The 111th edition of the Tour de France will start from Florence on Saturday 29 June 2024, and will pass through six other municipalities of the Metropolitan City, before finishing in Nice on 21 July 2024.
For the first time in its history the Tour will start from Italy, with three initial stages passing through Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Piedmont. The appointment with the Grand Départ is set for Saturday 29 June with departure from Florence.
The first stage of the famous cycling race will start from the heart of Tuscany and will wind up to Rimini, touching the natural beauty of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the sandy coasts of the Adriatic. This stage will be dedicated to the memory of the great Italian cyclist Gino Bartali.
The Italian stages are:
1) Florence – Rimini: 29 June
2) Cesenatico – Bologna: 30 June
3) Piacenza – Turin: 1 July
Exactly one hundred years after the victory of Ottavio Bottecchia, the first Italian to conquer the podium of the Tour in 1924, the stages are a tribute to great local two-wheel champions:
- Gastone Nencini, the ‘Lion of Mugello’, who won a Giro d’Italia and a Tour de France
- Gino Bartali, in the same year as the 110th anniversary of his birth, with his departure from Florence.
- Marco Pantani, to whom the stage that starts from Cesenatico, his hometown, is dedicated.
- Fausto Coppi, with the third stage in Piedmont.
The Grand Départ
Starting from the 1950s, the Tour de France began to organize its start away from Paris (where traditionally, with a few exceptions, it ends) and from 1954 outside France, with a very first Grand Départ in Amsterdam. Since then, 55 countries and cities experienced the emotion of the final preparations and the arrival of the teams, giving each edition a particular flavor and atmosphere.
The Grand Départ (Great Departure) is in fact a true event within the event, in which the charm and fame of the Tour blend with the history, traditions and atmospheres of the host cities and regions.
The Italian route will be made up of three stages which will take the caravan of cyclists along the roads of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont, before reaching France.
The first of these three fractions 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 exceptionally will not end in Paris, where the Olympics will take place at the end of July, but in Nice.
Dates
Thursday 27 June – Presentation of the teams
The team presentation event will take place two days before the official departure and will involve various places in the city, including Palazzo Vecchio and Piazzale Michelangelo.
The event takes place from 6.30pm to 8pm.
Saturday 29 June – The race
The day of the departure of the first stage of the Tour de France, which from Florence will take the cyclists to Rimini after a 206 km race.
Places of interest
New Opera House: Press center
Operational headquarters, welcome center and press room. A multifunctional center with over 600 accredited journalists from all over the world, dedicated multimedia technologies, technical and healthcare training areas.
Cascine: Starting village
Area with promotional stands for guests and reception of teams awaiting departure.
Piazza Santa Croce: Fan Park
Area open to the public with free entry, with promotional and advertising stands.
Piazzale Michelangelo: Presentation stage of the teams
The presentation of the teams will take place on Thursday 27 June, two days before the start of the race. 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.
The routes
June 27: Presentation of the teams
Palazzo Vecchio will be the logistical base where the technical briefing and photo shoots will also take place, and will be the starting point from which the teams, parading one by one through the streets of the city, will reach the stage in Piazzale Michelangelo for the broadcast show worldwide.
June 29: The 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.
The route in detail:
Village – piazzale delle cascine – viale degli Olmi – piazzale Thomas Jefferson – viale del Visarno – via del Fosso Macinante – via Luciano Berio – piazza Vittorio Veneto – viale Fratelli Rosselli – piazzale di Porta al Prato – Il Prato – via Curtatone – Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci – piazzale Carlo Goldoni – via della Vigna Nuova – piazza di San Giovanni – piazza del Duomo – via dei Calzaiuoli – piazza della Signoria (Institutional Start) – via Vacchereccia – via Por Santa Maria – Ponte Vecchio – via dei Guicciardini – piazza dei Pitti – piazza di San Felice – via Romana – piazza della Calza – piazzale di Porta Romana – viale Niccolò Machiavelli – piazzale Galileo – viale Galileo – piazzale Michelangelo – viale Michelangelo – via Carlo Marsuppini – via Coluccio Salutati – piazza Gavinana – viale Donato Giannotti – viale Europa – piazza Gastone Nencini – viale Europa – viale del Pian di Ripoli – Bagno a Ripoli (Official start) -Rimini.
Changes to mobility in Florence
From 25th to 30th June changes to mobility are expected. Choose the day and view the map with the routes affected by the event and the roads subject to the various measures.
In advance of those interested, the Civil Protection of the Municipality of Florence will coordinate a leaflet distribution with information regarding road closures, parking bans, and U-turns. The maps are continuously updated.
THE PASSAGE FROM PONTASSIEVE TO PELAGO
On Saturday 29 June the Tour de France will pass through Valdisieve. On 29 June, the Tour caravan will pass through Pontassieve and San Francesco during the Florence-Rimini stage. The race will arrive from the SP34 provincial road of Rosano, will cross the Vicas roundabout to continue in the town of Pontassieve and San Francesco and then continue towards Rufina along the SS67.
From approximately 9.30am to 1.30pm, all affected roads and accesses (including private ones) will be closed. A parking ban with forced removal will be established on the streets crossed by the race. These limitations will also affect the hamlets of Montebonello, Acone and Colognole regarding access to the SS67 in the municipality of Rufina.
