All 21 stages in detail

For the first time in the Tour’s history, the Grand Départ takes place in Italy with a brutal opening stage that packs in more than 3,800m of climbing.

Today’s route Starting in Florence, the birthplace of legendary Italian cyclist Gino Bartali as well as Renaissance art and architecture, the first stage is a lumpy route travelling east to Rimini on the Adriatic coast.

There are seven categorised climbs on the menu and the first, the 11km Col de Valico Tre Faggi, will top out after just one hour of racing. Then comes a succession of short but difficult climbs, with the final ascent denoting the entrance to the principality of San Marino. From there, it’s a 26km fast downhill race back to the Italian coast.

What to expect The teams with general classification ambitions might be happy to let a rider who isn’t thinking about Paris take the race’s first yellow jersey – and with it all the attention and obligations – and the sprinters’ teams won’t be working either. But with a yellow jersey up for grabs, there is little chance an excited peloton will let a break go the distance.

It’s a difficult enough day and some outside contenders might have their dreams dashed on day one, but don’t expect any full-gas attacks from the bigger GC riders – there’s no need to fire too many bullets on the opening weekend, however tempting it might be.

Riders to watch Few Italians look better-placed to take a dream stage one win than Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Ciccone, the winner of the King of the Mountains classification 12 months ago.

DSM-Firmenich PostNL’s Romain Bardet has never worn the maillot jaune, and this might be his best chance in what could be his final Tour de France.

The homage to Italian cycling continues with a route starting in Marco Pantani’s former home and final resting place, and a finish on the roads that host of one of the country’s best-loved races.

Today’s route It’s a seaside start in the spa resort of Cesenatico, home to the late Marco Pantani, the last rider to achieve the Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double in 1998. Ironically, a stage that harks back to 'Il Pirata' is mostly flat. There are two little bumps in the first 140km as well as a spin around the Imola racing circuit, the venue of the 2020 World Championships.

Then come two short back-to-back climbs before the peloton arrives in Bologna for two circuits that take in the San Luca climb (1.9km at 10.6%), used as a summit finish in the autumn-held Giro dell'Emilia. Today, however, the riders have 12km over the top of the final climb to get organised for the finale in Bologna.

What to expect Despite those bumps in the profile, this should be a fairly straight-forward stage for a peloton with fresh legs. A group will no doubt go clear but with lots of riders fancying their chances, and with GC riders being wary of losing time through inattention, speed will be high and the break won’t be given much time. The two climbs of San Luca are a perfect launchpad for a Classics rider who thinks they can hold off the bunch, while a sprinter in great form will also think the stage is up for grabs.

Riders to watch Riders who can climb well but don’t harbour realistic podium ambitions will be among the favourites, and the Bahrain Victorious duo of Pello Bilbao and Matej Mohorič are ones to look out for, as is Welshman Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) who has had a breakthrough season shining on climbs not so dissimilar to San Luca.

The last day entirely in Italy is reserved for the sprinters, and almost nothing will deny them their first opportunity.

Today’s route At 230km, it is the longest stage of this year’s Tour, with the whole Tour caravan heading west to Turin. Before it gets to Italy’s fourth most populous city, there’s a passage through Tortona, the town where the iconic Fausto Coppi, a winner of two Tours and five Giri d’Italia, died in 1960 due to misdiagnosed malaria.

Two fourth-category climbs have to be tackled ahead of what will be a fast and largely arrow-straight run-in to Turin for the finale.

What to expect A doomed breakaway, possibly with just two or three riders, will go clear, but they will know their fate from the moment the peloton lets them loose. Expect one of the lowerranked teams, such as Uno-X Mobility, to be present.

The bunch will make the catch in plenty of time in anticipation of the first mass sprint of the race. A sprint without hiccups is not a foregone conclusion, though, with all the sprint trains fighting for position and the usual first-week nerves and tension often causing crashes at decisive moments.

All eyes will be on last year’s sprint king, 26-year-old Jasper Philipsen. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider won four stages and the points jersey, and