Tour De France 2014 Schedule: Daily TV Coverage, Live Stream and More

The Tour de France gets underway in Britain for only the second time in history on Saturday, with the Grand Depart taking place in Leeds ahead of three UK-based stages.

The 101st edition of cycling's most prestigious race takes in Cambridge and London—among others—before heading into France for the 21-stage, three-week contest.

For the first time since the 1953 Tour, there will be just one time-trial stage—Stage 20—something of a blow for reigning champion Chris Froome.

Read on for a look at the day-by-day schedule for the 2014 Tour de France, as well as television and live streaming information.

Stage	Date	Start/Finish	Distance	Live Stream	TV Info
1	5 July	Leeds/Harrogate	190.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
2	6 July	York/Sheffield	201 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
3	7 July	Cambridge/London	155 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
4	8 July	Le Touquet-Paris-Plage/Lille	163.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
5	9 July	Ypres/Arenberg Porte du Hainaut	155.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
6	10 July	Arras/Reims	194 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
7	11 July	Epernay/Nancy	234.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
8	12 July	Tomblaine/Gerardmer La Mauselaine	161 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
9	13 July	Gerardmer/Mulhouse	170 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
10	14 July	Mulhouse/Planche des Belles Filles	161.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
/	15 July	Rest Day
11	16 July	Besancon/Oyonnax	187.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
12	17 July	Bourg-en-Bresse/Saint-Etienne	185.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
13	18 July	Saint-Etienne/Chamrousse	197.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
14	19 July	Grenoble/Risoul	177 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
15	20 July	Tallard/Nimes	222 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
/	21 July	Rest Day
16	22 July	Carcassonne/Bagneres-de-Luchon	237.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
17	23 July	Saint-Gaudens/Pla d'Adet	124.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
18	24 July	Pau/Hautacam	145.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
19	25 July	Maubourguet Pays du Val d’Adour/Bergerac	208.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
20	26 July	Bergerac/Perigueux	54 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN
21	27 July	Evry/Paris	137.5 km	ITV Player/NBCSN	ITV4/NBCSN

Key Stages

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The opening stage is, unusually, a 190.5-kilometre road stage and not a prologue. It starts from Leeds, heads through the Yorkshire Dales, with the first hill challenge being the Buttertubs Pass, and climaxing with a fast, flat finish into Harrogate.

The main players on Stage 1 will be the sprinters, and more specifically, Mark Cavendish, whose mother used to live in Harrogate and who has been specifically targeting the opener all year, per Le Tour Yorkshire:

If the Manx Missile can claim a win on Stage 1 it will not only be a very popular home-favourite victory, it will also put Cavendish in the yellow jersey for the first time ever and constitute his 26th stage win in the Tour—eight short of Eddy Merckx’s 34-stage record, per the Telegraph.

Stage 5 is being touted by many as a spot at which the major general classification challengers may come a cropper due to the presence of the dreaded cobbles in nine sections. One of the favourites, Alberto Contador, recognised the need to be well informed of a potentially dangerous stage:

The risk of falling on cobbles and suffering an injury is very high and could signal the end of a racer's challenge for the yellow jersey as early as Stage 5.

The 10th stage is the first proper mountain test and will be an early indicator as to who is really in contention after the predominantly flat early challenges.

Coming the day before the first rest day, the 161.5-km stage to La Planche des Belles Filles is the site of Froome's first ever stage win in the 2012 edition of the race, and it includes seven separate climbs.

Kristof Van Accom/Getty Images

While there are more challenging stages to come, this will provide a good benchmark from which to work for the rest of the race.

The positioning of the only time-trial stage on the penultimate day of the race could prove crucial, for if there is still only a narrow gap between the top contenders, it will all come down to this.

Stage 20 is 54km in length and that will suit Froome if he is still in with a shout of retaining his title—or indeed extending his lead. 

After 21 gruelling stages there has to be one winner and received wisdom suggests this year's edition will be a straight shootout between Froome and two-time winner Contador.

However, the Tour likes to throw up surprises and there is no telling what might happen across the course of the race, but first up is Cavendish's chance to get himself in yellow on the opening day.