for stage wins. The latter is back as one of Vingegaard's chief lieutenants in the Visma Lease a Bike team after sustaining multiple fractures in a crash at March's Dwars door Vlaanderen.

The 2024 Tour features seven mountain stages, including four summit finishes, and will suit the climbers. Pogačar (2020, 2021) and Vingegaard (2022) are past winners of the King of the Mountains' polka-dot jersey and are likely contenders once more.

Tour de France 2024 route and important stages

Also among the 21 stages of the 2024 Tour de France are two individual time trials and gravel sectors covering a total distance of 3,492km.

Starting from Florence, the 2024 Tour will complete three full stages in Italy traversing the Italian Alps before crossing the border into France from Pinerolo.

With no Alpe d'Huez or Mont Ventoux on this year's route, the Queen stage is the penultimate stage - a testing 132km cycle from Nice to the summit of the Col de la Couillole.

In recent years, the final individual time trial has been held on the penultimate day with the finale a procession on the Champs-Elysées on the Sunday. But, due to preparations for Paris 2024, this year's race will conclude with a 33.7km time trial from Monaco to Nice.

That means the yellow jersey could potentially be decided on the final day. The last time the Tour ended with a time trial was in 1989 when Greg Lemond overturned a 50-second deficit to Laurent Fignon to take victory by just eight seconds, still the smallest winning margin in race history.

Day-by-day route of the 2024 Tour de France

Saturday 29 June: Stage 1 - Florence - Rimini (206 km)
Sunday 30 June: Stage 2 - Cesenatico - Bologne (199.2 km)
Monday 1 July: Stage 3 - Plaisance - Turin (230.8 km)
Tuesday 2 July: Stage 4 - Pinerolo - Valloire (139.6 km)
Wednesday 3 July: Stage 5 - Sant-Jean-de-Maurienne - Saint-Vulbas (177.4 km)
Thursday 4 July: Stage 6 - Mâcon - Dijon (163.5 km)
Friday 5 July: Stage 7 - Nuits-Saint-Georges - Gevrey-Chambertin (25.3 km, individual time trial)
Saturday 6 July: Stage 8 - Semur-En-Auxois > Colombey-les-Deux-Églises (183.4 km)
Sunday 7 July: Stage 9 - Troyes - Troyes (199 km)
Monday 8 July: Rest Day
Tuesday 9 July: Stage 10 - Orléans - Saint-Amand-Montrond (187.3 km)
Wednesday 10 July: Stage 11 - Évaus-les-Bains - Le Lioran (211 km)
Thursday 11 July: Stage 12 - Aurillac - Villeneuve-sur-Lot (203.6 km)
Friday 12 July: Stage 13 - Agen - Pau (165.3 km)
Saturday 13 July: Stage 14 - Pau - Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet (151.9 km)
Sunday 14 July: Stage 15 - Loudenvielle - Plateau de Beille (198 km)
Monday 15 July: Rest Day
Tuesday 16 July: Stage 16 - Gruissan - Nîmes (188.6 km)
Wednesday 17 July: Stage 17 - Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Superdévoluy (177.8 km)
Thursday 18 July: Stage 18 - Gap - Barcelonnette (179.5 km)
Friday 19 July: Stage 19 - Embrun - Isola 2000 (144.6 km)
Saturday 20 July: Stage 20 - Nice - COl de la Couillole (132.8 km)
Sunday 21 July: Stage 21 - Monaco - Nice (33.7 km, individual time trial)

Tour de France 2024 - Teams: Provisional list (subject to change)

Team Visma | Lease a Bike

Jonas Vingegaard (DEN)
Sepp Kuss (USA)
Tiesj Benoot (BEL)
Matteo Jorgenson (USA)
Christophe Laporte (FRA)
Jan Tratnik (SLO)
Wout van Aert (BEL)
Wilco Kelderman (NED)

Alpecin - Deceuninck

Jasper Philipsen (BEL)
Mathieu van der Poel (NED)
Gianni Vermeersch (BEL)
Silvan Dillier (SUI)
Robbe Ghys (BEL)
Soren Kragh Andersen (DEN)
Axel Laurance (FRA)
Jonas Rickaert (BEL)

Astana Qazaqstan Team

Mark Cavendish (GBR)
Michael Mørkøv (DEN)
Davide Ballerini (ITA)
Cees Bol (NED)
Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ)
Yevgeniy Fedorov (KAZ)
Harold Tejada (COL)
Michele Gazzoli (ITA)

BORA - hansgrohe Team

Jay Hindley (AUS)
Aleksandr Vlasov
Danny van Poppel (NED)
Nico Denz (GER)
Matteo Sobrero (ITA)
Primoz Roglic (SLO)
Bob Jungels (NED)
Marco Haller (AUT)

EF Education - EasyPost

Richard Carapaz (ECU)
Neilson Powless (USA)
Ben Healy (IRL)
Marijn van der Berg (NED)
Alberto Bettiol (ITA)

INEOS Grenadiers

Thomas Pidco*ck (GBR)
Geraint Thomas (GBR)
Carlos Rodriguez (ESP)
Michal Kwiatkowski (POL)
Egan Bernal (COL)
Laurens De Plus (BEL)
Ben Turner (GBR)
Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP)

Lidl - Trek

Carlos Verona (ESP)
Giulio Ciccone (ITA)
Jasper Stuyven (BEL)
Julien Bernard (FRA)
Mads Pedersen (DEN)
Ryan Gibbons (RSA)
Tim Declercq (BEL)
Toms Skujinš (LAT)

