tour de france quintana

Nairo Quintana confirmed for two Grand Tours in 2024

Nairo Quintana will undoubtedly not disappoint in his comeback to the highest level with the Movistar team. The Colombian climber will lead the Spanish team in the Giro d’Italia in the 2024 season. Additionally, he will participate in the Vuelta a España as a support rider for Enric Mas. The Spaniard will also lead the team in the Tour de France.

Colombian Einer Rubio also present

Quintana will have his compatriot Einer Rubio by his side in the Giro d’Italia. In 2014, Quintana won the Giro d’Italia, and he also stood on the podium in 2017, finishing second behind the winner Tom Dumoulin.

The Vuelta a España is also on Quintana’s list of achievements, as he won the 2016 edition. He also finished in fourth place twice in the overall classification of the Spanish competition.

Contract Denied by French Team

Nairo Quintana will return to the WorldTour level in 2024 after Arkéa-Samsic denied him a new contract at the end of 2022 due to traces of tramadol found in his doping tests during the Tour de France earlier that year. Last year, Quintana was without a team, but Movistar decided to welcome him back.

Initially, the plan was for Quintana to start the season at the Tour de Valencia, but recently, he mentioned that his preference is to participate in the Tour Colombia in his own country.

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Nairo Quintana: I’m the Movistar leader for the Tour de France

Colombian says he's more prepared than ever to take on the Tour in 2019

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Nairo Quintana says he's the outright leader of the Movistar team for the Tour de France in July, despite riding alongside Alejandro Valverde and Mikel Landa.

Quintana, currently training in his home country of Colombia, is likely to return to competition at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June having not raced since the GP Miguel Indurain in early April.

>>> Alejandro Valverde to ride Tour de France and Vuelta a España following injury comeback

The 29-year-old started his European season at Paris-Nice in March, where he finished second overall behind compatriot Egan Bernal (Team Ineos), before heading to the Volta a Catalunya where he finished fourth overall. His only win of the season so far came at the Tour Colombia with victory on stage six.

The Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España winner has made no secret of the Tour being his major objective for the 2019 season, with the route extremely favourable to his attributes.

This year's Tour de France features just one individual time trial (27km), but has five summit finishes, three of which finish at over 2,000m in altitude, meaning the 106th edition could be Quintana's best opportunity yet.

"I come to the Tour with more experience, knowing more about my body, the team and the route," Quintana told the press at a conference in Bogotá.

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"I am focused on this goal and I trust in my preparation, I always give the best. For me this Tour is simply a new opportunity that I will take full advantage of and I hope that things go well."

In last year's Tour, Spanish team Movistar went with a three-pronged leadership of Quintana, Valverde and Landa, with Landa taking the best GC finish in seventh place at over seven minutes down on winner Geraint Thomas .

Quintana, a three-time podium finisher at the Tour, took 10th place overall but salvaged the team's only win of the race with victory atop the Col du Portet on stage 17.

While all three riders are again likely head to the Tour in the same team, Quintana says that team boss Eusebio Unzué has been clear that he will lead the squad. He added that he would also like to have current Giro d'Italia leader Richard Carapaz as part of the squad in July.

"Eusebio Unzué has told me that I will be the leader for the Tour, so I have been preparing for that and I hope to count on the support of my team-mates," Quintana said.

"I hope [Carapaz] can keep the pink jersey for his country, for Colombia and for all of Latin America. I'd like to have him with me on the Tour as I would like to have Winner Anacona, but the directors choose the best riders; in contention there's also big riders like Valverde."

Quintana has been rumoured to be leaving Movistar at the end of the season, with French team Arkéa-Samsic touted as frontrunners to sign him as they look to move up from Pro Continental to WorldTour level.

The Tour de France 2019 begins on July 6 and ends on July 28.

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Follow on Twitter: @richwindy

Richard is digital editor of Cycling Weekly. Joining the team in 2013, Richard became editor of the website in 2014 and coordinates site content and strategy, leading the news team in coverage of the world's biggest races and working with the tech editor to deliver comprehensive buying guides, reviews, and the latest product news.

An occasional racer, Richard spends most of his time preparing for long-distance touring rides these days, or getting out to the Surrey Hills on the weekend on his Specialized Tarmac SL6 (with an obligatory pub stop of course).

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Canyon SRAM announces roster for Giro d’Italia Women

Pogacar regains yellow in thrilling tour de france mountain stage, teosport unveils eco-friendly re-up pads at eurobike, borghesi joins human powered health and prepares for giro d’italia women, team dsm-firmenich postnl reveal squad for 2024 giro d’italia women.

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Tadej Pogacar Shatters Col du Galibier Record in Tour de France 2024

Mathew mitchell.

• Published on July 2, 2024
• in Men's Cycling

In a remarkable display of uphill power, Tadej Pogacar set a new record on the Col du Galibier during Stage 4 of the 2024 Tour de France . Pogacar completed the final 8.51 km of the climb, which has an average gradient of 6.88%, in an astonishing 20’48”. This performance eclipsed the previous record of 22’28” set by Nairo Quintana in 2019.

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The Col du Galibier is one of the most iconic and challenging climbs in the Tour de France. Nestled in the French Alps, this legendary ascent connects the Maurienne and Briançon valleys. The climb typically begins in Valloire, a quaint alpine village, and rises to an altitude of 2,645 meters, making it one of the highest paved roads in Europe. Spanning approximately 18 kilometres, the Col du Galibier has an average gradient of 6.9%, with the final kilometres reaching gruelling pitches of up to 10%. The climb is renowned for its breathtaking scenery and its demanding nature, often serving as a decisive stage in the Tour de France.

Historical Context of Col du Galibier Records

The Col du Galibier, one of the Tour de France’s most storied and challenging climbs, has been the site of many memorable performances. Here’s a look at some of the best times recorded on this legendary ascent and the stages they featured in:

2011 Tour de France

• Frank Schleck: 23’34”
• Andy Schleck: 25’00” (Stage Winner)

In 2011, Stage 18 of the Tour de France was especially significant as it celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first inclusion of the Galibier in the race. The stage took riders from Pinerolo to the highest-ever stage finish at 2,645 meters on the Col du Galibier. Andy Schleck won the stage after a stunning solo attack launched 60 km from the finish on the Col d’Izoard. Despite their strong performances, neither Andy nor Frank Schleck could secure the overall victory, with Cadel Evans ultimately winning the Tour that year.

