by Vas Mylko
In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the Grand Tours, and all three races are similar in format, being three-week races with daily stages. — Wikipedia
Tour de France
Tour de France is an annual men’s multiple-stage bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tours. Do you know the route wasn’t the same from year to year? Have you ever wondered you could drive it by car?
Here is 1934 edition of Tour de France — a perfect itinerary for entire country road trip. You are starting and finishing in Paris. Rent a bicycle at some point — e.g. in Grenoble — and pedal in the mountains.
Here is 1939 edition of Tour de France — another perfect itinerary to experience entire France on the road trip. Paris is again the main hub where you are starting and finishing. You can rent a bicycle again in Grenoble or you can choose to pedal in Brittany — the westernmost region of metropolitan France.
Sometime the stages are scattered across the country. Here is a cool itinerary from the southern stages of 2015 edition of Tour de France.
Vuelta a España
The Vuelta a España aka “Tour of Spain” is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, the race was first organised in 1935.
Here is 2008 edition of Vuelta a España. You can drive it by car. It’s a great itinerary to experience almost entire Spain except Catalonia.
This is a 2012 edition of Vuelta a España. Here you got Catalonia and the entire North of Spain. Why not break a sweat in Galicia? Road trip doesn’t mean you do everything by car. You can fly to any country by plane, rent a car, go where you want, rent a bike and ride the bike, do hiking, do kayaking, do skiing.
Giro d’Italia
The Giro d’Italia aka “Tour of Italy”, also known simply as the Giro, is an annual multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 1909 to increase sales of the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, and the race is still run by a subsidiary of that paper’s owner.
Here is a 2005 edition of Giro d’Italia. It’s definitely the itinerary that allows you to experience everything in Italy, except Apulia and Sicily or so.
Women’s Grand Tours
Did you know there is Tour de France for women? It’s called Tour de France Femmes. Below are a few editions of them converted to road trips itineraries.
Did you know there is Giro d’Italia for women? It’s called Giro d’Italia Women. The race was previously branded as the Giro d’Italia Femminile prior to 2013, the Giro Rosa from 2013 to 2020, and the Giro Donne from 2021 to 2023.
Here are a few road trip itineraries for Giro Rosa eiditions of the race — 2018 and 2019. They are perfect for exploring the Northern Italy.
You can edit and modify those itineraries. E.g. you need Stelvio Pass. Just add Stelvio Pass as the waypoint and Curiosio will keep it. You can change duration (and dates), budget, number of travelers. Hit [Modify] button and do your own planning on top of what you like.
Did you know there is women’s Vuelta? There is La Vuelta Femenina, a women’s edition of the race, was first held in 2023. Below is a road trip itinerary of the 2023 edition of it — the first one La Vuelta Femenina.
You are crossing Spain vertically. You might be worried about the deserts and lack of POIs beyond the coasts and beyond Madrid (the capital). We are assuring you the itienary is cool and beautiful. This is Cuenca — one of the waypoints — in the middle of the route.
