• Tour de France

Tour de France coverage from Cycling Weekly, with up to date race results, rider profiles and news and reports.

Jonas Vingegaard is likely to attempt a third win at the Tour de France 2024

The Tour de France 2024 begins on Saturday 29 June 2024 and marks the 111th edition of cycling's flagship race. In the first Grand Départ for Italy, the race starts in Florence and traces a path east across the country, before heading back west towards France and into the Alps. 

The race also tackles the Apennines, Massif Central and Pyrenees mountain ranges, and passes through Italy, San Marino, Monaco and France. This edition breaks from tradition, finishing not in Paris but in Nice, due to the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

The three-week event is the second in the trio of Grand Tours, coming after the Giro d'Italia and before the Vuelta a España .

Tour de France 2024: Overview

Tour de france 2024: the route.

Tour de France 2024 route

One for the climbers, the 2024 Tour de France route incorporates four summit finishes, spans four mountain ranges, and features the hilliest opening stage in history. One of the most interesting and intriguing routes of recent years, sitting between the predominantly hilly week one and week three sits a flatter week two, and stage nine - with an abundance of white roads; 14 sectors in total. There's plenty for the sprinters as well as the general classification and climbing specialists, although there are going to be some tough mountains to get over to reach the sprint stages, and to finish the three weeks. For the first time in 35 years, a final day time trial means the yellow jersey won't be decided on the penultimate day. 

  • Tour de France 2024 route: Two individual time trials, five summit finishes and gravel sectors
  • Opinion: Is the 2024 Tour de France too hard?
  • FAQs of the Tour de France: How lean? How much power? How do they pee mid-stage? All that and more explained

Tour de France 2024 route: Stage-by-stage

Tour de france 2024: the teams.

Three professional riders at the Tour de France 2023

There will be 22 teams of eight riders at the 2024 Tour de France. This includes all 18 UCI WorldTour teams, as well as the two best-ranked UCI ProTeams, and two further squads invited by the organiser, ASO. 

Tour de France 2024: General classification riders

Pogacar and Vingegaard climbing the Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc

The general classification riders set to appear on the start line in Florence on June 29 are as of yet unconfirmed.

Reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard is extremely likely to be there to defend his title, and there should be no challenges from within the team since Primož Roglič's move to Bora-Hansgrohe. However, Roglič will be making his own bid for the win as the new team leader, with the route suiting him well. 

Following the route announcement in October, Tadej Pogačar said that the "end of the journey makes me smile", with the final 2 stages starting and finishing close to his home in Monaco. Pogačar is hoping to take back the top step in 2024 after two years of missing out on yellow to Vingegaard.

Remco Evenepol intends to make his Tour de France debut in 2024. Although he took a win in 2022 at the Vuelta, his performance in other Grand Tour races has been either inconsistent or blighted by illness. If he's to compete against the likes of Vingegaard and Pogačar, he'll have to up his game. It's not yet known who Ineos Grenadiers will hand the reins to, but, coming 5th overall and taking a stage win in his Tour debut in 2023 , Carlos Rogríguez seems a likely choice.

Tour de France 2024: Sprinters

Jasper Philipsen celebrates his win on stage 11 of the 2023 Tour de France

It's going to be a tough year for the sprinters. Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck was one of the star men of last year's Tour de France, taking four stage wins and the green sprinter's jersey at the end of the three weeks. If the Belgian returns in 2024 then he will definitely be looking to defend his jersey.

Mads Pederson of Trek-Segafredo has won stages in all three Grand Tours and is likely to gain victory again in some of the harder sprint stages in 2024.

All eyes will be on Mark Cavendish in the 111th Tour de France after he postponed retirement to target the Tour win record, currently shared with Eddy Merckx, and gain his 35th win. He said, however, that he was "in shock" and that this was the "toughest course" he had ever seen , when it was revealed in October. 

Tour de France 2024: On TV

As you'd expect the Tour de France will be avialable to watch in a lot of places this July.

The race is expected to be live-streamed on GCN +, Discovery+ and Eurosport , as well as ITV4, in the UK and in Europe. Subscription costs are £6.99/month or $8.99/month, and £39.99 or $49.99 for a year.

A Flobikes  annual subscription will cost you $209.99 if you want to watch in Canada, while in the USA  NBC Sports  via Peacock Premium ($4.99 per month) will show the race. Australians can can watch the Tour for free on SBS on Demand.

