FRANCE GRAND TOUR 2024 - ‘RIDE EVERY KILOMETRE’ GRAND DEPART ITALY & Week 1

Arrival: Florence Airport, Italy

We will meet you at Florence Airport and take you to your hotel nearby. After check in, we will help assemble your bike or fit you to your rental bike and then ride a route to test the bikes and enjoy the Tuscan landscapes. The team will take you to the TdF Villa and visit beautiful Florence. Back at the hotel, we will meet for pre-dinner drinks to present the GTP musettes and discuss the logistics for the coming week. Finally, our first dinner together.

In case you wish to watch the Teams Presentation we can offer an early arrival on Wednesday 26 June, please ask for more details.

Straight after breakfast you are on the road riding from the Stage 1 Florence start zone. Crossing the Apennines, from Tuscany to Emilia Romagna, the elevation gain will accumulate with multiple cols such as Valico Tre Faggi (989 m), Spinello (707 m), Barbotto (584 m), San Leo (572 m), Montemaggio (508) and Saint-Marin (648 m). In contrast the finish in Rimini on the Adriatic coast is at 1 metre. A dip in the sea is recommended if there is time and then you will be transferred to your hotel.

Another hilly stage starting from the home of the late and great Marco Pantani. Riding along the coast from Cesenatico you will reach Ravenna and then cross back across the plains to Brisighella where shortly after you start your climb of the first 2 cols - Monticino (250 m) and Gallisterna (257 m). Then it is back on the fast pancake flat and straight route towards Bologna. Before Bologna you will detour into the stunning rolling hillsides to Cote de Bottghino (242 m) and Cote de Montecalvo (309 m). Now you can enter Bologna and climb San Luca (265 m) beside the stunning portico…twice - but don’t be lulled, there is a 10+% ramp to negotiate …twice. Enjoy!

Are you a climber or a sprinter? If the latter, today is your day albeit with 3 climbs. The first 70 km is flat countryside and working towns. On reaching Tortona, you have your first col, Tortone Fausto Coppi. Only 190 m but peaking at 11 %. Now in the hills of Piedmont vineyards are frequent and back in the day, racers would stop to quench their thirst! Onwards to more classified climbs - Barbaresco (263 m) near Alba and Sommariva (368 m) on the way to Turin. En route lunch will be picnic with Piedmont delicatessen delights or trattoria.

You enter France from Pinerolo via the French-Italian Alps. Classic and epic climbs including Sestrieres (2,035 m) and another small climb to Col de Montgenevre (1,860 m), down to Briancon and then up the Guisane Valley to then the mighty Col du Galibier (2,642 m) passing by Col de la Lautaret (2,058 m) on the way. Epic climbing day. The day finishes with a descent to Valloire but you can continue down to the Maurienne valley floor and collect Col du Telegraphe on the way if you want.

After the mountains, a welcome flattish day following the Maurienne valley floor to Chambery and then La Bridoire before heading north along the Rhone and finishing in Saint-Vulbas, north of Lyon. Only one small categorised climb, Côte de l'Huis.

Another flat day from Mâcon on the edge of the Saone-et-Loire Department. The route passes the spectacular ancient Cluny Abbey and into the vineyards of Côte de Chalonnaise. Then Cote d’Or and into Dijon. No time to stop and taste the wonderfully Burgundy wine - that is on the cards for the next day.

You could call this a rest day. A 25 km time trial through the hills around and into the forested Cote d'Or Escarpment before riding down through the channels back down to the Cote de Nuits vineyards. Then it is a sprint through the vineyards and villages into Gevrey-Chambertin. Now is the time to change and head to a local wine cellar for Bourgogne wine tastings and a gastronomic lunch.

Classified as a flat stage, this route does also include several categorised climbs - perhaps hilly is a better description. A day to enjoy the countryside and spin the legs. Starting in pretty Semur-en-Auxois the route travels through the countryside and finishes in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, former home of the grand president, Charles de Gaulle and he is buried here. There is also a memorial cross in his name.

An edge of controversy, for the first time gravel roads have been included in this grand tour. thirty-two kilometres to be exact. A new element to shake up the individual and team dynamics. Already ridden by the women in the 2022 Tour, their abilities showed it was feasible so now the men will enjoy the challenge. Are you ready to ride dusty white or muddy grey roads? The town itself is famous for the pretty 16th century houses and is in the Champagne wine region, the perfect celebratory drink to finish your Ride Every Kilometre tour.

Northern Italy, cycling legends, Italian gastronomic dining, Italian passion, varied landscapes, beaches and beautiful cities. Over the Alps and into France for the next 6 stages across to the world famous Burgundy region stopping for a fast ITT in the heart of Bourgogne wine cotes and finishing on white roads around beautiful Troyes. A magnificent Grand Depart and first week.

The GTP team hope that this week has not failed to deliver an experience of riding during a Grand Tour.

We will assist you in checking out and take you to your departure point for your flight home or to your next destination. As always, ride safe and see you on the road again soon.