Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond
Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond
Stage 2 of the Tour de France 2024 is a 199.2km (according to the stage profile, or 198.7km per the Tour de France website) hilly road stage from Cesenatico to Bologna.
Cesenatico has been chosen as the start town as a nod to Marco Pantani, who lived there and is buried there.
After two early climbs (the Côte de Monticino and the Côte de Gallisterna) the race passes through Imola, famous for its motor racing circuit. The peloton then continues west via an intermediate sprint at Dozza, heading for Bologna and a hilly finishing circuit.
The circuit is 18.3km, and tackled twice. It features a climb to San Luca. The final 9km of the circuit are downhill or flat.
Stage 2 is probably one for the puncheurs.
These are video highlights of Stage 2 Tour de France 2024.
This is the Stage 2 blog/race report.
Race Details | Poll | Map & Profile | Timings | Videos | Food & Drink | Route Notes | Favourites
| Date | Sunday 30th June 2024 |
|---|---|
| Stage classification | Hilly |
| Distance | 199.2km (or 198.7km according to the Tour de France website) |
| Intermediate sprint | Dozza |
| Climbs | Côte de Monticino (Cat. 3) Côte de Gallisterna (Cat. 3) Côte de Bottehgino di Zocca (Cat. 4) Côte de Montecalvo (Cat. 3) Côte de San Luca (Cat. 3) (1st time) Côte de San Luca (Cat. 3) (2nd time, Bonus point) |
| Total climbing | 1,850m |
Vote for one of the main contenders to win Stage 2.
This is a map of the route of Stage 2, Tour de France 2024.
This is a zoom-able map of the route of Stage 2 of the 2024 Tour de France.
Note: this routemap was produced a long time in advance of the race, and could be subject to changes.
This is the profile of Stage 2 Tour de France 2024.
| Caravan | Fast Schedule | Slow Schedule | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Time (départ fictif) | 1015 |
1215 |
1215 |
| Start Time (départ réel) | 1035 |
1235 |
1235 |
| Intermediate Sprint Dozza | 1317 |
1502 |
1517 |
| Côte de San Luca Climb (1st time) | 1447 |
1624 |
1647 |
| Finish Line (199.2km or 198.7km) | 1533 |
1706 |
1733 |
This is a video of the route of Stage 2 Tour de France 2024.
These are highlights of Stage 1 of the 2019 Giro d'Italia. It was an individual time trial raced on a course very similar to the finishing circuit on Stage 2 of the Tour de France 2024. Primoz Roglic won that day.
Bologna has several nicknames. They include La Dotta (the learned one, because of its University, founded in 1088) and La Rossa (the red one, a reference to the red rooftops of the historic centre).
It's also called La Grassa, the fat one, due to its hospitality and delicious food.
Food specialities include Bolognese sauce for pasta, known locally as ragú. You might like to grate Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, from nearby Parma, onto your tagliatelle al ragú.
There's also mortadella di Bologna. Mortadella is pork, traditionally ground with a pestle and mortar, with cubes of pig fat, pistachios and black pepper added.
The Emiilia-Romagna region is known for Lambrusco wine, a sparkling red that dates back to Roman times (the tradition of making it, that is, not the wines on sale today).
Pignoletto is the most representative wine of the Bolognese hills. Its origins also go back to Roman times, and Pliny the Elder mentioned it in his Naturalis Historia. It's a white wine that can be sparkling or still.
Much Pignoletto is made from Grechetto Gentile grapes. They tend to hang in tight clusters which look like pine cones, hence the name Pignoletto.
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The stage starts in Cesenatico (départ fictif).
Cesenatico is a port town with a port canal, on the Adriatic coast of Italy and in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has 26,000 inhabitants.
It was founded in 1302 and was originally considered part of the inland city of Cesena. The port and canal were built in 1314, and the intention was that the canal should reach Cesena.
Cesenatico suffered great damage during World War II. It was liberated from fascism by New Zealand troops.
Post-war, Cesenatico has become a major tourist town. It was also after the war that the 118m high skyscraper was built.
Every year the final of the Italian Mathematics Olympiad, a competition fought out by the 300 of the best high school maths students in Italy, takes place in Cesenatico.
I calculate that that's a brilliant addition to the town's events, and I don't expect to divide opinion with that assertion. Ok, ok I'll stop now.
The Spazio Pantani is a museum managed by the Pantani family to keep the memory of Marco Pantani alive.
The Marco Pantani Nove Colli race is held every May, in the foothills of the Apennines.
There's a Marco Pantani statue in Cesenatico.
Marco Pantani was a racing cyclist from Cesenatico, who lived from 1970 to 2004.
He was called il Pirata (the Pirate), because of his bald head and bandana.
He was expelled from the 1999 Giro d'Italia because of his blood values - a haematocrit level of 52%, which is unnaturally high, almost certainly due to use of EPO.
He was a client of Francesco Conconi from 1993-98, and later took outlawed drugs supplied by Dr Fuentes (uncovered by Operacion Puerto).
In effect, all his race wins were powered by doping. Should the Tour de France be celebrating his career?