2019 Tour de France

• Nairo Quintana: 22’23” (Stage Winner)
• Egan Bernal: 23’03”

During the 2019 edition, the Col du Galibier featured prominently in Stage 18. Nairo Quintana launched a decisive attack from the early breakaway, setting a then-record time of 22’23” and winning the stage with a solo ride into Valloire. Egan Bernal also showed his climbing strength, clocking in at 23’03” as he moved up to second place in the general classification.

2022 Tour de France

• Louis Meintjes: 23’47”
• Peloton: 24’27”

In 2022, the Col du Galibier was included in Stage 11, which travelled from Albertville to a summit finish at the Col du Granon. Louis Meintjes stood out with a time of 23’47”, while the peloton completed the climb in 24’27”. This stage was characterised by aggressive racing and significant time gaps among the GC contenders.

2024 Tour de France

• Tadej Pogacar: 20’48”

In 2024, the Col du Galibier was the centrepiece of Stage 4. Pogacar’s blistering time of 20’48” not only broke Quintana’s record but also highlighted his dominance in the high mountains. This stage, which took riders from Pinerolo to Valloire, included a 23 km climb with an average gradient of 5.1%, followed by an 18.9 km descent into Valloire. The UAE Team Emirates train brought back memories of the Sky train such was its dominance in pacing up the climb through the likes of Adam Yates, Joao Almeida and Juan Ayuso before Tadej Pogacar took over. Pogacar would ultimately win the stage by 35 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard after a strong descent.

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Geraint Thomas Extends Lead as Nairo Quintana Wins Tour de France Stage 17

Quintana won his first Tour stage in five years, while Chris Froome dropped from second to third place overall

Quintana finished the stage 28 seconds ahead of Dan Martin, securing a comfortable win on the highest summit finish of the race this year. Thomas, who has led the Tour since Stage 11, added more time to protect his yellow jersey while Sky teammate Chris Froome dropped in the overall standings from second to third place. Thomas now has 1:59 over Team Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin and 2:31 over Froome.

Movistar’s Quintana also moved ahead in the General Classification , taking fifth place from AG2’s Romain Bardet, who fell to eighth overall.

Team Astana’s Tanel Kangert led the stage for most of the day, but was caught by Quintana and Bora-Hansgrohe’s Rafał Majka 8.5K from the finish. Quintana then dropped Majka about 2K later, while Martin overtook Kangert 7.5K from the finish and held on for second place.

Toward the end of the Tour’s second day in the Pyrenees, Primož Roglič, who sits fourth overall, attacked twice from GC group. The second time Roglič went, Thomas got into his wheel and left Froome behind.

Dumoulin then attacked with about 2K to go, but Thomas kept pace and made one final attack of his own with only meters to go, finishing the stage 5 seconds ahead of Roglič and Dumoulin and inching even further to his first overall win in Paris.

Froome, who entered the Tour hoping to win it for a record-tying fifth time, now seems further from his goal than ever before. His failure to stay with Thomas in the final few kilometers means the defending champion is in danger of finishing off the podium.

Peter Sagan also had a bad day. The Slovakian rider—who has all but won the green jersey in the Points Classification —crashed badly 38K into the stage. Though he did finish, he looked banged up and was taken the the hospital for examination.

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Quintana, maître des lieux ?

Les possibilités sont infinies, car le terrain proposé est ouvert à tous les types de batailles. Mais la tentation est grande pour Nairo Quintana de se positionner sur une arrivée dont on a déjà mesuré la sélectivité, et où il est à l’heure actuelle le seul maître, après avoir remporté la première étape jugée au col du Portet. Il y a trois ans, c’est sur un format atypique de 65 kilomètres que cette étape avait été disputée, et maîtrisée par le Colombien. Désormais sous pavillon français avec le maillot d’Arkea-Samsic, Quintana a d’autant plus intérêt à se surpasser qu’il fait encore partie des prétendants au maillot à pois, et que la dotation en points sera doublée à l’arrivée. Reste à savoir si la stratégie sera plus payante en intégrant une échappée partant de Muret, pour les 100 premiers kilomètres à parcourir sans réel relief, ou s’il est préférable de garder ses efforts pour la redoutable ascension finale, quitte à se priver des points à saisir au col de Peyresourde (km 129,1) et au col de de Val Louron (km 149,5). La question ne se posera pas du côté de Tadej Pogacar, et surtout des autres prétendants au podium, qui auront désormais peu d’occasions d’améliorer leur position. Les places sont loin d’être attribuées dans le Top 5, sachant que les 5 premiers poursuivants du leader slovène, à savoir Rigoberto Uran, Jonas Vingegaard, Richard Carapaz, Ben O’Connor et Wilco Kelderman, se tiennent en moins d’une minute. Il se jouera entre eux une manche décisive de la partie sur la route du col du Portet.

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Nairo es optimista con Egan Bernal en el Tour de France

Nairo Quintana dejó en ESPN sus primeras sensaciones del Tour de France 2024. Considera que Egan Bernal estará cerca de los primeros en la clasificación general.

El ciclista boyacense está de vuelta en la ruta. Prepara la Vuelta a España y ya está recuperado de la fractura en la mano derecha que tuvo hace tres semanas en el Tour de Suiza.

En diálogo con ESPN se mostró optimista por lo que puede ofrecer Egan en la máxima competencia del calendario.

Ir a Vuelta a España: Inicialmente así es, llevó cuatro días saliendo nuevamente a la carretera. No ha sido fácil. Tuve que parar, tengo que comenzar, la intención es que voy a estar en la Vuelta a España.

Su campeón del Tour 2024: El Tour lo gana Pogacar, atrevidamente lo digo. Está muy fuerte, su equipo es muy fuerte. Seguramente Egan y Carapaz estarán muy cerca de los primeros. Va a estar muy apretada la clasificación general, seguramente hasta el último momento.

¿Quién debe liderar Ineos? Para mí, Egan Bernal, pero ellos han visto también el rendimiento de Carlos Rodríguez. Egan ha venido creciendo, ha tenido muy buenos números, pero los resultados los ha dado Carlos y se suma Geraint que viene de ser tercero del Giro y se muestra fuerte.

