The Tour de France is known as the biggest race in world cycling and is one of the three grand tours, alongside the Vuelta a Espana and Giro d’Italia. The grand tours are the only races allowed to go for three week’s duration, and are the most prestigious.
The race around France began in 1903.
The full 2018 Tour de France route was announced on October 17, with the start of the race pushed back to July 7 due to the FIFA World Cup.
The race will start in the Vendée department, in the region of Pays de la Loire, with the first three stages featuring two flat ones and a Team Time Trial.
There will be six mountain stages, five hilly stages, three mountain top finishes, a stage on the cobblestones into Roubaix and an individual time trial to decide the winner of the race on Stage 20 before the ceremonial ride to Paris.
2018 Tour de France route
| Stage no. | Date | Stage type | Start | Finish | Distance |
| 1 | Sat Jul 7 | Flat | Noirmoutier-en-l’Île | Fontenay-le-Comte | 189km |
| 2 | Sun Jul 8 | Flat | Mouilleron-Saint-Germain | La Roche-sur-Yon | 183km |
| 3 | Mon Jul 9 | Team Time Trial | Cholet | Cholet | 35km |
| 4 | Tue Jul 10 | Flat | La Baule | Sarzeau | 192km |
| 5 | Wed Jul 11 | Hilly | Lorient | Quimper | 203km |
| 6 | Thu Jul 12 | Hilly | Brest | Mur-de-Bretagne | 181km |
| 7 | Fri Jul 13 | Flat | Fougeres | Chartres | 231km |
| 8 | Sat Jul 14 | Flat | Dreux | Amiens Metropole | 181km |
| 9 | Sun Jul 15 | Flat – Cobblestones | Arrax | Roubaix | 154km |
| Rest Day 1 | Mon Jul 16 | Annecy | |||
| 10 | Tue Jul 17 | Mountains | Annecy | Le Grand-Bornand | 159km |
| 11 | Wed Jul 18 | Mountains | Albertville | La Rosiere Espace San Bernardo | 108km |
| 12 | Thu Jul 19 | Mountains | Bourg-Saint-Maurice Les Arcs | Alpe D’Huez | 175km |
| 13 | Fri Jul 20 | Flat | Bourg d’Oisans | Valence | 169km |
| 14 | Sat Jul 21 | Mountains | Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux | Mende | 187km |
| 15 | Sun Jul 22 | Hilly | Millau | Carcassonne | 181km |
| Rest Day 2 | Mon Jul 23 | Carcassonne | |||
| 16 | Tue Jul 24 | Hilly | Carcassone | Bagneres-de-Luchon | 218km |
| 17 | Wed Jul 25 | Mountains | Bagneres-de-Luchon | Saint-Lary-Soulan | 65km |
| 18 | Thu Jul 26 | Hilly | Trie-Sur-Baise | Pau | 172km |
| 19 | Fri Jul 27 | Mountains | Lourdes | Laruns | 200km |
| 20 | Sat Jul 28 | Individual Time Trial | Saint-Pee-sur-Nievelle | Espelette | 31km |
| 21 | Sun Jul 29 | Flat | Houilles | Paris | 115km |
2017 Tour de France
The 2017 Tour de France was won by Chris Froome of Team Sky. The Kenyan born British cyclist took out his fourth yellow jersey when the race finished in Paris on the evening of Sunday, July 23. The total winner’s time across 21 stages was 86 hours, 20 minutes and 55 seconds – almost three hours quicker than the race in 2016.
It follows Froome’s victories in 2013, 2015 and 2016, but this was his closest by a considerable distance. He finished just 54 seconds ahead of Cannondale-Drapac’s Colombian climber Rigoberto Uran, with Frenchman Romain Bardet hanging onto the final podium spot by just a single second, coming in at 2:20 down. Froome’s Sky teammate Mikel Landa finished at 2:21.
In the race for the sprinters (green) jersey, it looked like Marcel Kittel was going to take the crown with five stage wins. At one point, his lead was over 100 points. Australian Michael Matthews, riding for Team Sunweb managed to cut the gap back to just nine points through the mountains though, with Kittel then pulling out of the race after a crash.
