Tour de France stage guide: Adam Yates profiles 2020 race stages

Dates: 29 August – 20 September
Coverage: Live text commentary on each stage on the BBC Sport website and app

This year’s rescheduled Tour de France starts in Nice on Saturday and finishes in Paris on Sunday, 20 September.

The riders will tackle a particularly tough course, with plenty of unique touches, as they race 3,470km around France.

Britain’s Adam Yates is targeting stage wins over general classification in his fifth Tour and has given BBC Sport his insight into each of the stages.

This page will be updated throughout the Tour with the winner and brief report after each stage has been completed.

Saturday, 29 August – stage one: Nice – Nice, 156km

There is a prediction for some rain, which could make things tricky, but the crucial climbs are probably too far from the finish so I expect it to come down to a bunch sprint to decide the stage winner and first yellow jersey.

Rider to watch: Sam Bennett (Ire/Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

Sunday, 30 August – stage two: Nice – Nice, 186km

The first week’s parcours is different to anything I’ve raced at the Tour de France before and I like it. I’d much prefer to get some climbs in the legs early than have 10 flat stages for the tension to build. This way the legs do the talking early. There’ll definitely be a change in the yellow jersey on stage two.

Rider to watch: Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma)

Monday, 31 August – stage three: Nice – Sisteron, 198km

This is one of the longer stages of this Tour, and one of very few proper flat stages, so it won’t be anything but a sprint finish.

Rider to watch: Elia Viviani (Ita/Cofidis)

Tuesday, 1 September – stage four: Sisteron – Orcieres-Merlette, 160.5km

I don’t think a break will be able to go to the line so early in the Tour, but I also don’t think it will be a decisive day for the general classification (GC) because the final climb isn’t selective enough. Unless there was a problem, it’s unlikely any GC contenders will be out of the running and it’s not hard enough to show any weaknesses this early.

Rider to watch: Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

Wednesday, 2 September – Stage 5: Gap – Privas, 183km

I don’t think many teams will be hopeful that a breakaway will stay away on this stage. There aren’t enough opportunities for sprinters this year for them to be handing over another chance to win. The sprint teams will control the race and hope their leader can hold on during a challenging final 10km.

Rider to watch: Caleb Ewan (Aus/Lotto Soudal)

Thursday, 3 September – stage six: Le Teil – Mont Aigoual, 191km

The final categorised climb is brutal and will make sure the stage is selective and won by a climber. The winner might not necessarily be a key general classification favourite, but a bad day here could see someone lose some time. There could be an opportunity for someone to slip off the front in the uncategorised climb to the line.

Rider to watch: Richard Carapaz (Ecu/Ineos Grenadiers)

Friday, 4 September – Stage 7: Millau – Lavaur, 168km

There could be a chance for high winds and we will always take a look at the weather before the start. If there are winds, there’s a bit less stress for me with not going for general classification, but it’s still important to be in a good position to avoid trouble. It’s a difficult start straight into a category three climb, but again I think the sprint teams will want to control the stage and will work their sprinters back into the race.

Rider to watch: Sam Bennett (Ire/Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

Saturday, 5 September – stage eight: Cazeres-sur-Garonne – Loudenvielle, 141km

Stage eight and nine could offer opportunities for riders not focusing on general classification to go up the road and then we’ll see two races, one for the stage win and one for the GC. Port de Bales is probably the hardest of the three climbs because of its length. The final selection will have been made on the Peyresourde, but good descending skills could come in advantage toward the line.

Rider to watch: Esteban Chaves (Col/Mitchelton-Scott)

Sunday, 6 September – stage nine: Pau – Laruns, 153km

This weekend’s stages are still difficult, even though they don’t finish uphill, and this is definitely the hardest start to a Tour de France I’ve been involved in. Again, stage nine is a good day for the break and with a rest day the day after there’ll be a lot of people willing to go deep in search of the stage victory.

Rider to watch: Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R La Mondiale)

Monday, 7 September – rest day: Carente-Maritime

Rest days are always welcome. I am a rider that likes to take it easy when the opportunity is there, so I’ll just take an easy spin. The only difference this year is that we can’t stop mid-ride for a coffee stop, we will have to take that inside the team’s hotel ‘bubble’.