And, of course, if you want to watch your local stream from anywhere in the world you'll need a VPN from a trusted company like ExpressVPN .

Tour de France: The jerseys

Vingegaard in the Tour de France yellow jersey

Much like every year in recent memory, the Tour de France jerseys and classifications are yellow for the overall leader, green for the leader in the points standings, polka-dot for the mountain classification, and white for the best young rider.

Along with the jersey prizes, there is an award for the most combative rider of each stage, with the winner wearing a red number on the following day. This is awarded each day, with a 'Super Combativity' award decided by a jury at the end of the race for the most active rider throughout the entire event.

There is also a team classification where the time of the first three riders from each team is put together to create a single time. This is then done in a similar way as the individual general classification.

In addition, there are plenty of bonus seconds up for grabs at the race. There are ten, six and four bonus seconds available at the end of each stage for the first three riders, as well as bonus sprints that are dotted throughout the race on key climbs to try and make the racing more entertaining for spectators.

Of course, there's also prize money up for grabs. For winning the 2023 edition of the race, Jonas Vingegaard collected €535,220 (£463,100), a sum which is customarily shared out among the team's riders and staff.

Tour de France past winners in the last 12 years

  • 2012: Bradley Wiggins (GBr) 
  • 2013: Chris Froome (GBr) 
  • 2014: Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) 
  • 2015: Chris Froome (GBr) 
  • 2016: Chris Froome (GBr) 
  • 2017: Chris Froome (GBr) 
  • 2018: Geraint Thomas (GBr) 
  • 2019: Egan Bernal (Col) 
  • 2020: Tadej Pogačar (Slo) 
  • 2021: Tadej Pogačar (Slo)  
  • 2022: Jonas Vingegaard (Den)
  • 2023: Jonas Vingegaard (Den)

Tour de France FAQ

How does the tour de france work.

The Tour de France is one of a trio of races that are three weeks long, known as the Grand Tours, alongside the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. The Tour is the best known and arguably the most prestigious.

It is the second of the three races in the calendar with the Giro taking place in May, the Tour usually in July, and the Vuelta in August and September.

The Tour, like all Grand Tours, takes on varying terrain with flat days for sprinters, hilly days for punchers and mountains for the climbers and GC riders, along with time trials, so that a winner of the race has to be able to perform on all types of road.

The main prize in the race, known as the general classification, is based on time with the overall leader wearing the yellow jersey. The race leader and eventual winner is the rider who has the lowest accumulated time over the 21 days of racing. Riders can win the Tour de France without winning a stage, as Chris Froome did in 2017. Time bonuses of 10, six, and four seconds are given to stage winners though, creating incentive for those general classification riders to chase individual victories and lower their overall time.

In 2020 it took race winner Tadej Pogačar 87 hours 20 minutes and 5 seconds to complete the race with the second-place rider overall 59 seconds slower. That continues all the way down to the last place rider, which was Roger Kluge (Lotto-Soudal) who finished 6 hours 7 minutes and 2 seconds behind.

The white best young rider's jersey is worked out in the same way but only riders under the age of 26 are eligible for the jersey.

The polka-dot mountains jersey and the green points jersey are based on a points system and not time. The only reason time would come into account would be if riders are tied on points, then it would go to who is the best placed in the general classification.

The team classification is based on the general classification times of the first three riders of a team on each stage. The time of those three riders is added up and put onto their team's time, creating a GC list much like in the individual classifications. The leading team gets to wear yellow numbers and helmets on each stage.

The final classification available is the combativity prize. This is decided by a race jury or, in more recent years, Twitter. This takes place just before the end of each stage and often goes to a rider from the breakaway who has put in a daring performance or attempted to liven up the stage by attacking. The winner of the combativity award gets to wear a special red race number on the following day's stage.

There is a final prize added to this with the Super Combativity prize being awarded on the podium in Paris. This is decided in a similar fashion to pick out the most aggressive, entertaining, and daring rider of the whole three weeks. Again, usually going to a rider who has featured regularly in the breakaway.

Stage winners do not wear anything special the day after apart from getting a small yellow jersey to stick on their number on their bike, this can be replaced if they win multiple stages.

Teams used to come to the race with nine riders but the UCI, cycling's governing body, decided that nine riders from each team was too dangerous and dropped it to eight, however more teams now take part.

How long is the Tour de France?

The Tour de France takes place over 23 days with 21 of them being race days. The riders get two days of resting; they usually fall on the second and third Monday of the race.

