There will be many key moments of the Tour de France 2023, with time to be won or lost at almost any moment, stages to be fought for, and bonus points or seconds on the line. In the 21 days, the riders will tackle 3,404km and 56,400 metres of climbing, with every second counting.
However, while the whole route is daunting, stretching from Bilbao to Paris over three weeks later, there are particular points to watch out for. Now that the start list is starting to be filled, fans and riders alike should be circling these days on their calendars.
Stage one: Bilbao to Bilbao (182km)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
This year’s Tour de France properly begins from the gun, with no chance to relax for those general classification hopefuls right from the beginning. 3,221 metres of climbing in 182km points to the fact that this is far from easy, and the final 60km sees four climbs, three categorised, with each one being progressively harder. The Côte de Pike tops out just 7.5km from the line, and then the final kilometre in Bilbao ramps skywards, too.
The winner could be almost anyone – apart from a pure sprinter – with Wout van Aert or Mathieu van der Poel just as likely to triumph as GC rider like Tadej Pogačar. A break is unlikely to go to the finish, but there will still be a fight to get into it, with the mountains points on offer.
It will be a nervous day, much like the opening stages in Brittany two years ago, where Julian Alaphilippe and Van der Poel triumphed amid the chaos. Expect these two, and their puncheur colleagues, to be close to the front. However, with the chance of time losses on the Côte de Pike, there will be lots of riders battling to get close to the front. It does not require too much imagination to foresee a GC rider conceding some crucial seconds on the uphill finish in Bilbao.
(Image credit: ASO)
Stage six: Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque (144.9km)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Thanks to Cauterets hosting the finish of stage six, the Tour de France will have its earliest summit-top finish in the Pyrenees since 1981, when Lucien Van Impe won atop Pla d’Adet on stage five and Phil Anderson became the first non-European and Australian to wear yellow.
The Col du Tourmalet looms large, the second hors categorie climb of this year’s race, but the final climb up to Cauterets should not be dismissed either. Expect a big reshuffling of the general classification, as all those puncheurs and non-climbers fall down it, and those who really want the maillot…