The 2024 Tour de France will start from Florence for the first big start in Italy in its history, said the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday June 8. Italy is the only neighboring country to have never hosted a big start since 1903, the year the event was created. Asked by Agence France-Presse, ASO, the race’s organizing company, declined to comment.
According to the Italian sports daily, which mentions the intervention of public and private investors to finance the operation, the event will start on June 29, 2024 from Florence, the city of “campionissimo” Gino Bartali. He had twice won the Tour, before and after World War II. The first stage should end in Rimini, on the shores of the Adriatic.
The second stage will connect Cesenatico, the city of another former winner – Marco Pantani, in 1998 – to Bologna before a third stage also announced in Emilia-Romagna near Modena and Piacenza and the start of the fourth stage in Pinerolo (Piedmont ) for a follow-up on French territory.
The Italian newspaper also assures that the Tour would also arrive for the first time in its history in a city other than Paris. And for good reason, the French capital must host – a week later – the kick-off of the Summer Olympics, from July 26 to August 11. The venue chosen for the conclusion of this 111th edition would be Nice, indicates the media.