This year's race is 3,492km long, which is 2,170 miles, around the same distance from Washington DC to Las Vegas, or Helsinki to Lisbon. 

Road stages can range from anything around 100km to something approaching 250km, sometimes more. This year the shortest road stage is stage 20, from Nice to Col de la Couillole, with the longest being 229km on stage three in Italy, from Plaisance to Turin.

Road stages often take around four to five hours with the longer days sometimes nudging over seven hours.

Time trials are always much shorter. Team time trials have long since gone out of fashion in the world of road racing so individual time trials are the main focus these days. 

In 2024, the Tour has two individual time trials for the riders to tackle, the first on stage seven at 25km long from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin, and the second on the final stage from Monaco to Nice, at 34km long.

When does the Tour de France start?

The 2024 Tour de France starts on June 29 in Florence, Italy, with a road stage. There will be three full stages in Italy, before the fourth heads into France. The race finishes in Nice three weeks later.

The 2024 edition of the race runs from 29 June - 21 July, covering 21 stages. 

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2026 Tour de France all-but-confirmed to start in Barcelona

T he Tour de France is set to welcome its fourth Grand Départ in five years in 2026 with Barcelona all-but-confirmed to host the start of the race in two years.

Following Grand Départs in the Danish capital of Copenhagen and the Basque city of Bilbao in 2023, the 2024 race will kick off in Tuscany this summer, and the race will head to Catalunya in 2026, according to a report by local newspaper El Periódico .

A deal has been reached to start the race in Barcelona after over a year of negotiations between the city's council and Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, El Periódico reports, with the official announcement set to be made next month.

The deal means that Barcelona will host the start of a Grand Tour for the third time, following Gran Partidas at the Vuelta a España in 1962 and 2023. No Spanish city has yet hosted a Grande Partenza of the Giro d'Italia , while both San Sebastián and Bilbao have hosted Tour de France starts in the past.

Last year, Barcelona hosted an opening team time trial at the Vuelta, followed by a GC-neutralised hilly stage 2 won by Andreas Kron. The city also hosts the hilly closing stage of the Volta a Catalunya, while back in 2009 it hosted a Tour de France stage finish and start.

News of the agreement means that Grand Départs of the next three Tours de France are now set, with Lille hosting the start of the race in 2025 . The race will begin with two sprint stages and a punchy uphill finish, with stages 2 and 3 both bringing the potential for crosswinds by the North Sea.

With the 2026 Barcelona Grand Départ yet to be officially confirmed, nothing is yet known about how the race's opening days will pan out in terms of route planning.

However, with the race likely having to pass the mountain passes of the Pyrenees to return to France, an early mountain stage could be on the cards, a la stage 4 of this year's race, which crosses the Alpine border from Italy, passing the high-mountain climbs at Sestriere, the Col de Montgenevre, and the Col du Galibier before a descent into Valloire.

Unlike the Tour, the starts of future editions of the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España have yet to be announced. The Spanish race will this year kick off with three stages in neighbouring Portugal, while a start in Monaco has been rumoured for the 2025 edition.

Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič climb through Montjuïc Park above the city of Barcelona at the 2024 Volta a Catalunya

topshot cycling fra tdf2020 stage20

Why Primož Roglic’s Tour de France Defeat Was So Damn Soul-Crushing

“It’s hard not to get emotionally invested in these flawed human beings who begin to resemble so much more than just some guys on a bicycle.”

Over the course of the past few days, I have tried to pinpoint exactly why Roglič’s defeat, which has a handful of historical precedents in cycling, seems so acutely devastating. There are upsets in the Tour de France every single year, and the laundry list of tragedies ranges from doping scandals to simple misfortune. In fact, the inevitability of tragedy is part of the unique Romanticism of cycling, a sport that combines every single literary conflict—man vs. himself vs. nature vs. machine vs. man—into a cocktail of the profane and the sublime.

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While there is the more obvious comparison to the 1989 Tour de France LeMond-Fignon scenario (in which Laurent Fignon agonizingly loses the Tour to LeMond by eight seconds in the final time trial), I actually think, emotionally speaking, the closest parallel to what happened in this year’s Tour is the infamous battle between teammates Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault in 1986. By the end of Stage 20, LeMond had made up an over four minute time deficit to unseat Hinault, a five-time Tour winner who was the overwhelming favorite in the court of public opinion (especially in France). Despite the odds that Hinault could come back by way of an aggressive effort in the final time trial, his fate was sealed. It was Hinault’s final Tour before retirement, and at the same time, the much younger LeMond’s victory made him the first American to win the yellow jersey.

