Tour de France 2018: Remaining Routes, Stage Info and TV Schedule
July 16, 2018
The 2018 Tour de France will finally hit the high mountains after Monday's rest day, with the battle for the general classification set to start in earnest.
The sprinters and Classics specialists have had it all to their own so far, as Greg Van Avermaet leads the overall standings and Peter Sagan, Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen have each taken two stage wins.
Don't expect that to continue, with three straight days of climbing on the schedule when the race resumes―culminating with the iconic climb to Alpe d'Huez on Thursday.
Here's a look at the full route for this year's Tour, with nine of the 21 stages already in the books:
Cycling Weekly shared this handy route guide, pointing at the three consecutive stages in the high mountains as a crucial stretch:
Eurosport and ITV will provide full coverage of the remaining stages for British audiences, while NBC Sports will do the same for American viewers. With the FIFA World Cup now over, all remaining stages are expected to finish at around 5 p.m. local time (4 p.m. BST/11 a.m. ET).
Full stage info can be found by visiting the Tour's official website.
The Tour's battle for the yellow jersey has already been filled with drama, and we haven't even reached the Alps yet. Sunday's Stage 9, which took place on the cobblestones of Northern France, claimed a major victim in BMC's Richie Porte.
The Australian's poor luck in La Grande Boucle continued with another race-ending crash:
Rigoberto Uran, Mikel Landa and Romain Bardet lost time to the other contenders, and don't be shocked if they try to claw back some seconds on Tuesday.
Stage 10 will include a gravel section, following the recent trend of races on the surface and the enormous success of the Strade Bianche, which has quickly become a crowd favourite. While the stage's main climbs are relatively short, there should be opportunities for breaks.
Wednesday's stage follows another trend―shorter rides, which lead to more aggressive racing―with the finish line at La Rosiere, and should be a good one, while Thursday will see the return of Alpe d'Huez.
Known for its 21 hairpins, it's an icon of the cycling world:
Race organisers showed no mercy when they put this stage together―rather than start things off slowly in the lead-up to the climb, the first ascent of the day will be up another icon of the Tour, the mighty Col de la Madeleine.
This should be an epic stage, and one that will have a major effect on the overall standings. This is where riders can lay the foundation for a Tour win―or drop down the overall standings like a brick if they have a bad day.