le Tour de France, 2018

7th July - 29th July, 2018

celebrating the tour de france, celebrating france

celebrating the tour de france, celebrating france

From Saturday 7st July to Sunday 29th July, 2018, the 105th Tour de France will race 21 stages, covering a distance of 3,351 kilometres. This year's race is being held entirely in France, except for a short visit of around 15 kilometres in Spain during stage 16 between Carcassonne and Bagnères-de-Luchon.

celebrating france

This year's Tour visits three world heritage sites - Chartres, Amiens, Carcassonne, on the 100th anniversary of its end one of the regions ravaged during WW1 (stages 8 and 9), the highest bridge in the world (when it was finished in 2004), and very special towns that show some of the distinctive culture of south-west France.

celebrating the tour de france

A first tricky week, starting in the départment of Vendée on the Atlantic coast, a bit north of the Ile de Ré and the Ile d'Oleron, and then two weeks with lots of mountains, the 2018 Tour will be a very technical race. Chris Froome and Romain Bardet have said they appreciate this route. Note that is expected that Froome will ride, despite attempts to ban him for supposed drug use.

The first nine days is pretty well all on the plain. However, this long week is being made more interesting by several 'diversions'. There's a team time trial on stage 3; two laps of the steep though short Mùr-de-Bretagne on stage 6; while for the first time in over 60 years, a huge dose of cobbles - 21.7 km/13. mi of pavés over 15 sectors on stage 9.

Profile for the paves on stage 9

The following two weeks will be very technical with lots of mountains, though only three summit finishes, and ending with an grueling individual time trial of 35 kilometres on the narrow slopes of the French Basque Country. The Tour 2018 promises to be as open as it is undecided.

2018 tour de france route

It appears that five years under former President Hollande has not helped the local economies of towns and cities in anywhere but the known 'rich' areas of France - the north-west and north coasts, the Alps near Switzerland, the tourist haunts and traps. Thus, there are great swathes of France from tha Atlantic to the Belgian and German borders which will not be visited by the Tour. Only thirty-six of France's 96 mainland departements will be visited. This is reminiscent of several Vueltas a Espana, where much of the country was avoided as the country wobbled towards bankcruptcy. The worst year was 2012 when Madrid was the most southern town visited. The following years gradually extended their reach.

There will be:

• 8 flat stages
• 5 hilly stages with 1 hilltop finish (stage 6 Mûr de Bretagne Guerlédan)
• 6 mountain stages with 3 summit finishes (stage 10 La Rosière, stage 12 Alpe d’Huez, stage 17 Saint-Lary-Soulan col du Portet)
• 1 individual time trial stage
• 1 team time trial stage
• 2 rest days

  The 2018 Tour de France includes a total of 26 mountain or hill climbs and altitude finishes ranked in second, first or HC class.
  Of these 12 are in the Alps, 4 in the Massif Central, and 10 in the Pyrenees.

  There will be nine towns not visited before by the Tour de France:

• Fontenay-le-Comte (finish of stage 1)
• Mouilleron-Saint-Germain (start of stage 2)
• Sarzeau (finish of stage 4)
• Dreux (start of stage 8)
• La Rosière (finish of stage 11)
• Trie-sur-Baïse (start of stage 18)
• Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle (start of stage 20)
• Espelette (finish of stage 20)
• Houilles (start of stage 21)

time bonuses and points continue

BONUSES
Reintroduced in 2015, time bonuses will be awarded at the finish of 'normal', flat, stages. These bonuses are 10, 6 and 4 seconds for the first three in each stage.

POINTS
The points system is said to add value to the stage wins, and to encourage more competition earlier on in the race. Points are awarded both for intermediate sprints during a stage, and at the stage finish of every 'normal' stage.

The green jersey is awarded to the leader of the points classification. These points will be given out at the finishes of each stage as well as on the unique intermediate sprints of normal stages.
The spotty (polka dot) jersey is awarded to the leader of the best climbers’ classification, the King of the Mountains. Points are be awarded at the top of each Col or Côte and the three altitude finishes :

The 2018 route in 3D, 4:58 mins

safety for the riders - a video

Fed up with the brainless, self-centred behaviours of spectators along the route, with the usually dangerous consequences for the men racing, the Tour de France has produced the following short video:

Safety 'clip' 2018, 0:39 mins

the stages for 2018

[Note: blue links go to profile section on this page,
            yellow links go to associated pages at abelard.org]

There will be 21 stages. These include 5 high mountain stages, 5 medium mountain/hilly stages, and two against-the-clock (stages 3 and 20) [contre-le-montre] time trials. There are 2 rest days (16th and 23rd July). All other days are 'on the plain' - relatively flat days, will be about 3,351 kilometres, or roughly 2,082 miles.

this year’s t-shirts

The TDF t-shirts this year are boring and dull, almost without exception. And the ^rices are daftly steep. Thus, there is nothing more to be said or worth showing.

the teams for 2018

team jerseys/colours

2018 TDF team jerseys

this year’s top ten seeded riders

last year (2017): the first ten riders

mountain stages, uphill and summit finishes

Stage 6, 12th July - Brest – Mûr de Bretagne Guerlédan - the final 16 km

Sometimes called Brittany's Alpe d'Huez, the Mûr-de-Bretagne provides a 2 kilometres closing climb, averaging 6.9%. The first kilometre is the hardest at an average of almost 10%. This year the punchy hill will be attacked twice, the first sweep over the peak being the start of a 16 kilometre circuit back to a finish the summit.

Stage 6 final 2 km

Stage 10, 17th July - Annecy to Le Grand Bornand [159 km / 99 mi]

Three Category 1 climbs and an Hors catégorie ascent during 158 km gives a tough day with many opporunities.

Stage 10 profile

Stage 11, 18th July - Albertville to La Rosière [108 km / 67 mi]

Stage 11 profile

Stage 12, 19th July - Bourg-Saint-Maurice Les Arcs to Alpe d’Huez [175 km / 109 mi]

A grinding day of three Hors catégorie climbs, with a Category 2 climb for 'light relief''. The final climb is up the almost 14 km at 8.1% of the ralentless Alpe d'Huez.

Stage 12 profile

Stage 16, 24th July - Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon [218 km / 135 mi]

An almost relaxing start, punctuated by a couple of Category 4 hills and a sprint, lead to a succession of fierce Pyrenean climbs.

Stage 16 profile

Stage 17, 25th July - Bagnères-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan (Col de Portet) [65 km / 40 mi]

Two category 1 climbs bracketing a sprint are the warm-up for the 16 km grinding climb to the 2215 m summit of the Col du Portet.

Stage 17 profile

Stage 19, 27th July - Lourdes to Laruns [200 km / 124 mi]

Exhausting is a polite word for this day of a smörgåsbord of a sprint and six category climbs.

Stage 19 profile

Stage 20, 20 July - individual time trial

French Basque mountain roads are winding, steep and beautiful. But the riders will have little time to look around on this highly technical stage - 30.8 km, of which 610 m is untarmacked track.

Stage 20, ITT Espelette to Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle [underlined place names link to related pages at abelard.org]

Stage 20 profile - ITT

watch tdf broadcasts

The Tour de France is being televised throughout the world. The following table lists the broadcasters by country including those providing live broadcasts.

There is no indication whether or not the broadcasts are free to view.
Eurosport broadcasts are received in Britain as well as in mainland Europe.

Official TDF broadcasters, 2018

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© abelard, 2018, 3 July


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the address for this document is https://www.abelard.org/france/le-tour-de-france_2018.php