Jonas Vingegaard rates Tour de France 2024 route 8/10

Jonas Vingegaard believes the route for the 2024 Tour de France is harder than the past two editions that he has won, but still not quite hard enough for his liking.

The Dane was in attendance as the route for the 111th Grande Boucle was unveiled in Paris on Wednesday and, as the defending champion, was repeatedly quizzed in the backstage media mixed zone about his thoughts on next year’s roadmap.

Read more: Tour de France 2024 route revealed

"Super hard" was his stock phrase when it came to questions over the overall route and also many of the individual stages. But it wasn't so hard as to completely satisfy him, as revealed in response to a novel approach from Belgian broadcaster Sporza, who asked him to rate the route out of 10.

“I’d say an 8,” Vingegaard replied. “Of course, it seems super hard, but I’d also like it more hard in the second week. I’m not the one who decides it and I still think it’s a good course.”

That second week largely sees the race transfer down to the Pyrenees, but once it gets there it’s surely not too easy for Vingegaard, with back-to-back stage finishes atop Pla d’Adet and Plateau de Beille. The latter, taking place as stage 15 on Bastille Day, looks like the queen stage of the race, with five climbs and 5,000 metres of elevation in the space of 198km.

“It seems like a super hard stage, so one I’m really looking forward to,” Vingegaard said. “In general stages, a lot of stages look super hard and that suits me quite well, but especially this stage.”

Read more: Tour de France 2024: Analysing the contenders

Although he had some minor complaints about the middle of the route, Vingegaard underlined the difficulty of both the start and the finish.

The Italian Grand Départ sees the riders take on 3,600m of elevation gain on the opening stage from Florence to Rimini, the punchy San Luca climb in Bologna the following day, and the mighty Col du Galibier as the race crosses into France via the Alps.

“Do not underestimate this stage,” was Vingegaard’s warning of that trip over the Galibier (2,642m of altitude) and down to Valloire on stage 4.

“Also this year on Marie Blanque [stage 5] people did not expect anything to happen but it do. So anything can happen.

“For sure there’ll be a battle from the start. You have to be ready from the start of this Tour de France. Stage 1, stage 2, stage 4… you have to be ready.”

As for the final week, Vingegaard was delighted with the sheer difficulty of it. There are three mountain stages, including a three-col high-altitude beast on stage 19 and another summit finish on the Col de Couillole on stage 20, but also the novelty of a final-day time trial, itself on a hilly 35km course in Nice.

“The third week seems harder than it was this year. It’s always in the third week where you can really make a big difference. For me, that’s what suits me – I’m still good in the third week, so this course suits me.

“Normally I’m used to the Tour de France finishing the day before the last stage,” he said of the final time trial, which replaces the traditional procession into Paris due to the impending Olympic Games.

“Basically it’s one extra day of racing. It will be a nice experience. I hope to still do a good TT on the last day.”