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2024 Tour de France Preview Real Ciclismo Cycling Podcast

Hello and welcome to two hours of unfiltered straight yap from yours truly, Matthias / Nairoingreen We take a look at the teams and stages of this years Tour de France where multiple underdogs decide to fight it out including Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard (sadly not Nairo Quintana). Come for the preview stay for the Ilnur Zakarin stories if you enjoyed feel free to support at ko-fi.com/nairoingreen

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Tour de France analysis – On the Galibier, UAE Team Emirates brought cycling into the era of the 'hors catégorie team'

I n cycling, the strongest team or rider on paper isn't always the strongest on the road, as a myriad of outside factors – including rivals, the course, tactics or lack thereof, the weather, and illness – can conspire to falter even the most powerful-seeming lineups on any given race day.

On stage 4 of the Tour de France , raced over the high-mountain passes at Sestrières, Col de Montgenèvre and the Col du Galibier, no such obstacles impeded the progress of the star-packed UAE Team Emirates , however.

The team, at a reasonable guesstimate the most expensively assembled in cycling history, were nigh-on unstoppable as the slopes of the Col de Lauteret turned into the Galibier on Tuesday afternoon.

First, it was the Classics stars, Tim Wellens and Nils Politt, who took the reins. The pair laid the groundwork, to be continued by the half dozen teammates who could earnestly claim a leadership slot at many of the other 21 teams in the Tour de France peloton.

Before long, after Pavel Sivakov and Marc Soler - both with Grand Tour top 10s among their palmarès – had pulled off the front of a peloton constantly dwindling in numbers, the break of the day had been reeled in and major names including Simon Yates, Enric Mas and race leader Richard Carapaz had all been dropped.

But at UAE, a 'team of leaders' – in Adam Yates, João Almeida, and Juan Ayuso a trio of Grand Tour contenders in their own right – remained, sloughing more star names off the lead group, Jonas Vingegaard 's final teammate Matteo Jorgenson among them.

Last year, it was the Dane's Visma-Lease a Bike team, then enjoying the services of Primož Roglič and fully fit versions of Sepp Kuss, Wout van Aert and Wilco Kelderman, who looked to be the unstoppable Grand Tour racing force.

Now, largely thanks to forces out of their control, they look a shadow of the team which achieved the unprecedented in May, July and September. A Vingegaard with an optimal Tour de France lead-in may have fared better racing across and down the Galibier on stage 4, while Van Aert in full flying super-domestique form would surely have been present on the Lautaret.

But, come the climb, in the time between Wellens and Yates finishing their spells on the front, the collective might of Bart Lemmen, Tiesj Benoot, and Jorgenson had dropped away, leaving Vingegaard alone to reckon with his great rival and a pair of teammates in Ayuso and Almeida.

Shorn of all context – such as the weather, the length of stage, or the race situation – Pogačar 's team-assisted ascent of the 8.5km from the Lautaret to the summit of the Galibier stood as the quickest on record, at 20:48 it lies 95 seconds quicker than Nairo Quintana 's five years ago.

This was achieved in the face of a headwind blowing for much of the ascent, too, all the way down the northwest-facing road from Briançon up the Lautaret. Nature's effort scarcely put a dent in the combined efforts of the UAE Team Emirates roster, so it was no surprise that no other team – barring Remco Evenepoel 's Soudal-QuickStep – could offer up more than a single rider in resistance by the time Pogačar dropped the hammer.

The challenge for their rivals now, at least if this opening mountain salvo is an accurate omen for the remainder of the Tour, will be figuring out how to counter this awesome strength in depth. There'll be a rewriting of tactics, mooted forming of alliances, and hope – hope that riders find form on the road, and hope that Pogačar tires as he nears the conclusion of his historic Giro-Tour double bid.

In the long run, however, overwhelming displays of force such as this will continue to pose larger questions of professional cycling. Around the sporting world, the concentration of high-end talent at the few strongest-slash-richest teams is already well entrenched.

Will cycling end up treading the same path, with a handful of Tour teams boasting half a team of Grand Tour contenders supporting a sole superstar, leaving the remainder of the peloton resembling Agritubel or TotalEnergies?

Forget the super team, on 2024 Tour's first hors catégorie climb, cycling's new hegemons, UAE Team Emirates, have shown that cycling is now in the era of the 'hors catégorie team'.

Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Tour de France - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage of the race as it happens and more. Find out more .

The Tour de France's first doping scandal, 100 years on

Sport The Tour de France's first doping scandal, 100 years on

The Tour de France is a race that has always been intrinsically linked with its past.

The race drips with its own sense of self, with its history dictating everything from its route to its idiosyncratic quirks.

This year's 111th edition is no different.

For the first time since 1903, Paris will play no role in the route, a by-product of the imminent Olympic Games.

That wasn't an issue in 1924, incidentally, when the Grande Arrivée into the Parc des Princes velodrome in Paris clashed with the final day of the swimming, tennis and boxing, and came slap-bang in the middle of the gymnastics.

But times change and now, a century on, the sporting and cultural behemoth that is the Olympic Games takes precedent.

So, the Tour was forced to change things up — and looked no further than into its extensive back-catalogue for alternative inspiration.

They settled on honouring the Tour's first Italian champion, Ottavio Bottecchia, with a Grand Départ in Florence, Italy for the first time.

The race will have three stages in Italy before the race crosses into southern France .

That 1924 victory was the first of two consecutive Tours de France wins Bottecchia achieved before his mysterious death in 1927 — but that's another story.

Bottecchia was, by all accounts, the strongest in the race, but his passage towards victory was no doubt aided, in part, by the acrimonious exit of defending champion Henri Pélissier, to whom Bottecchia finished second in 1923.

Pélissier was one of the great French cyclists either side of World War I, winning a total of 10 Tour d France stages, split before and after the conflict as well as claiming victories in Milan-San Remo, Paris-Brussels, Bordeaux-Paris and Paris-Tours.

He also won Paris–Roubaix twice and the Tour of Lombardy three times to round off an impressive and imposing resume.

Aside from being a terrific rider, the cantankerous Parisian was also a firm believer in getting a fair go for his fellow riders.

He frequently butted heads with Tour de France founder, Henri Desgrange over the spartan conditions the race director imposed on the competitors, both on the Tour and at other races throughout the calendar.