This story is famous, partly because it has many of the same elements present in the Roglič-Pogačar conflict: a much younger rider unseating a heavily favored compatriot (in the LeMond case, from the same team rather than from the same nation) in the twilight hours of the Tour, with world-historic consequences in terms of inaugurating a specific country’s legacy within the sport. And yet, as much as the French public wanted Hinault to win, as much as Hinault wanted to win the Tour in his final effort before he threw in the towel, this story is still so much less heartbreaking than the one we experienced on Saturday, September 19th, 2020, not because of what happened but because of who was involved.

tour de france

It’s incredibly difficult to not use sport as some kind of metaphor for one’s own life or as a synecdoche for a particular place such as one’s nation, college, or hometown and all of the experiences and identities encompassed within. It’s hard not to see oneself in the struggles of others. It’s hard not to get emotionally invested in these flawed human beings who begin to resemble so much more than just some guys on a bicycle. In many ways, Primož Roglič is such a special cyclist because his story, which is unique among professional racers, straddles many different axes of human experience including desire, failure, redemption, and resilience.

The story is well known . Roglič, born to average parents in Kisovec, a small coal mining town in the post-Communist country of Slovenia, started out as a ski jumper. By all means, he was talented: He won several Slovenian youth titles and later medals in bigger events such as the World Junior Championships. A devastating crash in 2007 marked a significant shift in his skiing career, and by the time he was 21, the young skier could not, despite years of dedicated effort after emerging as a talent early in adolescence, secure a spot at the top of the sport.

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At the age of 22, he bought his first racing bike and decided to take up cycling. He won a number of small gran fondos and amateur races before reaching out to the UCI Continental team Adria Mobil, who took a chance on him. Roglič began to more publicly display his emerging talent, and after several strong performances (including winning the Tour of Slovenia in 2015), he was noticed by a recruiter who got in touch with staff at the Dutch UCI WorldTour team Jumbo-Visma. (For those of you in the know, Jumbo-Visma is the latest iteration of Rabobank, which for decades had been considered one of cycling’s strongest teams.) The rest is history.

If you watch interviews of Roglič, you will see a soft-spoken man who keeps to himself, displaying little of the self-assured cockiness natural to cyclists at the pro level. At 30, he is still somewhat early in his career compared to those of similar age, partially because he started out relatively late. Despite his four years of success as a WorldTour professional, one gets the sense that Roglič is continuously, quietly surprised by where he’s at in life. All of these things make him a unique figure in contemporary cycling, which has revolved around training a select few teenagers in intensive development schools to race grand tours by the time they are 21.

tour de france

We want to believe in Roglič because we want to believe that one can fail—utterly, abjectly—at what one chooses to do as a young person and still go on to succeed at the highest possible level in something else, something previously unexpected. We want to believe that, despite being from humble circumstances, we too can ascend the ranks and achieve great things—that there is still a chance we can realize our deepest desires, our hidden potential. We want to believe that the greatest victories of our lives can come after we turn 30; that a lack of precociousness (whether real or as perceived by others) in our youth or adolescence—the time during which adults intervene to cultivate our talent into a budding career—does not stop us from fighting our way into the recognition we deserve. We want to believe that an outsider, completely isolated from the connections and machinations and politics of a given field, can become that field’s greatest champion.

At once, we realize that we see sport as some kind of grand narrative that allows us to believe in miracles.

It is a bit unfair to say that what we are talking about strictly follows the same, tired narratives of meritocracy because the victory of Tadej Pogačar better embodies that specific construct. Pogačar’s success fits a familiar meritocratic pattern of sports triumph: his talent being recognized, cultivated, after which—through sheer strength of will and despite his youth and lackluster team—he achieves his glory against all odds. The core of the emotional investment in Roglič’s story lies not in his success by way of sheer effort due to some kind of superhuman talent—but in his redemption, as a man no longer young, from failure. The desire to see Roglič win doesn’t come from wanting to see him overpower his competition in spite of a past that defies cycling’s norms (though that is a part of it), but rather from our need to believe that we live in a world that allows us the security and opportunity to do something else with our lives when what we’ve originally chosen doesn’t pan out. This is why the narrative’s emphasis is placed on Roglič’s past as a skier rather than his humble beginnings to working-class parents in a developing country.

