{"id":56939,"date":"2026-07-26T01:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T01:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/56939\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T01:00:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T01:00:34","slug":"the-tour-de-france-pelotons-journey-from-alpe-dhuez-to-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/56939\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tour de France peloton’s journey from Alpe d’Huez to Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the participants, the Tour de France isn\u2019t just about cycling many kilometers<\/a>. It also involves traveling many kilometers. For example, the entire caravan has to make the trip from Alpe d\u2019Huez to Paris from Saturday to Sunday, but what does a journey of more than 600 kilometers look like for the peloton and its entourage?<\/p>\n

Alpe d’Huez is, of course, the centerpiece of the final weekend. On Friday, the riders arrived there via the route we all know, after which the A.S.O. accommodated them all in hotels in the ski village. \u201cThat saves us a three-hour bus ride. It\u2019s nice for a change,\u201d Mike Teunissen remarked with a wink. The team buses will be parked in Vif overnight and won\u2019t be making it up to the top of Alpe d\u2019Huez during this Tour.<\/p>\n

On Saturday morning, the absolute queen stage is on the schedule, starting in Bourg d’Oisans. That means the riders will only have to descend Alpe d’Huez in the morning, though they\u2019ll certainly have to set their alarm clocks early. The 171-kilometer stage, with a staggering 5,450 meters of elevation gain, starts earlier than other stages in anticipation of the subsequent transfer.<\/p>\n

Between 10:10 and 11:10 a.m., the teams are expected at the starting podium, after which the race will begin at 11:20 a.m. in Bourg d’Oisans. Next on the schedule are, in succession, the Croix de Fer, T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe, Galibier, Col de Sarenne, and the final stretch of Alpe d’Huez in what is this year\u2019s toughest stage.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"alpe-d-huez-2\"\/<\/p>\n

Alpe d’Huez took center stage during the Tour’s final weekend.<\/p>\n

Riders travel to Versailles by train<\/p>\n

The first riders are expected to cross the finish line between 4:10 p.m. and 4:50 p.m. Add roughly 50 minutes to that, and everyone should have made it to the top by then. That\u2019s necessary, too, because at 6:30 p.m., the riders are expected to return to that morning\u2019s starting point: Bourg d\u2019Oisans. That\u2019s where the so-called convoy will depart from.<\/p>\n

Escorted by the gendarmerie, the riders will be taken by team bus from Bourg d’Oisans to the nearest city, Grenoble, in 1 hour and 15 minutes. There, a TGV train will be waiting for the riders, scheduled to depart for Versailles at 8:45 p.m. The train is expected to take about three hours, after which the riders will be taken to their hotel. For the rest of the caravan, the transfer is estimated to take about eight hours.<\/p>\n

Of course, the traditional final stage is still on the schedule for the next day. On Sunday morning, people can sleep in a little longer, because\u2014following the adjustment to the final stage route\u2014the team presentation isn\u2019t scheduled until 3:40 p.m. The race will start at 5:50 p.m. at the finish line on the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es for an 89-kilometer stage; the finish is expected around 7:45 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the participants, the Tour de France isn\u2019t just about cycling many kilometers. It also involves traveling many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[35945,1428,30,22119],"class_list":["post-56939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-paris","tag-aso","tag-cycling","tag-paris","tag-tour-de-france-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}