With those facts as background, he recorded very fast times up Mont Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez, and he won both the Giro and the Tour in 1998.
His last stage wins were in 2000, and he raced sporadically thereafter.
He was admitted to a psychiatric clinic in 2003 to deal with addictions. He died in 2004 in a hotel in Rimini from cocaine poisoning.
Matt Rendell wrote a biography of Pantani.
The peloton rolls out of Cesenatico heading north along the coast. The départ réel is at Cervia.
Salt has been produced at Cervia for centuries, and the town probably gets its name from the word acervi, used to describe piles of salt in salt pans.
Cervia has a Salt Museum, dedicated to the story of 'the white gold of Cervia'.
Another theory of the origin of Cervia's name is that it comes from a deer that knelt before Saint Bassano, asking the saint to help it escape from hunters. The Italian word for deer is cervo/cerva.
Cervia's emblem is a kneeling deer, which corroborates the story beyond reasonable doubt, I'm sure you'll agree.
Today Cervia is a popular seaside resort thanks to its long stretch of sandy beaches.
Leisure cycling is very popular here in Summer.
The race continues up the coast to Lido di Classe, then heads inland to Savio di Ravenna, where Mirabilandia stands - Italy's largest theme and water park.
Now Stage 2 approaches Ravenna.
Ravenna is an ancient and historic city.
The population is only 159,000, which is about the same as Harrogate. Whereas the main attraction in the North Yorkshire town is buying an overpriced bun from a nice café, Ravenna was once the capital of the Western Roman Empire.
In Top Trumps, Ravenna beats Harrogate on every category except perhaps Best Buns.
Ravenna was originally settled by the Umbri people around the 400s BC, then came under the control of the Roman Republic in 89BC.
In 49BC, Julius Caesar gathered his forces at Ravenna before crossing the Rubicon.
After his battle against Mark Antony in 31BC, Octavian built a military harbour at Ravenna, called Classis.
In 402, the Western Roman Emperor Honorius moved his court from Milan to Ravenna. The last de facto Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed at Ravenna in 476AD.
Ravenna was then the capital of the Barbarian King of Italy Odoacer, then Ostrogoth King Theodoric from 493; and from 540 it was the capital of Byzantine Italy.
Ravenna then came under the control of the Pope, and remained part of the Papal States until it joined the new Kingdom of Italy (1861).
Eight buildings in Ravenna comprise a UNESCO World Heritage Site, collectively called 'the Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna'. They have a lot of mosaics.
One of these buildings is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. It dates from 425-450AD.
Galla Placida's son Valentinian III became Emperor in 425 at 6 years old, and she ruled as Regent for him for 12 years.
She died in 450. Despite the Ravenna building being called her mausoleum, she was in fact buried in Rome. So if it is not Galla Placida's mausoleum, what is it?
It is a chapel, and Galla Placida's connection to it is probably that she was the patron of its construction.
Dante Alighieri, on the other hand, is buried in Ravenna after he died here in 1321, and you can see his tomb next to the Basilica of San Francesco.
Mark Cavendish won a stage of the Giro d'Italia in Ravenna in 2011.
Now the riders head across the flatlands of the Pianura Padana (Padana Plain, or Po Valley).
This area is flat today, but there are ancient canyons underneath which have been buried in sediment.
The lower plain is called La Bassa. A spring line at the edge of the plain provides water and makes La Bassa suitable for agriculture.
The Pianura Padana is the largest unbroken plain in southern Europe, and is home to 17 million people. They suffer poor air quality, with satellite images showing high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide.
If you want to get into the right mood for the Pianura Padana, listen to La Fisarmonica di Stradella.
Stradella is known for making accordions, and in La Fisarmonica di Stradella Paolo Conte sings about driving his sleeping girlfriend through the fog of the Padana Plain after a Sunday evening dance, in an atmospheric and accordion-filled song.
The race goes through Russi, where there was a villa in Roman times.
There are also ruins of a Medieval castle in Russi, and the unruined Palazzo San Giacomo from the 1600s.
Leaving Russi, the riders make their way to Faenza, on the edge of the plain and by the foothills of the Apennines.
Pottery has been made in Faenza since the C1st AD.
It is best-known for Majolica-ware - a tin-glazed pottery with bright colours on a white background. The most desirable Majolica is from the Renaissance period (1500s).
Faenza is home to the International Museum of Ceramics.
After Faenza, the riders follow the Lamone river and the Canal Grande to Brisighella, which is designated one of the most beautiful villages of Italy.
There are three peaks around Brisighella, each with a building on top. There's the Manfredi fortress (1300s), the clock tower (1800s), and the Monticino Sanctuary (1700s).
The last of these is of the greatest interest to the peloton, as it heads uphill towards the sanctuary on the first categorised climb of the stage, the Côte de Monticino.
The Monticino climb is up past the Monticino Sanctuary (or Chiesa della Beata Maria Vergine del Monticino).
It is 2km at an average 7.5%, to a height of 250m after74km raced.
The road continues to go up after the King of the Mountains point until it passes an old gypsum quarry, then two wooded areas with caves.