Soudal Quick-Step

Remco Evenepoel (BEL)
Mikel Landa (ESP)
Ilan van Wilder (BEL)
Louis Vervaeke (BEL)
Casper Pedersen (DEN)
Yves Lampaert (BEL)
Gianni Moscon (ITA)

Team Jayco AlUla

Dylan Groenewegen (NED)
Luka Mezgec (SLO)
Simon Yates (GBR)
Elmar Reinders (NED)
Luke Durbridge (AUS)
Chris Harper (AUS)
Christopher Juul-Jensen (DEN)
Michael Matthews (AUS)

Israel - Premier Tech

Guillaume Boivin (CAN)
Jake Stewart (GBR)
Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)
Stephen Williams (GBR)
Pascal Ackermann (GER)
Derek Gee (CAN)
Hugo Houle (CAN)
Krists Neilands (LAT)

Uno-X Mobility

Magnus Cort (DEN)
Johannes Kulset (NOR)
Rasmus Tiller (NOR)
Odd Christian Eiking (NOR)
Alexander Kristoff (NOR)
Soren Waerenskjold (NOR)
Tobias Halland Johannessen (NOR)
Jonas Abrahamsen (NOR)

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team

Felix Gall (AUT)
Dorian Godon (FRA)
Oliver Naesen (BEL)
Sam Bennett (IRL)
Nicolas Prodhomme (FRA)
Paul Lapeira (FRA)
Bruno Armirail (FRA)
Nans Peters (FRA)

Arkea - B&B Hotels

Arnaud Demare (FRA)
Kevin Vauquelin (FRA)

Bahrain - Victorious

Matej Mohoric (SLO)
Wout Poels (NED)
Pello Bilbao (ESP)
Phil Bauhaus (GER)
Santiago Buitrago (COL)
Jack Haig (AUS)
Fred Wright (GBR)
Nikias Arndt (GER)

Cofidis

Bryan Coquard (FRA)
Guillaume Martin (FRA)
Piet Allegaert (BEL)
Axel Zingle (FRA)
Alexis Renard (FRA)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Jesus Herrada (ESP)
Ion Izagirre (ESP)

Groupama - FDJ

David Gaudu (FRA)
Valentin Madouas (FRA)
Romain Gregoire (FRA)
Stefan Kung (SUI)

Intermarche - Wanty

Louis Meintjes (RSA)
Biniam Girmay (ERI)
Laurenz Rex (BEL)
Hugo Page (FRA)
Mike Teunissen (NED)
Georg Zimmermann (GER)
Kobe Goossens (BEL)
Gerben Thijssen (BEL)
Vito Braet (BEL)
Lorenzo Rota (ITA)
Rein Taaramae (EST)
Gijs van Hoecke (BEL)
Adrien Petit (FRA)

Movistar Team

Enric Mas (ESP)
Oier Lazkano (ESP)
Nelson Oliveira (POR)
Davide Formolo (ITA)
Alex Aranburu (ESP)
Fernando Gaviria (COL)
Javier Romo (ESP)
Gregor Mühlberger (AUT)

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL

Fabio Jakobsen (NED)
Romain Bardet (FRA)
Warren Barguil (FRA)

UAE Team Emirates

Tadej Pogacar (SLO)
Juan Ayuso (ESP)
Joao Almeida (POR)
Adam Yates (GBR)
Pavel Sivakov (FRA)
Marc Soler (ESP)
Tim Wellens (BEL)
Nils Politt (GER)

Lotto Dstny

Arnaud De Lie (BEL)
Victor Campenaerts (BEL)
Maxim van Gils (BEL)
Cedric Beullens (BEL)
Brent Van Moer (BEL)
Jarrad Drizners (AUS)
Harm Vanhoucke (BEL)
Sebastien Grignard (BEL)

TotalEnergies

Mathieu Burgaudeau (FRA)
Steff Cras (BEL)
Anthony Turgis (FRA)
Jordan Jegat (FRA)
Thomas Gachignard (FRA)
Matteo Vercher (FRA)
Sandy Dujardin (FRA)
Fabien Grellier (FRA)

How to watch the 2024 Tour de France live

The Tour de France will be shown live in 190 countries. Here is a list of the official broadcast partners across different territories.

Europe

Basque Country - EiTB
Belgium - RTBF and VRT
Czech Republic - Česká Televize
Denmark - TV2
Europe - Eurosport
France - France TV Sport and Eurosport France
Germany - Discovery+ and ARD
Ireland - TG4
Italy - Discovery+ and RAI Sport
Luxemburg - RTL
Netherlands - Discovery+ and NOS
Norway - TV2
Portugal - RTP
Scandinavia - Discovery+
Slovakia - RTVS
Slovenia - RTV SLO
Spain - RTVE
Switzerland - SRG-SSR
United Kingdom - Discovery+ and ITV
Wales - S4C

Americas

Canada - FloBikes
Colombia - CaracolTV
Latin America & Caribbean: ESPN
South America - TV5 Monde
United States - NBC Sports and TV5 Monde

Asia Pacific

Australia - SBS
China - CCTV and Zhibo TV
Japan - J Sports
New Zealand - Sky Sport
South-East Asia - Global Cycling Network and Eurosport

Middle East and Africa

The Middle East and North Africa - BeIN Sports and TV5 Monde
Subsaharan Africa - Supersport and TV5 Monde