After Stage 18, in which Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) won on the finish at Barcelonnette, Stage 19 of the 2024 Tour de France will turn to high altitudes in the Alps. This stage takes the riders from Embrun to Isola 2000 over a distance of 144.6 kilometers.
Embrun is a commune located in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. The picturesque village is situated at an elevation of 2,858 feet (871 meters) near the eastern end of the large artificial Lac de Serre-Ponçon.
Isola 2000 is a ski resort located in the southern French Alps, in the commune of Isola, Alpes-Maritimes department located about 90 kilometers from Nice. This will be only the second time in Tour history that a stage finishes in Isola 2000, with the previous occurrence in 1993.
Despite its relatively short length, the stage includes a total elevation gain of 4,400 meters. The stage features a challenging mountain route in the southern Alps with three major climbs:
The first comes at the Col de Vars, which lasts 18.8 kilometers at a 5.7% average gradient, and is a hors catégorie climb, the most difficult. The second climb comes at the grueling Cime de la Bonette, another hors catégorie climb, taking the riders up a 6.9% average gradient for 22.9 kilometers. The Cime de la Bonette, at 2,802 meters, is the highest point of the 2024 Tour de France and the highest paved through road in Europe. The final climb of the day comes at the Isola 2000, which is lightly shorter than the two earlier climbs at 16.1 kilometers in length, but is the steeped average gradient of the day at 7.1% on average.
The stage is expected to be crucial for the general classification contenders due to its difficult mountain terrain coming late in the race.
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