Tour de France 2018 preview: Route breakdown and highlights

For the first time since 2013, the route of the Tour de France remains entirely within France’s national borders. Here is a look at this year’s race map.

The 2018 edition of the Tour de France features the race’s shortest route of the 21st century. It will also start a week later than usual in the calendar, with the first stage falling on July 7 on the island of Noirmoutier. Noirmoutier is a familiar venue, as the Tour de France also set out from the island in 2005 and 2011.

At 2,064 miles (3,329 kilometers), the 2018 Tour de France is 131 miles shorter in distance than last summer’s vintage. It also marks the first time since 2013 that the Tour de France will remain entirely on French soil.

Here is how the mileage breaks down this year:

STAGE	DATE	START to FINISH	KM	MI
1	July 7	Noirmoutier-en-l’Île to Fontenay-le-Comte	189	117.2
2	July 8	Mouilleron-Saint-Germain to La Roche-sur-Yon	183	113.5
3	July 9	Cholet to Cholet	35	21.7
4	July 10	La Baule to Sarzeau	192	119.0
5	July 11	Lorient to Quimper	203	125.9
6	July 12	Brest to Mûr-de-Bretagne	181	112.2
7	July 13	Fougères to Chartres	231	143.2
8	July 14	Dreux to Amiens	181	112.2
9	July 15	Arras to Roubaix	154	95.5
R	July 16	Annecy	0	0.0
10	July 17	Annecy to Le Grand-Bornand	159	98.6
11	July 18	Albertville to La Rosière	108	67.0
12	July 19	Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Alpe d’Huez	175	108.5
13	July 20	Le Bourg-d’Oisans to Valence	169	104.8
14	July 21	Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Mende	187	115.9
15	July 22	Millau to Carcassonne	181	112.2
R	July 23	Carcassonne	0	0.0
16	July 24	Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon	218	135.2
17	July 25	Bagnères-de-Luchon to Saint-Lary-Soulan (Col de Portet)	65	40.3
18	July 26	Trie-sur-Baïse to Pau	172	106.6
19	July 27	Lourdes to Laruns	200	124.0
20	July 28	Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle to Espelette	31	19.2
21	July 29	Houilles to Paris (Champs-Élysées)	115	71.3
		TOTAL	3329	2064.0

How the mileage correlates to challenges on the road

There is a little bit for everyone within the 21 stages of the race. From flat stages for the sprinters to mountains for the riders hunting for a polka dot jersey, the route has plenty of challenges. Here is how the mileage breaks down by type of stage:

	# STAGES	KM	MI
Flat stage	9	1586	983.3
Medium mountain stage	4	752	466.2
High mountain stage	6	925	573.5
Individual time trial	1	31	19.2
Team time trial	1	35	21.7
	21	3329	2064.0

This year’s Tour de France is heavy on flat stages and light on time trials. There is only only one individual time trial and a shorter team time trial. As a result, the race features less than two percent of its distance in the form of races against the clock.

That will privilege certain types of riders over others

Six stages in the Alps and Pyrenees will test the mettle of riders in the high mountains. But that hardly concludes the climbing challenges. The Mur de Bretagne is a two-kilometer climb with pitches over 10 percent over its first half. Riders will climb the Mur de Bretagne twice on Stage 6. The climbs of the Occitanie region in south-central France also offer more climbs on the bridge between the Pyrenees and Alps.

Other challenges include a cobblestone-strewn ride to Roubaix in the first week of the race. There is also a punchy half-mile climb near the end of the Stage 20 time trial. That could make one final shift in the general classification on the penultimate stage of the 2018 Tour de France.

Next: What every jersey color means at the Tour de France

Sprinters have plenty of challenges in their battle for the green jersey. The King of the Mountains battle has plenty of climbs to heat up the action skyward. About the only cyclists who will arrive in France unhappy are those general classification hopefuls who rely heavily on time-trial skills to build up advantages in aggregate time.

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