The 'calvary' of early Tours de France

Tours de France have always been extreme tests of endurance.

This year's race covers 3,499.2km with almost 53,000m of elevation gain.

Overall, riders will expect to be racing for a total of 80 or so hours over the course of the three-week, 21-stage race.

That's nothing compared to 1924, though.

A century ago, riders completed a whopping 5,425km shared across just 15 stages — Pélissier complained later that the race was like "a calvary," only the way to the cross only had 14 stations — the Tour had 15.

"You have no idea what the Tour de France is," he added, speaking to French journalist Albert Londres, whose reports in le Petit Parisien newspaper created a sensation when they were published.

The shortest of those 15 stages was a mountainous 275km from Nice to Briançon in the Alps — 44km longer than the lengthiest stage on this year's route. The longest was a barely conceivable 482km from Les Sables-d'Olonne to Bayonne which took 19 hours and 40 minutes to complete.

Bottecchia's total winning time was a shade over 222 hours, or just over nine days in the saddle.

But it wasn't just the distances.

A stickler for observing archaic and antagonistic rules, Desgrange demanded that every rider finished with the same equipment that they started each stage with.

That meant any punctured tyres needed to be carried with them and any extra jackets or jumpers that were being worn at the start of the stage — which often started in the cold, early hours of the morning before sunrise, before riding through the heat of a French summer's day — had to be worn at the finish.

"We don't only have to work like donkeys, we have to freeze or suffocate as well," Pélissier said.

"Apparently that's an important part of the sport."

After an instance where Pélissier was docked time for losing one of his jerseys, he said he went to find Desgrange, who told him that he could not throw away anything provided by the race organisers. 

Pélissier's argument that the race had not provided him the jerseys — Pélissier, unlike other riders, had arranged his own sponsorship — adding that he would quit the race in protest.

He eventually did so, taking his brother Francis and another rider, Maurice Ville with him.

It was on that day that he ran into Londres in a cafe next to the station in the small Normandy village of Coutances.

Les Forçats de la Route

Over a bowl of chocolate, the subsequent interview blew the lid off some of the more unsavoury aspects of the Tour that has cast a lengthy shadow over the entire sport ever since.

In that cafe, the two Pélissier brothers and Ville outlined what exactly the riders had to consume to get through those monstrous stages.

Spoiler alert, it wasn't bowls of chocolate.

"Do you want to see how we walk?" writes Londres, describing Henri Pélissier taking a vial out of his bag.

"This is the cocaine for the eyes, this is the chloroform for the gums," Henri Pélissier said.

Ville now emptied his bag on the table, revealing an ointment that "warms the knees".

All three riders then revealed the three boxes of pills they had with them.

It was Francis Pélissier that said the most explosive line.

"In short, we ride on dynamite," he said.

The story of that Tour de France was immortalised in Londres' reporting, a book which he titled: Les Forçats de la Route, the convicts of the road, in which he also revealed that the riders said that, instead of sleeping, they danced a jig in their rooms at night and suffered with "draining" diarrhoea. 

All three backtracked from the comments, suggesting they were overplaying things for a man in Londres who was not a cycling journalist per se — his typical beat was foreign affairs and the exposing of the horrors of colonialism. 

But even accounting for that, there were no repercussions from the startling admissions revealed in the book.

Why? Well, what the Pélissier's and Ville admitted to was far from against the rules.

In fact, French law only prohibited the use of stimulants in sport in 1965, over 40 years later.

In part, that was a reaction to the death of 24-year-old Danish rider Knud Enemark Jensen, who collapsed during a time trial at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

Despite the ban on stimulants, doping cases in the Tour have followed with alarming regularity.

Whether it was Tom Simpson's horrendous drug-addled death on the slopes of Mont Ventoux in 1967, right through to the seismic Festina affair of 1998 and then the subsequent seven lost Lance Armstrong years.

The most recent case that directly impacted the Tour featured Nairo Quintana and his Arkéa-Samsic squad .

Quintana was disqualified from his sixth place finish in 2022 after testing positive for Tramadol — a substance banned by the UCI but not on the WADA list.

And still it continues.

Just this week, Italian rider Andrea Piccolo was sacked by EF Education-EasyPost Pro Cycling after the 23-year-old was stopped by Italian authorities on suspicion of transporting human growth hormone into Italy.

Piccolo was not scheduled to race the Tour, but did compete in the Giro d'Italia earlier this year.

Drugs have been a part of the Tour de France for over a century, leaving every subsequent winner to face questions over the legitimacy of their triumphs, even if the optimist hopes that sports science and the extraordinary levels of scrutiny placed upon the leading riders today means what we've seen is fully legal.

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Court of Arbitration confirms Nairo Quintana's Tour de France tramadol disqualification

Quintana loses appeal after CAS upholds blood tests revealed use of pain killer

The Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) has upheld the UCI’s decision to disqualify Nairo Quintana from the 2022 Tour de France , confirming his in-race positive tests for the painkiller tramadol.

The Colombian finished sixth overall but has lost those results. However he will not be banned for a first offence, as tramadol cases are only considered offences under the UCI Medical Rules and do not constitute an Anti-doping Rule Violation. WADA is set to ban tramadol from 2024. 

Quintana had appealed to CAS in a bid to get the UCI’s decision overturned and his results from the race restored. 

Quintana recently announced he has terminated his contract with Arkea-Samsic and has still to reveal his team for 2023. 

Nairo Quintana linked with 2023 move to French team Nairo Quintana announces Arkéa-Samsic exit Quintana disqualified from Tour de France following tramadol positives

A CAS statement released on Thursday says that “the [CAS] Panel deliberated and determined that the UCI’s in-competition ban on tramadol was for medical rather than doping reasons and was therefore within the UCI’s power and jurisdiction.”

The painkiller is not classified as a performance-enhancing drug but has been banned by the UCI since March 2019. Riders returning a positive result for the substance during a race via a blood droplet test are disqualified, while a second offence carries a five-month ban. WADA has recently announced that tramadol will become a banned substance from 2024.

CAS said in their statement that they were “comfortably satisfied” that tramadol had been found in Quintana’s Tour de France samples. Decisions by CAS are final and cannot be appealed. A full version of the verdict is set to be published in due course.