Roglič’s loss exposes us to reality: like the myth of meritocracy, the idea that we have the opportunity in our contemporary capitalist society, with all of its entrenched racism, classism, sexism, ableism, ageism—a number of ever-depressing isms—to reach our full potential or follow our dreams at all, much less later in life, is exactly that—a myth. It especially touches on our existing anxieties about age: that the further away from youth we get, the less relevant we are, the less competent we are able to become, the less special our achievements seem.

107th tour de france 2020   stage 20

The strength of his team and how they dominated the race reminds us that no matter how secure we feel—regardless of the fact that we’ve done everything right—we will never be able to fully insure against all possibilities, make the future any less frighteningly enigmatic, or, quite simply, prevent bad things from happening to us. At once, we realize that we see sport as some kind of grand narrative that allows us to believe in miracles, in romantic ideals of individual or collective triumph over the body and the mind and society; in role models whose struggles offer us the sublimation of our deepest desires and transport us—for a little while—away from the quotidian bullshit of our lives.

Even in defeat, figures like Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, Thibaut Pinot, and now Primož Roglič are transformed from mortal men into literary figures, albeit of a more tragic, existential nature. This literary element in cycling has meant its history is written in captivating, fascinating ways, often focusing more on grand, poetic narratives rather than records of individual wins and losses. In a cruel irony, it still remains to be seen whether or not we will remember Tadej Pogačar 50 years from now. Indeed, one must also ask the same question of Roglič, had he won. However, it is all but inevitable that the story of Primož Roglič’s last-second abdication of the 2020 Tour de France, one of the purest examples of cycling’s taste for dramatic cruelty and poetic injustice, will never be forgotten.

Kate Wagner is an architectural and cultural critic whose writing can be found in a variety of publications including The New Republic , The Baffler , and The Atlantic . She rides, with utter devotion, a 2000 Bianchi Volpe.

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Taylor Swift Eras tour adds Tortured Poets Department and combines Folklore and Evermore eras – as it happened in Paris

Join us live as the epic show begins again at La Défense Arena in Paris

  • Read more: Taylor Swift debuts new tracks as she returns to The Eras Tour
  • 2d ago End Game
  • 2d ago The missing songs
  • 2d ago Eras Tour Europe: the new setlist
  • 2d ago First Europe show ends
  • 2d ago On to Midnights...
  • 2d ago It's the acoustic set
  • 2d ago Taylor moves to I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
  • 2d ago Taylor sings The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
  • 2d ago Taylor sings Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
  • 2d ago Taylor performs But Daddy I Love Him
  • 2d ago Taylor moves to The Tortured Poets Department
  • 2d ago On to 1989!
  • 2d ago Evermore and Folklore eras combined.
  • 2d ago On to Folklore
  • 2d ago Another shift, with several Folklore songs skipped
  • 2d ago Reputation
  • 2d ago Another change: Long Live skipped
  • 2d ago Taylor sings epic 10-minute All Too Well
  • 2d ago International crowd in Paris
  • 2d ago Moving on to the Red era
  • 2d ago Second setlist change: Red instead of Evermore!
  • 2d ago Taylor moves to Fearless era
  • 2d ago First setlist change…
  • 2d ago Lover Era
  • 2d ago Taylor Swift appears on stage
  • 3d ago How will tonight’s performance differ from earlier performances?
  • 3d ago Paramore on stage
  • 3d ago 'The tour will be different,' Paris arena official says
  • 3d ago French fans in the merch line
  • 3d ago Welcome to the blog

Taylor Swift on stage at the Paris La Défense Arena, France, as the Eras tour reaches Europe.

Eras Tour Europe: the new setlist

Will this be the new lineup for this leg of the show? Time will tell, but here’s what we witnessed in Paris tonight.

Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

Cruel Summer

You Need to Calm Down

You Belong With Me

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

I Knew You Were Trouble

All Too Well (10-minute version)

… Ready For It?

Don’t Blame Me

Look What You Made Me Do

Folklore/Evermore

Now combined as one Era

champagne problems

illicit affairs

my tears ricochet

Blank Space

Shake It Off

Wildest Dreams

The Tortured Poets Department

But Daddy I Love Him

So High School

Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

Surprise songs

Paris (from Midnights)

loml (from TTPD)

Lavender Haze

Midnight Rain

Vigilante Shit

Lili Bayer

Thanks so much to everyone who followed the blog, to the fans in Paris who shared their thoughts throughout the day and to the readers who sent tips. It’s been a memorable evening.

