Paris 2024 reveals routes of Olympic road cycling events

From the sidelines of Stage 4 of the Tour de France, Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet revealed that the cycling routes for the next Olympic Games are aligned to the Paris 2024 Games philosophy of spectacular, challenging and open to all.

Distinctive in length – 273km for the men and 158km for the women – the road race courses will be challenging for their rolling profile, a final climb up Montmartre and their technical nature, with cobbled streets and tightly winding sections to negotiate on the last part of the course before returning to the Trocadéro.

The courses are also special for bringing the Games to the more undiscovered areas of Ile-de-France, the region that encompasses Paris, with the Val-de-Marne département hosting the time trials and the Essonne département, the road races.

“Road cycling races in cities are exceptional, and they are free access events for the fans," commented Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet. "We’ll have a combination of a great show and great sporting event. It’s also the longest race in the history of the Olympic Games. It will be a difficult race with a very exciting final.”

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The Paris 2024 road race route

From the first loops to the Chevreuse Valley

On Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 August 2024, starting from the Trocadéro, the men's and women's pelotons will go on a 5km procession to take in the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, Les Invalides and the Latin Quarter before the official start of the race on Rue Gay-Lussac in the 5th arrondissement. Athletes will then leave Paris, to return later in the afternoon.

For the first time in the history of the Games there will be an equal number of men and women participants with 90 men and 90 women racers going through the Hauts-de-Seine département via the Côte des Gardes hill (1.9km at 6%) in Meudon. Further on, they will catch a glimpse of the Château de Versailles, shining a global spotlight on this exceptional architectural icon that also serves as an Olympic and Paralympic competition venue.

Later, the Chevreuse Valley presents some challenging terrain for the men's and women's pelotons. Côte de Port-Royal (1km at 5%), Côte de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse (1.3km at 6.3%) and Côte de Châteaufort (900m at 5.7%) with its memorial stone in honour of Jacques Anquetil, the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times. A succession of tough inclines follow topped off by Côte de Cernay-la-Ville (1.1km at 3.9%) for the women, and Côte de Senlisse (1.3km at 5.3%), Côte d'Herbouvilliers (850m at 5.7%), and Côte de Bièvres (1.2km at 6.5%) for the men. These all present great opportunities for spectators to watch the racers pass by at a slower pace.

These first loops in the western part of the wider Parisian region, covering 225km for the men and 110km for the women, will also give spectators a glimpse of the other Olympic and Paralympic venues: the Golf National and the Vélodrome National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, home of the French Cycling Federation.

La Butte Montmartre: ramping things up

The return into the capital, which goes past the Louvre, its Pyramid and the Opéra Garnier, heralds the final 50km of the race. No strangers to the Champs-Elysées in July at Le Tour, this time the men's and women's pelotons will head to the north-east of Paris where they will find a final segment of 18.4km, with technical bends and a tough cobbled climb on the Butte Montmartre (1km at 6.5%).

After two laps, the leading contenders will wage their final battle on the third ascent of the Butte Montmartre up towards the Sacré Coeur basilica, the last ramp before their downhill finale. The final 9.5km will take them onto Pont d’Iéna bridge, the setting for a 230m sprint finish towards the Trocadéro.

At the end of Pont d’Iéna and after 158km for the women and 273km for the men, iconic scenes will unfold as Olympic champions will be crowned and medals distributed with athletes raising their arms aloft to the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower.

"Spectators and television viewers will be amazed by magnificent sites such as the Palace of Versailles, the Chevreuse Valley, the Bois de Vincennes, the Invalides and the Eiffel Tower. We are also proud that road cycling brings the Games to new territories such as Val-de-Marne and Essonne," said Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024.

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The Paris 2024 time trial route

The road cycling time trials will be held one week before the first road race and also offer a host of new features. For the first time in the history of the Games, the 35 men and 35 women riders will be presented with the same course and the same distance. On Saturday 27 July 2024, the athletes will set off one by one from the Esplanade des Invalides for 32.4km of virtually incline-free terrain.

After the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district, they will cross the Seine on Pont de Sully to reach Place de la Bastille. On reaching the Bois de Vincennes, the nods to sporting history begin. The Vélodrome Jacques Anquetil will be the first to be saluted for its monumental past: the venue hosted the Paris 1924 Games and was the finish line of the Tour de France from 1968 to 1974. The time trial course will then proceed to the Polygone de Vincennes, an extremely popular spot for Parisian cycling enthusiasts. Finally, the Institut National du Sport, de l'Expertise et de la Performance (INSEP) will signal the turnaround point.

The racers will reach the halfway point after a brief foray into the Val-de-Marne municipalities that border the capital. Leaving the Bois de Vincennes through its château, riders will return to Place de la Bastille, after Place de Nation, and rejoin the roads they took earlier in the opposite direction. The day after the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, the Pont Alexandre III bridge will once again take centre stage as the finish line for this race against the clock.

“I really like this individual time trial route," said Vittoria Guazzini, Italian cyclist and two-time U23 time trial world champion in 2021 and 2022. "I particularly like the profile, because lately we’ve been seeing a lot of time trials that are a bit hilly. I think this one reflects the main objective of the time trial, which is to go fast. I believe that this is the right course for an Olympic Games. There are long straights where you can push hard, and a few corners where you can perhaps recover a little. It’s a good balance between some technical sections and straight lines!”

Paris 2024 road cycling schedule

Saturday 27 July

Start Invalides, Paris - Finish Pont Alexandre III, Paris

• 14h30 – 16h00 : Women's individual time trial

• 16h30 – 18h00 : Men's individual time trial

Saturday 3 August

• 11h00 - 18h15 : Men's road race

Sunday 4 August 

• 14h00 - 18h45 : Women's road race