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Quintana has categorically denied any wrongdoing throughout the proceedings, but his hopes that he would be cleared have now been dashed, in what constitutes a major blow for one of modern-day cycling’s best-known climbers and one of South America’s most popular athletes.

The news that Quintana would be disqualified from the Tour de France broke during the final countdown to the Vuelta a España, where the 32-year-old multiple Grand Tour winner was set to take part for his Arkea-Samsic team.

After Quintana decided barely a day before the Vuelta start that he would not take part, Quintana and the French squad have now parted ways. The Colombian had been due to continue racing for Arkea-Samsic, which he joined in 2020, becoming one of their most successful riders.

Meanwhile the CAS hearing was set for early October, while subsequent transfer claims that Quintana could race for Astana Qazaqstan or AG2R Citroën next January were quashed by the teams themselves. Quintana raced in the World Championships for Colombia, finishing 66th in what has been his only event since the Tour. His future still remains unclear.

Quintana's sixth-place finish at the Tour constituted the best result in the history of his Arkéa-Samsic team as the 32-year-old raced to his best GC placing since the 2016 edition. He had finished 15th at La Planche des Belles Filles and second on the Col de Granon, the two stages where he returned samples positive for tramadol.

The substance is an opiate pain medication which made headlines in the mid-2010s, with the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC) having requested a ban on the drug as far back as 2013 following reports of widespread usage in the peloton.

"In addition to the risk of dependence and addiction, commonly reported adverse side effects of tramadol are dizziness, drowsiness and loss of attention, which are incompatible with competitive cycling and endanger other competitors," reads UCI guidance on the drug in the organisation's medical rulebook.

A statement by the UCI following the publication of the verdict said it “welcomes today’s decision” and claimed it “reinforces the validity of the tramadol ban in the UCI Medical Regulations in order to protect the health and safety of riders.”

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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Who is nairo quintana, nairo quintana's story is woven with a mix of myth and incredible truth. the man who hopes to become south america's first tour winner is a fascinating personality and a real talent..

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At the end of the 2015 Tour de France, after three weeks and 3,000 kilometers of intense racing, it all came down to the 21 switchbacks of cycling’s most famous climb. A new rivalry was reaching its apogee: Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana were locked in an intense duel for the yellow jersey on l’Alpe d’Huez.

The two riders from two different worlds were separated by just 2:38. Africa’s first Tour winner, Froome only had to hang on to win his second maillot jaune. Quintana, the fearless Colombian climber, wanted South America’s first.

Their styles, backgrounds, and personalities couldn’t be more contrasting. The prototypical modern racer, Froome was educated at private school and then molded to physical perfection by Sky’s computer-generated training program. Quintana, by contrast, was born in the shadow of the Andes into poverty. He had clawed his way to the top of the peloton on pure talent and raw ambition.

Sharing the same mental fortitude and physical blessings, the two men converged on cycling’s greatest climb in front of 400,000 screaming witnesses.

Quintana’s opening salvo came before the first switchback. A second surge came moments later, distancing Alberto Contador. After each effort, Sky teammates Richie Porte and Wout Poels reeled in Quintana, but Froome was put on the ropes.

“It’s not a pleasant feeling, believe me,” Froome says about the pain Quintana can inflict. “You know he’s going to attack, and you know it’s going to hurt.”

With Movistar’s Winner Anacona waiting higher on the mountain, the team sent Alejandro Valverde on the attack, and the trap was set. Quintana eased next to Froome as if to say, “Here it comes. Can you follow me?” He catapulted a third time, and the elastic snapped. Ten seconds grew to 20, then to 45, and finally more than a minute. Froome was weathering a barrage unlike any he had seen before.

Quintana kept pouring it on, squeezing tremendous power from his 5-feet-6, 130-pound frame. Froome was reduced to a mess of wobbling shoulders, elbows, and knees.

[pullquote attrib=”Chris Froome” align=”right”]”I was dying a thousand deaths. I wouldn’t lie. There was a moment there when it could have gone the other way.”[/pullquote]

It took 39 minutes and 22 seconds for the tiny Colombian to cross the line (the 14th fastest time in Tour history and the only rider in the post-biological passport era to make the top 20), but in the end he simply ran out of road. Froome held on to the lead by just 1:12. There was no stage win (that went to Frenchman Thibaut Pinot), no yellow jersey, but no regrets, either.

Ever the disruptor, Quintana is re-writing the rulebook of modern racing. With his unorthodox background in cycling, his immense talent, and his ambition to be the best, he’s primed to once again challenge Froome at the 2016 race. Only a handful of pure climbers have won the Tour. This audacious Colombian seems to have destiny on his side.

“Nairo is the best pure talent I’ve seen in 25 years,” says three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond. “He could be the Eddy Merckx of South America.”

A CYCLIST’S HOME DEFINES him, both physically and spiritually, and Quintana’s journey to last summer’s battle on the Alpe is unlike any in the peloton. Much of his background is cloaked in mystery and misconception, and separating myth from reality requires some scrutiny. This much we know: Quintana was raised in a two-story adobe home his father built in a village called Vereda La Concepción, perched above Cómbita, the region’s main city, along the sub-tropical edge of the Colombian Andes. At nearly 10,000 feet, it’s so far off the grid you can’t even find it on Google Maps. Some journalists have painted a picture of Third World misery, but Quintana says that’s far from the truth.

“I don’t come from some lost little village in the mountains. We don’t live in the jungle,” he said after winning the 2014 Giro. “We were never rich, but we never were for want of something. That’s the ignorance of people who do not know what exists on the other side of the world.”

Quintana’s parents raised their five children with dignity on a small land holding. His father sold vegetables in local markets, and his mother ran a strict, Catholic household, making sure her five children all graduated high school. In the stratified Colombian society, the rich live in the valleys, and the poor on the upper slopes. In today’s peloton where pros seek out altitude camps at Tenerife and Mount Etna, Quintana’s birthplace is his first marginal gain.

“Where Nairo can cause the most damage is on the long, steep climbs,” Movistar trainer Mikel Zabala said in a Canal+ documentary. “That’s where his power-to-weight ratio gives him a huge difference to the others. Living at altitude his whole life gives him a huge advantage.”