Special thanks to the Guardian’s head of digital (live) Claire Phipps , a fellow Swiftie.

You can read more about tonight’s show here:

Taylor has three more nights at Paris La Défense Arena before heading to Stockholm, Lisbon and Madrid in the coming weeks.

1/4 ✅ Thank you @taylorswift13 🥹💖 #ParisTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/KKF3X4rlUA — Paris La Défense Arena (@ParisLaDefArena) May 9, 2024

The missing songs

To make way for seven new performances of songs from The Tortured Poets Department, some songs that previously were staples of the Eras tour weren’t there tonight and presumably have now disappeared from the setlist … for now.

The Archer (from Lover era)

Long Live (from Speak Now era)

the 1 (from folklore era)

the last great american dynasty (from folklore era)

’tis the damn season (from evermore era)

tolerate it (from evermore era)

Thanks to Phoebe Woodward for compiling this list.

Catch up here on Taylor’s performance of the song Paris… in Paris!

🚨| Taylor Swift performing "Paris" for the first time ever in Paris! #ParisTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/eQOCYAAm6p — The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) May 9, 2024

Fans will certainly be analysing this evening’s performance for some time.

New setlist, new performances, new outfits – while some songs were cut.

First Europe show ends

“I love you so much,” Taylor tells the crowd in the Paris arena, closing the first night of the Europe leg of her Eras tour, where she revamped her setlist and performed new music for the first time.

Taylor is singing Karma.

‘Cause karma is my boyfriend Karma is a god Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend Karma’s a relaxing thought Aren’t you envious that for you it’s not? Sweet like honey, karma is a cat Purring in my lap ‘cause it loves me Flexing like a goddamn acrobat Me and karma vibe like that

We’re on the last song :(

“This has been an unforgettable night in Paris, we love you so much!” Taylor tells the audience.

We’re close to the end of the show…

Taylor is now singing Mastermind. Love these lyrics:

What if I told you none of it was accidental And the first night that you saw me, nothing was gonna stop me? I laid the groundwork and then, just like clockwork The dominoes cascaded in a line

“So on the weekends She don’t dress for friends Lately she’s been dressing for revenge”

She’s moved to Vigilante Shit.

And here’s footage from the earlier TTDP set:

🚨| Taylor Swift performing "The Smallest Man Who Ever Liver" on 'The Eras Tour' #ParisTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/c4OI2lkcl9 — The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) May 9, 2024

Midnight Rain is up now.

“It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me At tea time, everybody agrees I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero”

  • Taylor Swift

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Max Set for June Launch in France With Prime Video, Canal+ Distribution Deals

By Elsa Keslassy

Elsa Keslassy

International Correspondent

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House of the Dragon

Warner Bros. Discovery will launch its streaming service  Max  in France on June 11 with distribution deals with Canal+ and Prime Video , ahead of the start of the Olympic Games on July 26.

The launch in France will follow Max’s rollout in 22 countries across the Nordics, Iberia, Central and Eastern Europe on May 21. Under the agreements, the standalone service will be available on all platforms, including on set-top boxes for Prime Video and Canal+ subscribers.

Popular on Variety

Under its deal with Prime Video, Max will have two different offers: Max Basic priced at €5.99 per month, and Max Standard, without advertising, priced at 9.99€ per month. The Sports-Add option, meanwhile, will be available for an extra €5. It will showcase major international and European sports, including tennis tournaments such as the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, The Championships, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open; cycling with the Giro d’Italia, La Vuelta a España and the Tour de France; in addition to the Tour de France Femmes, 24 Hours of Le Mans and every major winter sports World Championship and World Cup events.

Warner Bros. Discovery and Prime Video partnered last year to launch an offer called Warner Pass , which was available exclusively on  Amazon Prime Video  Channels in France and boasted all of HBO’s programs, along with 12 channels. While the Warner Pass will dissolve, its subscribers will now be able to access Max at no extra cost.

Besides the Olympics, Max’s European launches will also coincide with the premiere of Season 2 of HBO’s “House of the Dragon” on June 17.

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Taylor Swift's European Eras Tour leg kicked off in Paris with a new setlist. See which songs are in and out.

May 9, 2024 / 8:24 PM EDT / CBS/AFP

Taylor Swift fever struck Paris on Thursday as the highest-grossing tour in history finally arrived in Europe, with fans treated to the first-ever performance of songs from her latest album.

The Eras Tour began its European leg with four dates at the La Defense Arena in Paris.

