A greener Tour de France? 'Logical' 2023 route slashes average transfer between stages

Race director Thierry Gouvenou says he tries to keep transfers as short as possible, but that won't stop overseas Grand Départs

LCL vehicle from Tour de France publicity caravan in 2022
(Image credit: Getty)

If, looking at the recently announced 2023 Tour de France route, you thought the stages looked particularly close together, you were right. 

Calculating the shortest driving distance between each stage finish and the next day’s start, the average transfer for next year’s race is 80km. This figure is considerably smaller than the previous four editions of the race, which come in at 96km (2019), 97km (2020), 101km (2021) and 131km (2022).

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Tom Davidson
Senior News Writer

Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer. He is the host of The TT Podcast, which covers both the men's and women's pelotons and has featured a number of prominent British riders.

An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides.