The Story of the 2024 Tour de France - Bill McGann

The 2024 Tour de France was expected to be a duel between the world's two best Grand Tour racers, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar. Pogačar had won the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Tour while Vingegaard had triumphed in the 2022 and 2023 editions.

The 2023 Tour started out as a duel between Vingegaard and Pogačar. By the end of the mountainous sixth stage Vingegaard was in the race leader's Yellow Jersey with Pogačar just 25 seconds back. After crashing early in the seventeenth stage, Pogačar lost his legendary climbing power. While riding the stage's final climb Pogačar said into the team race radio, "I'm gone, I'm dead." He finished nearly six minutes behind Vingegaard.

And that's how the 2023 Tour ended. Vingegaard had won his second consecutive Tour as Pogačar had done in 2020 and 2021.

That made the prospect of a tie-breaking shootout between the pair a rare and exciting opportunity to watch well-matched athletes at the top of their games contest the greatest athletic contest in the world, the three-week Tour de France.

The Story of the 2924 Tour de France will introduce the route and the riders so that even a person new to the Tour de France will feel at home with the book and its competitors.

So please join us for the 2024 Tour as we go on the 111th trip around La Belle France.