[pullquote attrib=”Greg LeMond” align=”left”]”Nairo is the best pure talent I’ve seen in 25 years.”[/pullquote]

Without giving away his secrets, Movistar suggests Quintana’s sustained power output to be around 6.4 to 6.5 watts per kilogram. And in Europe, where the highest climbs top out at about 8,750 feet, that’s still well below where Quintana was born and raised.

Those close to Quintana say he learned at an early age to stand his ground, an important lesson for a small cyclist in a peloton overflowing with testosterone. During one race early in his debut season, a big classic specialist was grappling with Quintana for position. Quintana responded by punching him in the gut. Team Movistar director Eusebio Unzué laughs at such stories, and says it’s the kind of mental and physical fortitude that Quintana needed to overcome the hurdles of his childhood.

“He has the mindset of a big champion,” Unzué says. “I have never seen a rider so confident in himself as Nairo.”

Another popular myth of the Quintana origin story is that he rode a clunky, second-hand mountain bike up and down a 15-kilometer pass to school every day because his family was too poor to afford bus tickets. The part about the mountain bike, the pass, and the school is true. But he chose to ride his bike so the bus fare could be used for other things.

As a scrawny 12-year-old, hefting a backpack full of books and wearing cut-off jeans and sneakers, he made the daily 20-mile round-trip over the equivalent of a second category climb and would occasionally link up with groups of trim cyclists donning Lycra and riding carbon fiber frames. Quintana quickly discovered that the bicycle served as a great equalizer in life.

“I would never get dropped,” Quintana recalls with a smile. “One day, when I beat them to the top of the climb, I went home and told my father I wanted to become a cyclist.”

In a family where every peso counted, Quintana’s quest to race his bike became a family affair: His father saved $40 to buy a second-hand, steel-frame road bike with drop handlebars. His mother stitched together a patchwork of clothing to resemble a racing jersey. His sister gave earnings from her work as a nanny to help him buy better tires. Years later, the first thing he did with his first major prize money from a European race was to buy his mother a washing machine.

With the pragmatism of his rural upbringing, the bicycle was a tool to create a better life. It soon became an extension of his identity. On the bike, he was no longer little “Nairito” but big, bad Quintana. He could smash everyone.

“For me, cycling is a passion that has given me a good life, and because of that I enjoy it even more,” Quintana explains. “At first, it was almost an obligation, and I didn’t have fun. Only later did I really enjoy it, and slowly it went from being an obligation to my passion.”

At 18, Quintana caught his first big break when he joined the local semi-pro team called Boyacá Es Para Vivirla (Boyacá is for enjoying it). The team gave him his first carbon fiber frame, an Orbea with racing wheels. That opened the door to Europe, and he earned a spot on the Colombian national team to race the 2010 Tour de l’Avenir, a seminal step in Quintana’s trajectory.

That year’s Avenir start list was riddled with names that came out of the legendary “Class of 1990.” Taylor Phinney and John Degenkolb won stages, with Michael Matthews and Romain Bardet also racing. Andrew Talansky was second, but Quintana smashed the final two mountain stages to secure the overall. Everyone was blown away by the unheralded Colombian.

Esteban Chaves, Orica’s Colombian climber, was roommates with Quintana at the race. “He was very determined to win,” says Chaves, who won the race in 2011. “We were all very proud to show that we could race against the Europeans.”

[pullquote attrib=”Nairo Quintana” align=”right”]”For me, cycling is a passion that has given me a good life, and because of that I enjoy it even more.”[/pullquote]

It was during that stage race that another tale of the Quintana legend would be written. The European riders were pushing and elbowing the Colombians in the peloton, brake-checking them in corners, and pulling on their jerseys to get them out of the way. Some riders even spat on them and cursed them as “fucking Indians.” Quintana took matters into his own hands and drove one of the most vocal bullies into a ditch. After that, everyone gave the Colombians more space.

QUINTANA’S OTHERWORLDLY RESULTS  — he now has two Tour podiums and a win at the 2014 Giro d’Italia — have transformed him into Colombia’s top sports celebrity. He’s made three trips to Colombia’s presidential palace, and has surpassed Real Madrid striker James Rodríguez in terms of national popularity.

Cycling fans might see an extraordinary climber, but for Colombians, Quintana is a transcendent figure. In a culturally diverse nation, Colombia boasts 48 million inhabitants. They range from indigenous peoples in the Andes and the Amazon, to descendants of ex-slaves and caribeños along the coasts, and urban European descendants in the cities. Quintana’s rise is akin to Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball.

“Nairo is a hero of the people,” explains Matt Rendell, a cycling journalist and Quintana confidante. “Nairo represents the rural memory of a modern nation. He is self-reliant, a self-starter, confident, but also vulnerable. In many ways, he embodies the diversity of a modern Colombia.”

Quintana’s rise also parallels Colombia’s political and economic revival, following decades of political turmoil and cocaine-fueled violence. Quintana personifies modern Colombia and has emerged as an icon of a peaceful, robust nation.

“Nairo is the idol of Colombia,” Chaves says. “For me, he is the best of what Colombia is today.”

By his own admission, Quintana has struggled to come to terms with his unexpected and sudden fame, but he is finding a way to put his high-profile status to use. He is collaborating with NGOs — one to promote infant health and another to combat violence against women — and he’s backing a cycling development team. He’s also a budding entrepreneur and is working with associates to build his name and image into a brand across Colombia and the rest of Latin America.

[pullquote attrib=”Esteban Chaves” align=”left”]”Nairo is the idol of Colombia. For me, he is the best of what Colombia is today.”[/pullquote]

As remarkable as Quintana’s life has been, he almost didn’t survive infancy. He was born sickly, malnourished, and underweight. In the rural, agricultural mountain communities of Colombia, locals believe in a condition called “tiento de difunto.” Translated as “touched by a corpse,” it’s a belief that if a pregnant mother touches a dying person, the death spirit can be passed on to the unborn infant.

Knowing of this condition is essential to understanding the Quintana narrative. Fearing for their son’s life, his parents brought him to a local curandero, a type of shaman or healer, who used local herbs and natural medicines to revive their baby.

In an interview with the Spanish daily El País in 2013, Quintana elaborated. “These are diseases that do not occur everywhere in the world, but that doesn’t mean they are not real. My parents had to really fight to save me, to resuscitate me, or even revive me, because there were days when they said I was a cadaver.”

[related title=”More about Nairo Quintana” align=”right” tag=”Nairo-Quintana”]

LAST FALL, IN THE shadow of the Spanish Pyrenees, Quintana gathered with his Movistar squad at team headquarters to map out the 2016 season. It’s all about one goal: the yellow jersey. Enzué says Quintana thinks of nothing else.

“You can see details in his vision, his ambition, how he carries himself,” Unzué says. “You see that he is not a normal rider.”

Now 61, with his floppy bangs still hanging low over his forehead, Unzué is the Phil Jackson of Spanish cycling. He won one Tour with Pedro Delgado and five with Miguel Indurain. He’s been in and around the elite peloton for more than 30 years, but admits he’s never seen anything like Quintana.

“On equal conditions, Nairo is the world’s best climber,” Unzue said.

To win the Tour takes more than a good motor. It also requires bike-handling skills, determination, ambition, and a strong character. Quintana has it all.

When team captain Valverde lost 10 minutes in the first week of the 2013 Tour, Quintana was thrust into the leadership role. Movistar sport director and ex-pro José Luís Arrieta, who’s emerged as Quintana’s righthand man, was taken aback by how well his pupil handled the situation. Within days, Quintana attacked up Mont Ventoux, with Froome eventually taking the win. Pushed beyond his limits, Quintana finished second. He collapsed into the arms of a soigneur on top of cycling’s most famous mountain.

“He was a Tour rookie riding like he’d done 10 Tours,” Arrieta says. “Most riders would have cracked under the pressure. But he handled it as if it was just any other bike race.”

In 2014, Unzué convinced Quintana it was better to race the Giro d’Italia to win than to face off against a superior Froome at the Tour and likely lose. Quintana accepted the challenge. He overcame a blizzard on the Stelvio and a bout of bronchitis in the first week to become the first Colombian to win the Italian grand tour.

[pullquote align=”left”]Quintana’s rise is akin to Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball.[/pullquote]

Quintana looks back at the 2015 season with mixed feelings. In his mind, he “lost” the Tour in the opening road stage, when a tempest blew off the North Atlantic in the transition stage across the dykes of Holland. A late crash split the bunch, and Quintana was caught out. He lost 1:28 to Froome. Nearly three weeks later, that would be 16 seconds more than his losing margin in Paris.

“The most important thing is to avoid a setback like last year,” Quintana says. “The Tour would have ended differently [last year] if we hadn’t had that bad luck.”

More importantly, Quintana discovered how to successfully attack Froome. To get to the Brit, Quintana knows that he needs to get past Sky’s support team of Poels, Thomas, and likely Mikel Landa. Quintana tweaked his training to emphasize short, intense efforts. The strategy is to put Sky’s lieutenants in the red, thus isolating Froome. It worked on l’Alpe d’Huez last year, and Movistar believes Quintana can do it again.

But Movistar’s all-in bet for the mountains could expose Quintana’s soft underbelly. Movistar has multiple climbers, but it lacks Sky’s brawny trio of Ian Stannard, Luke Rowe, and the versatile Geraint Thomas, who can control the flats. Quintana’s top rouleur, Adriano Malori, may never race again after suffering head injuries during a crash at the 2016 Tour de San Luís.

Movistar signed Portuguese time trialist Nelson Oliveira to help. But even with Jonathan Castroviejo and classics strongman Imanol Erviti by his side, Quintana’s flank is open in the crosswinds. Movistar knows that Sky will attack this weakness.

The Tour’s time trials will also test Quintana, who traditionally loses time to Froome in the race against the clock. The first 37-kilometer time trial comes after the Pyrenees and Mont Ventoux, which could fatigue Froome. The second time trial, a 17-kilometer climbing course to Megève, will simply suit the strongest rider in the race.

The Tour’s final week is laden with three consecutive summit finales, as well as the climb up the Joux-Plane into Morzine. Quintana won a stage of the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné on this route.

“We know that Froome will have the advantage in the time trials,” Unzué says. “Nairo is a climber. So our tactic is pretty simple: We protect him and then let him attack.”

[pullquote attrib=”Nairo Quintana” align=”right”]”I think after the way I suffered so much as a baby, maybe God gave me another chance to do something good, to excel in something.”[/pullquote]

BY LATE MAY, QUINTANA sounded confident with his Tour ambitions. He will line up with 32 days of racing in his legs, about the same as his principal rivals. He also won the Tour of Romandie, which has been a bellwether for Tour de France success. Cadel Evans, Bradley Wiggins, and Froome all won the Swiss race en route to winning the Tour. Quintana saw that as a good sign.

“Let’s hope the myth remains true, and that my dream of winning the Tour can come true,” Quintana says. “I know what’s working for me, and I don’t pay too much attention to the others. The goal is to arrive in top condition for the Tour.”

The rider that shows up at Mont-Saint-Michel for the 2016 Tour de France is dramatically different than the shy rookie who took the peloton by storm in 2013. Last winter, he started using a new personal hashtag on social media, #sueñoamarillo (yellow-jersey dream), and it perfectly sums up his mindset and aspirations. An entire nation shares his dream, and he doesn’t want to let them down.

When the infant Nairo was fighting for his life, the healer told his parents that if he survived he would go on to achieve great things.

“I think after the way I suffered so much as a baby, maybe God gave me another chance to do something good, to excel in something,” Quintana told El País. “Here I am.”

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What to Know About This Year’s Tour de France (Which Begins in Italy)

Two previous winners are the leading contenders to win cycling’s most famous race, which, in a rarity, does not end in Paris.

By Victor Mather

For three weeks starting Saturday, the world’s best cyclists will do battle in the Tour de France, racing through valleys, hills and high mountains. Though 176 riders will start, most eyes will be on a pair of two-time winners who seek title No. 3.

After more than 2,000 miles and dozens of punishing climbs, will the winner be Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark, who took the last two Tours de France but was hurt in a crash this year? Or Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, the 2020 and 2021 winner ? Or will an unexpected contender jump up and surprise them?

And, wait: Is it really the Tour de France if the race doesn’t finish on the Champs-Élysées? Here’s a primer to read before the race gets underway.

Where will they race?

For the first time, the race will start in Italy , with the opening stage beginning in Florence and winding through the Apennine Mountains to Rimini, a city on the Adriatic coast. It will be more difficult than most opening stages, with several uphill climbs.

