Tour de France

Dates: August 29 to September 20, 2020
Stages: 21
Grand Départ: Nice, France
Finish: Paris, France
TV coverage (UK): Eurosport, ITV4

Key info: Tour de France 2020 route | Tour de France start list | Tour de France TV guide | Past winners | Jerseys

Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal on the final podium of the Tour de France (Photo: Yuzuru SUNADA)

The 2020 Tour de France route kicks off with a Grand Départ in Nice, a familiar stomping ground for the many pros who live in the area, including Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas.

The race this year has been postponed to August 29, finishing on September 20, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Opening with two tough, hilly stages in the south of the country, the 107th edition of the Tour de France will then head north to the southern point of the Alps

The race will then move south-westward after some tricky climbing stages, travelling down towards the first proper high mountain range of the race, the Pyrenees.

Route map of the 2020 Tour de France

The 2020 Tour will then transition to the west coast and work it’s through the centre of the country, before taking on climbs in the Jura, Alps and Vosges mountains, with a final time trial up to the top La Planche des Belles Filles.

The race will then take to its traditional finish in Paris along the Champs-Élysées.

This year’s edition will eight mountain stages with four summit finishes, nine flat stages, three hilly stages and one TT.

Tour de France 2020 classifications

The standard classifications and jerseys will once again feature: yellow jersey for the overall classification, polka-dots for the mountains classification, green for the points classification and white for the best young rider classification.

A combativity prize will be awarded to the most aggressive rider each day, while a super-combativity prize will be awarded to a rider at the end of the Tour.

Bonus seconds will once again be distributed on the finish line with 10, six and three seconds available to each of the first three across the line on each stage.

The final jerseys podium of the 2019 Tour de France (Sunada)

Tour de France 2020 teams and riders

We’ll certainly see all 19 of the 2020 WorldTour teams at the Tour de France. French Pro Continental teams Total Direct Energie, B&B Hotels – Vital Concept p/b KTM, and Arkéa-Samsic will take the remaining places.

Defending champion Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) will return alongside 2018 winner Geraint Thomas, who wants another clear run at the Tour.

Four-time champion Chris Froome also hopes to be at the start for Ineos, with the race’s postponement giving him plenty of time to fully recover from his horrific crash suffered at the Critérium du Dauphiné last summer.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) will return to try and win an eighth green jersey having taken a record seventh in 2019, before he heads to the Giro d’Italia in October.

French riders will also try to finally break their 35-year duck at the race, with Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) left with unfinished business following his abandonment on stage 19 of last year’s edition.

Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) will be attending the Tour this year after originally choosing to focus on the Giro before the postponement. The Frenchman has had a disappointing few seasons of Grand Tour racing, and will take to the Tour purely in the hunt for stage wins.

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) will also be racing but has consistently said he won’t try for the general classification in 2020.

Jumbo-Visma may be Ineos’ main challengers for the general classification this year, taking a squad to the race containing Giro d’Italia winner Tom Dumoulin, Vuelta a España winner Primož Roglič, and last year’s third place in the Tour, Steven Kruijswijk.

Tour de France 2020 on TV

In the UK, you’ll be able to catch the race live on Eurosport, ITV and S4C – and each channel will have an evening highlights package, too.

Tour de France 2020 route