The descent is past vineyards to Riolo Terme.
Riolo Terme has been certified by the Italian Ministry of Health as having Superior Level 1 Thermal Baths. You can't argue with that. The water and mud here will revitalise you, whether you like it or not.
4km after Riolo Terme there's the second categorised climb, of the Côte de Gallisterna.
The climb of the Côte de Gallisterna is short but steep.
It takes the riders from the tiny hamlet of Gallisterna, near the river Senio, up the Via Caduti di Toranello towards the Monte del Ballo.
It is 1.2km at an average 12.8%, to a height of 257m after 88.8km raced.
The descent is to Imola.
Imola is a town on the Santerno river. It was founded in 82BC by the Roman General Sulla.
The Sforza Castle at Imola was built for the Sforza family in the 1200s.
As well as the Sforza family, other well-known people stayed there at different times. They include Nicolas Machiavelli, Caesar Borgia and Leonardo da Vinci.
Imola hosted the UCI Road World Championships in 1968 and 2020. Julian Alaphilippe won in 2020.
It is better known for motor racing, though.
The Imola Circuit is officially called the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. It held its first motorcycle race in 1953.
Formula One used the circuit for many years up to 2007. Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger both died at a Formula One race here in 1994. The fast Tamburello corner was the source of most of the safety worries, and the circuit was modified to address them.
The circuit has been used by Formula One again from 2020.
From Imola, it's a straight and flat run on the edge of the Pianura Padana, heading west north west.
The intermediate sprint is at Dozza, or I think more accurately Toscanella di Dozza, after 108.1km raced.
1.1km later, Stage 2 reaches Castel San Pietro Terme.
Thermal spa treatments at Castel San Pietro date back to 1337, but the current spa facilities were built in 1870.
The route continues to be straight and flat on the way west north west to Ozzano dell'Emilia.
A Roman city was founded here in 187BC, but it was abandoned at the fall of the Roman Empire. It is known as 'the Pompeii of the north' due to the wealth of discoveries being uncovered by archaeologists.
Soon after, the parcours turns to head south via the Gessi Bolognesi e Calanchi dell'Abbadessa (a natural park with lots of streams and caves) to Botteghino di Zocca.
The next categorised climb comes after the village of Botteghino di Zocca.
The categorised climb out of Botteghino di Zocca is 1.9km at 6.9%, to a height of 242m after 139km raced.
The riders continue on the Via Anna Donini down to the outskirts of Pianoro on the Torrente Savena. The town was very badly damaged by bombing in World War II.
At Rastignano the peloton leaves the valley. This is the next climb, to Montecalvo.
The climb to Montecalvo is 2.7km at an average 7.7%, to a height of 309m after 151.2km raced.
Now the race descends to Bologna, and crosses the finish line at Piazza Maggiore for the first time (after 162.5km raced).
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The circuit is 18.3km, raced anti-clockwise.
Leaving the city, the riders head up the Via di San Luca to the sanctuary or chapel at Madonna di San Luca. This is the Côte de San Luca climb.
The striking feature on the way up to the sanctuary is the Portico di San Luca, a walkway and stairs inside a colonnade.
The Côte de San Luca is 1.9km at an average 10.6%, to a height of 265m. One pitch is at a gradient of 16%.
The KOM point is after 168.3km raced.
There's a bit more uphill to Montalbano (a hamlet, not the TV police officer), then a descent back to the centre of Bologna.
The same circuit is raced a second time, and the summit of the same climb up the Côte de San Luca comes after 186.6km.
The top of the climb is the Bonus point, with time bonuses of 8s, 5s and 2s available to the first three riders.
The circuit brings the riders to the finish line at Piazza Maggiore.
As on the other road stages, there are time bonuses of 10s, 6s and 4s for the first three finishers.
Bologna is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region.
Its 400,000 inhabitants make it the seventh biggest city in Italy.
It's called the Fat City (for its rich food), the Red City (for its tiled rooftops), and the Learned City (because it's home to the world's oldest university, established 1088).
The Etruscan city of Felsina was established here in the C6th BC. The Etruscans were displaced by the Celts, then the Celts by the Romans.
The settlement was a Roman colony from 196BC. Later, it was part of Charlemagne's Empire, then belonged to the Papal States.
Modern Bologna's economy is based on manufacturing and industry, including processing agricultural products and printing and publishing. One of Bologna's specialities is making automatic packaging machines.
As mentioned above, Bologna is also a university city. It was good enough for Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch, and it's good enough for lots of students today.
The finishing circuit is very similar to the route of the ITT on Stage 1 of the 2019 Giro d'Italia. Primoz Roglic won that day.
Maybe he will win here again, this time in the colours of Bora Hansgrohe.
Who else could win? Of the GC favourites, it could be Tadej Pogacar. Of the puncheurs, it could be Wout van Aert (now confirmed as featuring in the Visma Lease-a-Bike line-up), Mathieu van der Poel or Mads Pedersen.
Who do you think will win Stage 2 of the 2024 Tour de France in Bologna?
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