For the first time in its history, the Tour de France, the most important cycling race in the world and one of the most followed sporting events in the world, will start from Italy. The Italian Grand Départ (great departure) will be made up of three stages that will take the caravan of cyclists along the roads of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont, before reaching France. The first of these three stages will start on June 29th from Florence, which will therefore be the starting city of the entire Tour de France. 2024 will be a special edition for the “Grande Boucle”, which after many years will not end in Paris but in Nice.
The event will start on Thursday 27 June, with the presentation of the teams directly from the stage set up in Piazzale Michelangelo. It represents a true “event within the event”, with precise times and rhythms, which in addition to the Piazzale will involve other places in the city. A Fan Park will be set up in Piazza Santa Croce for fans and enthusiasts. It will be open to the public with free entry, with promotional and advertising stands.
The departure
Saturday 29 June is the day of the departure of the first stage of the Tour de France, which will take cyclists from Florence to Rimini after a 206 km race. The caravan will leave from the Villaggio alle Cascine (around 12pm) in non-competitive mode and will reach Piazza Signoria, where it will stop for an institutional start in the presence of the authorities. The city route will continue, still with the timer off, parading under the most famous monuments and then heading towards Piazzale Michelangelo and from here continue towards the Gavinana area, where the Tour will pay homage to Gino Bartali. The competitive race will begin just outside the city limits, in the Bagno a Ripoli area, where the official start will be given. After the official start, the caravan will cross the territories of six municipalities of the Metropolitan City: Bagno a Ripoli, Pontassieve, Pelago, Rufina, Dicomano, San Godenzo.
Traffic measures
Below are the traffic measures:
- Fan Zone Area: Piazza Santa Croce from midnight on Monday 24 June to midnight on Sunday 30 June parking and transit prohibited.
- Stage Area: Piazzale Michelangelo from 6am on Tuesday 25 June to midnight on Saturday 29 June no parking or transit
- Team presentation 27 June: from 2pm to 8.30pm parking and transit ban on the entire presentation route + connected itinerary of the avenues between Piazza Ferrucci (excluded) and Piazzale Galileo (excluded).
- Cascine Stadium: from midnight on Friday 28 June to midnight on Saturday 29 June parking and transit ban.
- Race departure 29 June: from 9am to 2pm, parking and transit ban on the entire route plus connected itineraries.
