When is Tour de France 2018?
By David Rouben
Now that the 2017 Tour de France is over, fans of the competition will have to wait a little while longer for the 2018 edition to kick off.
The Tour de France always feels like a long commitment. If you’re in North America, it always starts in the early hours of the morning and it goes on for three weeks. However, it’s an exhilarating competition and this year’s edition was no different in terms of excitement.
The 2018 Tour de France will be the 105th edition of the competition. According to Wikipedia, it will begin on July 7 and finish on the 29th. The track will start in the Pays de la Loire region and finish at the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
If that date seems odd, that’s because it’s starting a week later due to the World Cup. 2018 will be a busy sports year due to the World Cup and the Winter Olympics, but the former will cut right into the Tour de France. It ends on July 15, but the Round of 16 will be played on June 30-July 1, which is when the Tour normally starts.
Since they at least expect France to make it to that stage, the organizers have delayed the start of the Tour since they know the whole country will shut down to watch the World Cup. However, the start of the tournament will still coincide with the quarterfinal, so if France is playing on the same day, they may have to make a tough decision. Thankfully, France have only made it past the quarterfinal stage once since they won it all in 1998.
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The World Cup may take away a lot of the attention that the Tour de France normally receives, but it’ll pick up again towards the later stages. After all, there aren’t many prizes in France that are nearly as coveted as winning that yellow jersey.