"I wish I could have toured Europe more. This is a dream crowd," the 34-year-old megastar told the ecstatic audience.

There were deafening shrieks as images of typewriter sheets indicated that songs off the new album "The Tortured Poets Department" were starting late in the show.

Emerging in a lyrics-covered dress, she ran through several of the darker new tracks starting with "But Daddy I Love Him" and "Fortnight", a particularly furious rendition of "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" and an elaborate "I Can Do it with a Broken Heart," with a golden-era Hollywood dance routine.

Other "The Tortured Poets Department" songs performed included "So High School," "Down Bad" and "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived," according to ETonline .

Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour - Paris, France

"You were the first crowd to see songs from 'The Tortured Poets Department'," she said, before adding: "Or, as I like to call it, 'Female Rage: the Musical.'"

That was a dream come true for many in the audience.

"I've been so excited for so long, I can't believe it's actually happening," said 11-year-old Emma, who had flown in with her mother from New York.

Adding songs from "The Tortured Poets Department" wasn't the only change to the show and its 45-song setlist.

Perhaps the biggest change, according to ETonline, is the "Folklore" and "Evermore" setlists were combined, cutting four songs across the two albums: "'Tis the Damn Season," "Tolerate It," "The 1" and "The Last Great American Dynasty."

"On the Eras Tour, we have now reunited the sisters, combined them into one chapter," Swift said, according to video posted to social media. "You can call it "Folklore, Evermore" or you can call it the Sister Albums! You can call it whatever you want as long as you promise to sing 'Champagne Problems' with me."  

"The Archer" was removed from the "Lovers" portion of the show and "Long Live" was cut from the "Speak Now" era setlist, according to ETonline.

One of the secret songs was, fittingly, the "Midnights" bonus track "Paris."  

Parts of the show were also rearranged to make room for the newest era. The "Red" era was moved from the fifth to the third slot, according to ETonline, and the newest album was introduced following the "1989" set.

Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour - Paris, France

The venue said a fifth of the crowd were from the United States — many attracted by Europe's rules against charging huge mark-ups on resale tickets that can save Americans thousands of dollars compared with shows at home.

Georg'Ann Daly decided to celebrate her 23rd birthday with the Paris show. It meant flying from Nashville to Chicago to London and catching the Eurostar to Paris.

"I've always been obsessed with Taylor Swift," she told AFP.

A handful of superfans camped out from Tuesday in Paris to ensure they got a prime spot.

"I didn't plan to, but I came to check it out and I saw the first tents and I panicked a little," said Chris, 30.

Noah, 20, is seeing all four Paris concerts — he used 22 email addresses to get through the lottery system and secure the tickets.

FRANCE-MUSIC-AUDIENCE-TAYLOR-SWIFT

After wrapping up her run in Paris, Swift will head for dates in Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland and Austria.

The Eras Tour has worked its way across North and South America and Asia since starting in March 2023.

By the end of the year, it had already become the first to sell more than $1 billion in tickets and is on track to more than double that by the time it concludes in Vancouver this December.

Swift's popularity shows no sign of dimming — the new album sold 1.4 million copies on its first day and broke every streaming record , reaching a billion streams on Spotify within five days.

Swift's tell-all dissections of her love stories have been the fuel powering her global domination, and fans have been poring over "The Tortured Poets Department" for cryptic clues about ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, her short-but-dramatic fling with Matty Healy (lead singer of The 1975), and her current partner, American football star Travis Kelce.

"Taylor talks about toxic relationships, impossible love, politics, mental health, and so much more," said Chris as she waited by her tent for the big moment. "I think we can all find a song that resonates with our experiences." 

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What to Know About Xi Jinping’s Trip to Europe

The Chinese president this week will be visiting France, Serbia and Hungary. His trip comes at a time of tensions with many European countries over trade and accusations of Chinese espionage.

  • Share full article

Guards line a red carpet next to an Air China plane.

By Emma Bubola

This week, for the first time in five years, President Xi Jinping of China is visiting Europe, with stops in France, Serbia and Hungary.

Mr. Xi’s trip comes at a time of tensions with many European countries over China’s support for Russia in the face of its war in Ukraine, its trade practices and its apparent espionage activities . The trip will also test Europe’s delicate balancing act between China and the United States.

Mr. Xi hopes to head off a trade war with the European Union as frictions rise over exports of Chinese electric vehicles and diminished market access for European companies in China. Mr. Xi will also encourage President Emmanuel Macron of France to pursue greater autonomy from the United States in a bid to weaken Washington’s global dominance.

