SBS Sport will be hosting a livestream of the Tour de France route presentation from 8.30pm AEDT on Thursday on SBS On Demand.
There will also be a special live episode of the Zwift SBS Cycling Podcast, a live reaction to the route announcement with special commentary and banter provided by host Christophe Mallet, with David McKenzie, Matthew Keenan and Bridie O'Donnell featuring throughout on the SBS Sport Facebook page from 8.30pm AEDT.
What we know for sure for the men's and women's Tours de France 2023:
The 110th edition of the men's Tour de France will take place from July 1-23, starting in Bilbao, Spain, and finishing in the traditional Champs-Élysées finish in the centre of Paris.
Stage 1 will depart from Bilbao, with a 185km route that heads out to the hilly coastline of the Bay of Biscay before returning to Bilbao for a punchy finish. Stage 2 features more hilly terrain on a 210km route from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Donostia San Sebastián, with the Jaizkibel climb, a regular feature of San Sebastián Klasikoa, summiting close to the finish.
Stage 3 starts in Amorebieta-Etxano and heads along the Basque Country coastline before reaching the French border. The final destination of the peloton that day is unknown, as is the rest of the Tour.
The second edition of the new version of the women's Tour de France – the Tour de France Femmes – will start on July 23 and finish on July 30, with the start and finish locations still not certain.
The 2023 Tour de France Grand Depart from the Basque region of Spain.
Men’s route rumours:
Puy de Dôme will reportedly be making a return to the Tour de France route for the first time since 1988, and appears to be set for Stage 9, playing the now increasingly common role of the summit finish that precedes the first rest day.
With the famous climb and the Basque start the main fixtures in the calendar, that seems to point towards an early excursion to the Pyrenees. Whether organisers want to pull out the extreme difficulties of the toughest and most famous climbs of the mountain range is up to question. It seems unlikely that ASO will want to break the race up that early and it’s only finish towns like Laruns, Pau that have been connected with the early trip to the Pyrenees rather than famous summits.
The second and third weeks of the Tour are shrouded in mystery but the strongest report from Le Progrès is that the Bastille Day race, Stage 13, will be in the Jura, from Châtillon-sur-Chalaron to the Grand Colombier, which featured as a stage finish in 2020.
Women’s route rumours:
It has been widely reported that the 2023 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will begin with a Grand Départ in Clermont-Ferrand, the capital of Auvergne region, located in the Massif Central mountain range.
With a Puy de Dôme heavily rumoured to form part of the men’s race, it could be a similar situation as with last year’s double feature of La Super Planche des Belles Filles in both the men’s and women’s races. Puy de Dôme’s summit is located just outside Clermont Ferrand and has a colourful, if sporadic history in the Tour de France. The 1964 battle between Raymond Poulidor fought it out with Jacques Anquetil in a famous saga between two of the sports great, racing side by side up almost the entire climb. In a darker episode, Eddy Merckx was punched in the kidney by a spectator, while riding the 1975 Tour.
Marion Rousse has apparently been scouting out other areas of the Auvergne region, so it might be the case that there will be several stages in the area, which makes sense as otherwise the potentially race-shaping climb of Puy de Dôme would come quite early in the race.
Men’s Route wishlist:
The rumoured appearance of the Grand Colombier this year ties in well with another feature of the 2020 race. Then the Grand Colombier preceded an almighty tussle on the bike path to the ascent of the Col de la Loze, with Miguel Angel Lopez showed his superior ability at altitude, while it was one of the few instances of Tadej Pogačar being bested in his young career as he was left behind by Primož Roglič. The purpose-built bike track made for some great racing last time around and could be an exciting feature again this year, perhaps for Stage 15.
The rumoured lighter journey into the Pyrenees will mean either a longer time in the Alps or a trip to another mountain range after a few intermediate stages. There are a few speculatory reports out there about the Vosges mountains, which would tie in well with the 2020 theme, if the organisers wanted to recreate the drama atop the Planche des Belles Filles, though the mountain has arguably been overused in recent years.
I’d prefer to see the peloton take a trip into Switzerland or Italy for the start of week three and then loop back around to the Alps for the final few mountain stages, do the penultimate day time trial in Grenoble and then transfer to Paris for the traditional finish.
Women’s route wishlist:
The apparent change from the Champs-Élysées start will mean the loss of the big opening day crowds, but attendance was good wherever the peloton went in the inaugural Tour de France Femmes, so it’s good that there’s a new starting spot for the women as it opens up more possibilities for the route.
Starting in central France means there is more mountainous terrain available to the peloton in the Massif Central immediately and theoretically the Alps and the Pyrenees are both within striking distance but I’d like to see the peloton hit up Mont Ventoux and then finish on the Mediterranean coast in Marseille or Nice in front of a nice, big crowd.
July 14, 2013 Tour de France: Froome en route to victory atop Mont Ventoux. Source: Getty / Tim de Waele/Getty Images
Racing in southern France carries its own unique challenges, in particular the heat, it was one of the strongest memories of a group of Australian female legends of the sport, who talked with SBS Sport ahead of the Tour de France Femmes. Find the interviews with , and here.
SBS Sport will be hosting a livestream of the Tour de France route presentation from 8.30pm AEDT on Thursday, October 27th on SBS On Demand.
There will also be a special live episode of the Zwift SBS Cycling Podcast, a live reaction to the route announcement with special commentary and banter provided by host Christophe Mallet, with David McKenzie, Matthew Keenan and Bridie O'Donnell featuring throughout on the SBS Sport Facebook page from 8.30pm AEDT on Thursday, October 27th.