Matthews finished the race on 370 points, 136 clear of German sprinter Andre Greipel, with the Lotto-Soudal sprinter not winning a stage.
The Australian’s Sunweb teammate, Frenchman Warren Barguil easily claimed the King of the Mountains jersey, finishing 69 points clear of Primoz Roglic, who himself won Stage 17.
Team Sky were ranked as the best team, finishing 7 minutes ahead of AG2R La Mondiale, the team of Romain Bardet while Orica-Scott rider and fellow Briton Simon Yates finished with the best young rider’s white jersey, finishing two minutes and six seconds ahead of South African Louis Meintjes.
2017 Tour de France route and stage winners
| Stage | Date | Start | Finish | Distance | Type | Winner |
| 1 | Sat Jul 1 | Dusseldorf | Dusseldorf | 13km | ITT | Geraint Thomas |
| 2 | Sun Jul 2 | Dusseldorf | Liege | 202km | Flat | Marcel Kittel |
| 3 | Mon Jul 3 | Verviers | Longwy | 202km | Hilly | Peter Sagan |
| 4 | Tue Jul 4 | Mondorf-les-bains | Vittel | 203km | Flat | Arnaud Demare |
| 5 | Wed Jul 5 | Vittel | La planche des belles filles | 160km | Hilly | Fabio Aru |
| 6 | Thu Jul 6 | Vesoul | Troyes | 216km | Flat | Marcel Kittel |
| 7 | Fri Jul 7 | Nuits-Saint-Georges | Troyes | 214km | Flat | Marcel Kittel |
| 8 | Sat Jul 8 | Dole | Station des rouses | 187km | Mountain | Lilian Calmejane |
| 9 | Sun Jul 9 | Nantua | Chambery | 181km | Mountain | Rigoberto Uran |
| rest | Mon Jul 10 | Dordogne | ||||
| 10 | Tue Jul 11 | Perigueux | Bergerac | 178km | Flat | Marcel Kittel |
| 11 | Wed Jul 12 | Eymet | Pau | 202km | Flat | Marcel Kittel |
| 12 | Thu Jul 13 | Pau | Peyragudes | 214km | Mountain | Romain Bardet |
| 13 | Fri Jul 14 | Saint-Girons | Foix | 100km | Mountain | Warren Barguil |
| 14 | Sat Jul 15 | Blagnac | Rodez | 181km | Hilly | Michael Matthews |
| 15 | Sun Jul 16 | Laissac-Severac l’eglise | Le Puy en Velay | 189km | Hilly | Bauke Mollema |
| rest | Mon Jul 17 | Le Puy en Velay | ||||
| 16 | Tue Jul 18 | Le Puy en Velay | Romans-sur-Isere | 165km | Michael Matthews | |
| 17 | Wed Jul 19 | La Mure | Serre-Chevalier | 183km | Mountain | Primoz Roglic |
| 18 | Thu Jul 20 | Briancon | Izoard | 178km | Mountain | Warren Barguil |
| 19 | Fri Jul 21 | Embrun | Salon-de-Provence | 220km | Flat | Edvald Boasson Hagen |
| 20 | Sat Jul 22 | Marseille | Marseille | 23km | ITT | Maciej Bodnar |
| 21 | Sun Jul 23 | Montgeron | Paris Champs-Elysees | 105km | Flat | Dylan Groenewegen |
2017 Tour de France General Classification
| Pos. | Rider | Country | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Chris Froome | Great Britain | Team Sky | 86:20:55 |
| 2 | Rigoberto Uran | Colombia | Cannondale-Drapac | + 0:54 |
| 3 | Romain Bardet | France | AG2R La Mondiale | + 2:20 |
| 4 | Mikel Landa | Spain | Team Sky | + 2:21 |
| 5 | Fabio Aru | Italy | Astana | + 3:04 |
| 6 | Daniel Martin | Ireland | Quick-Step | + 4:42 |
| 7 | Simon Yates | Great Britain | Orica-Scott | + 6:14 |
| 8 | Louis Meintjes | South Africa | UAE Team Emirates | + 8:20 |
| 9 | Alberto Contador | Spain | Trek-Segafredo | + 8:49 |
| 10 | Warren Barguil | France | Team Sunweb | + 9:25 |
