This 2023 edition only has two stages of more than 200 kilometers. The longest was the second, ending in San Sebastián, and the other is the eighth, ending in Limoges.
Only in the 2020 Tour, the year of the coronavirus pandemic, were there fewer marathon days. Then it was explained to avoid risks to the health of cyclists.
It will be a long day until Limoges in which the teams of sprinters will try to reach the sprint while the adventurers will seek victory. Two levels of Fourth in the last 20 km will disorganize the preparation for the arrival and can play in favor of the escapees. The favorites will completely disengage while waiting for the Puy de Dôme.
In 2016 no one avoided the sprint and the outcome had the most even photo finish in the history of the Tour since the German Marcel Kittel was proclaimed the winner by 0.0003s over the Frenchman Bryan Coquard.
In Limoges was born the climber Luc Leblanc, world champion in 1994, who won two major mountain stages in the Tour, in Hautacam and Le Arc. While an emotional Lance Armstrong, while still racing in the Motorola, dedicated the stage victory to the ill-fated Fabio Casartelli, just three days after the fatal accident of the Italian cyclist, teammate of the American.