After a few days in Italy, the race will enter France, then go counterclockwise around the country, passing through the Alps, the Massif Central, the Pyrenees and then the Alps again.

Who are the favorites?

Vingegaard won last year’s event by an emphatic seven and a half minutes. But after a good start to the 2024 cycling season, he crashed badly in the Tour of the Basque Country in April and spent 12 days in the hospital with a broken collarbone. He is expected to ride in the Tour de France, but there is uncertainty as to what kind of shape he will be in.

As a result, Pogacar, who has been in fine form, is the favorite to win and regain his crown.

Pogacar rode in the Giro d’Italia, or Tour of Italy, in May. Unlike riders in that race who hold back to preserve their strength for the Tour de France, he gave it his all, winning by almost 10 minutes. If Pogacar claims the Tour as well, he will be the first cyclist since Marco Pantani, in 1998, to win the Giro and the Tour in the same season.

After the big two, other possible contenders include Primoz Roglic of Slovenia, the 2023 Giro winner, and Remco Evenepoel of Belgium, who won the 2022 Tour of Spain.

Though an individual wins the Tour, his team can help a lot, pacing him in the mountains and blocking attacks from rivals. Last year’s leading team, Jumbo-Visma (now Visma–Lease a Bike) has broken up; Vingegaard is still its leader, but Roglic left to join Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe. UAE Team Emirates will support Pogacar with a squad that includes Adam Yates of Britain, a rider with the talent to win the Tour himself; he placed third last year.

Tell me the days that really matter.

The first stage to focus on is July 2, when the riders travel from Italy to France. It includes a climb up the Galibier, one of the Tour’s toughest mountains, and one that still has snow on the side of the roads.

In the midst of a week of flat stages that won’t change the leaderboard much, there is a time trial on July 5 in Burgundy wine country. The riders will race alone against the clock, with no help from teammates, which is why a time trial is known as “the race of truth.”

The real action comes at the end, with five mountain stages. The July 13 stage is particularly notable; it includes a climb up the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees and ends with an uphill — or more accurately, up-mountain — finish that is sure to winnow out any pretenders. Also make note of July 14, 17, 19 and 20 as four more brutal mountain stages where the Tour is likely to be won, or lost.

But even the flat stages, which are usually won by sprinters and seldom affect the overall standings, may have some extra interest this year. The great sprinter Mark Cavendish, 39, has 34 career stage victories and needs one more to break the record he shares with Eddy Merckx, the dominant rider of the 1960s and ’70s.

What’s different this year?

The day after that last mountain stage, the race will end, but not with the traditional ceremonial cruise down the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Instead, the field will hold a time trial to finish the Tour for the first time since 1989. If the race is close, the winner could be decided on that final day, as it was in 1989. That year, the American Greg LeMond snatched the Tour from Laurent Fignon of France in a time trial by a mere eight seconds, still the closest margin in history.

To avoid the Paris Olympics, which open five days later, the time trial will run from Monaco to Nice. It is the first time since 1974 the race has not ended on the Champs-Élysées and the first time ever it has not ended in Paris or its environs.

Remind me what the jerseys mean.

In each stage, whoever is the overall leader wears the yellow jersey to make him easier to spot for TV viewers and the thousands of fans along the route.

But there are other jerseys, too. Finishing near the front in individual stages, especially flat ones, earns points toward the green jersey for best sprinter. Last year’s winner of this jersey was Jasper Philipsen.

The first riders to reach the top of the race’s many mountains earn points toward the garish polka-dot jersey for best climber. The top contenders for yellow are also favored to win this jersey, as is Giulio Ciccone of Italy, who won last year.

Are there any Americans racing?

The days of American favorites like LeMond and Lance Armstrong are over for the time being. Moreover, Sepp Kuss, the American who won the 2023 Tour of Spain, is out because of a Covid-19 infection.

Matteo Jorgenson, 24, on the Visma team, is the top-ranked American. He won this year’s weeklong Paris-Nice race, and some think he can contend for the tour’s title in the future, or maybe, if all goes well, this year.

How can I watch?

Stages generally start around 6 or 7 a.m. Eastern time and last four to five hours. In the United States, Peacock will stream every stage live. Some stages will be shown on NBC and USA as well.

Other broadcasters include ITV and Eurosport (United Kingdom), SBS (Australia), FloBikes (Canada), France Televisions (France), ARD (Germany) and J Sports (Japan).

Victor Mather, who has been a reporter and editor at The Times for 25 years, covers sports and breaking news. More about Victor Mather

Tour de France standings, results: Race outlook after Stage 1 winner

For the first time in its 111-year history, the 2024 Tour de France began in Italy. The Grand Départ saw the field of 176 riders across 22 teams make the 128-mile journey from Florence to Rimini in just over five hours.

Two Team dsm–firmenich PostNL riders took control after an early breakaway to win the opening stage. Frenchman Romain Bardet took first ahead of teammate Frank Van den Broek and both finished with a time of 5:07:22. Saturday's victory marked Bardet's fourth career Tour de France stage win and with it came his first career yellow jersey.

2024 Tour de France: Everything to know about this year's historic event

The peloton split into multiple groups, the first of which crossed the line at 5:07:27 led by Visma–Lease a Bike's Wout van Aert . Tour de France favorites and two-time winners Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard were in that group as well.

The final group of riders - including one of the greatest sprinters in Tour de France history, Mark Cavendish - crossed the line with a time of 5:46:34.

Here's how the classification looks after the opening stage:

Tour de France Stage 1 results

Tour de france standings, tour de france jersey standings.

• Yellow (general classification) : Romain Bardet
• Green (points classification) : Frank van den Broek
• Polka dot (mountains classification) : Jonas Abrahamsen
• White (young rider classification) : Frank van den Broek
• Yellow numbers (teams classification) : Team dsm–firmenich PostNL
• Golden numbers (combativity award) : Frank van den Broek

Tour de France Stage 2: How to watch, schedule, and distance

• Date: June 30, 2024
• Location: Ceseantico to Bologna (Italy)
• Distance: 123.8 miles (199.2 kilometers)
• Type: Hilly stage
• Streaming: Peacock , fuboTV

How to watch: Catch the 2024 Tour de France FREE on Fubo

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