Tour de France 2024 – Recap & Stats

As is customary after all my cycling trips into the high mountains, most of those shamelessly dubbed Tour de France – like this one – or Giro d’Italia, I give you a recap with some stats of my latest adventure.

This year’s Tour was my 3rd completely dedicated to the Savoie Mont Blanc region, after 2021 and 2022.

I finally also cycled in the Haute-Savoie area, although leaving more than enough for another Tour there.

First, an overview of the stages:

Date	Strava	Time (move)	Distance	Altimeters
Fri, 8/16/2024	Epilogue	2:42:17	54.07 km	1,079 m
Thu, 8/15/2024	Stage 13	3:52:40	75.31 km	1,890 m
Wed, 8/14/2024	Stage 12	5:30:33	113.66 km	2,021 m
Tue, 8/13/2024	Stage 11	4:37:25	73.21 km	2,380 m
Mon, 8/12/2024	Stage 10	5:09:33	87.15 km	2,135 m
Sun, 8/11/2024	Stage 9	5:12:37	89.09 km	2,129 m
Sat, 8/10/2024	Stage 8	5:39:58	77.61 km	3,063 m
Fri, 8/9/2024	Stage 7	5:27:40	100.12 km	2,463 m
Thu, 8/8/2024	Stage 6	4:06:08	70.83 km	2,274 m
Wed, 8/7/2024	Stage 5	4:37:23	80.31 km	2,381 m
Tue, 8/6/2024	Stage 4	4:31:24	82.12 km	2,338 m
Mon, 8/5/2024	Stage 3 PM	1:36:56	28.74 km	740 m
Mon, 8/5/2024	Stage 3 AM	3:12:00	45.26 km	1,921 m
Sun, 8/4/2024	Stage 2 PM	2:49:34	47.15 km	1,539 m
Sun, 8/4/2024	Stage 2 AM	2:30:11	41.33 km	1,467 m
Sat, 8/3/2024	Stage 1	4:44:09	82.30 km	2,625 m
Fri, 8/2/2024	Prologue	5:07:58	102.10 km	2,870 m
Total			1,250 km	35,315 m

Stages 2 and 3 were “split” due to a transfer by car, as the distance between the cols I wanted / needed to climb was too much to cycle.

Stage 8 looks like the only one with more than 3,000 meters of D+, but stage 2 adds up to just over 3K as well…

Of the 3 stages longer than 100 kilometers, stage 12 – the longest – was relatively easy. I “just” climbed the Madeleine that day, descended it down the other end and then circled back to Albertville, over 50 kilometers near flat.

The average per stage was 73.6 kilometers with 2,077 meters of D+.

The VeloViewer wheel:

This year’s Tour was perhaps not quite as blistering hot as 2022’s, but it was 15 days instead of 8.

We made sure to depart as early as possible, without compromising on much needed sleep.

Or on enjoying other stuff, like eating ice cream 😂

Nevertheless, the temperature regularly rose to unhealthy levels close to 40 degrees Celsius.

And that’s unhealthy doing nothing, let alone cycling up a few mountains.

My biggest challenge is to stay hydrated, but at some point, you can stand neither sports drinks nor iced tea…

Plus, anything you try to eat, feels like having a mouthful of sand.

While I am happy I finished the VeloViewer Alpes du Nord part of the “100 Greatest” Tour de France climbs, I seriously question why some of them are on the list.

Like the Col de Tamié – although the Tour de Femme cycled that as well this year, but from the other end – or the Col du Corbier.

Speaking of the ladies, I’m happy I did not have to cycle the Glandon, like they had to.

Followed by Alpe d’Huez…

I’m glad I did cycle the ridiculously beautiful Iseran again – the (new) Col du Joly was a similar feat, even if it did burn me to the ground.

The other end of the Iseran, cycling to Tigne, was a rainy affair.

And the Madeleine was cycled mostly in the rain, but I had no other rainy days during this Tour.

After correctly cycling Courchevel, I cycled up the Croix de Fer again too. The views there are great as well, but I mostly wanted to do the descend down the Glandon again.

I added 25 cols to the “Been There, Done That” list, which only includes summits over 1,000 meters. And about 4 or 5 more that do not make it to that list…

Most of the other summits visited were well below 2,000 meters and some had no view at all, because they were in a forest.

I have now cycled 114 climbs with summits over 1,000 meters in France…

You can find clips of my stages on my YouTube channel.

As during all the other cycling adventures like this, Paula was tirelessly taking care of me – without her, none of it would be possible ❤️