Here is what we know about Mr. Xi’s trip, which began Sunday.

What is the significance of Mr. Xi’s itinerary?

The three countries Mr. Xi will be visiting, experts say , to varying degrees embrace China’s push for a redefined global order. All have to some extent questioned America’s postwar ordering of the world, and are eager to bolster ties with Beijing.

Hungary has close ties to China and is keen to attract Chinese investments in areas like electric car and battery manufacturing as Chinese producers expand beyond Asia. Serbia, too, has warm relations with Beijing and has secured billions of dollars in Chinese investment.

Mr. Xi’s first stop is France, where Mr. Macron recently said that Europe “must never be a vassal of the United States,” and has cast France as a bridge between the “Global South” and Western powers.

Despite his courting of Beijing, Mr. Macron has said he is still closer to its ally, the United States, than to China.

“I prefer to choose my relationship with the United States, with China, rather than have it imposed on me by one of the two parties, either pushing me in one direction or pulling me in the other,” he said in an interview with The Economist magazine. But, he added: “Very clearly, we are not equidistant. We are allies of the Americans.”

Before Mr. Xi’s visit, Chinese diplomats expressed hopes that ties between France and China would be at the forefront of China’s relations with the West .

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive branch, joined talks on Monday with Mr. Xi and Mr. Macron in Paris.

This year is also a symbolic one for China and the three countries.

It is the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France and the 75th of those with Hungary.

This year is also the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, during the Kosovo war, which killed three Chinese journalists and set off angry protests at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Chinese authorities have continued to point to the bombing as a sign of NATO aggression and an example of why Russia was justified in feeling threatened before it decided to invade Ukraine.

When was the last time Mr. Xi visited Europe?

Mr. Xi’s last European visit was in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, which he spent hunkered down in China, leaving the country’s borders for the first time in the fall of 2022 .

The 2019 trip included a flashy ceremony in Rome to celebrate Italy’s participation in China’s Belt and Road global infrastructure project, which is aimed at expanding China’s influence abroad. France rolled out the red carpet for Mr. Xi in Paris and signed more than a dozen commercial and governmental treaties worth billions of euros, even as Mr. Macron warned that “China plays on our divisions” and that “the period of European naïveté is over.”

Mr. Xi also visited Greece , where he pledged his support to the country in its struggle with Britain to obtain the Parthenon sculptures known as the Elgin Marbles .

How is the relationship between Europe and China?

Since Mr. Xi’s last visit, there has been a widening rift in the relationship between China and much of Europe. The coronavirus pandemic , Beijing’s embrace of Russia and its repression of ethnic minorities, and a surge in Chinese exports have generated backlashes against China in many European countries.

China has quintupled car shipments to foreign markets in recent years, and the European Union has recently adopted a more confrontational tone over China’s trade practices. E.U. authorities have opened an investigation that could result in limits on Chinese solar exports, and have taken preliminary steps toward restricting trade with Chinese goods that include electric cars, wind turbines and medical devices.

Italy has also told China that it would no longer participate in its Belt and Road Initiative, and last month, six people in Europe were charged with spying for China in the span of a week, in a sign that European countries are stepping up their response to Chinese espionage.

At the same time, European nations vary in their views on how to engage with Beijing and benefit from economic opportunities there, and some are fearful of any imposition of European tariffs.

Mr. Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany also think that China’s leverage will be critical in bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.

David Pierson contributed reporting from Hong Kong, and Aurelien Breeden from Paris.

Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in London, covering news across Europe and around the world. More about Emma Bubola

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    The way he pulled up suggests Anunoby will be out much longer than a game. The Panthers became the first team to sign their entire draft class, announcing Thursday that all seven picks are under contract. Follow the latest headlines from Tour De France 2023, including the full schedule, live stats & standings, and much more from NBC Sports.

  12. Tour de France

    Tour de France, the world's most prestigious and most difficult bicycle race.Of the three foremost races (the others being the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), the Tour de France attracts the world's best riders. Staged for three weeks each July—usually in some 20 daylong stages—the Tour typically comprises 20 professional teams of 9 riders each and covers some 3,600 km ...

  13. Vingegaard back on bike outside, hopeful for Tour defence

    Denmark's twice Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is back riding outside for the first time since his crash last month, and is hopeful of defending his title, the Team Visma-Lease a Bike ...

  14. Tour de France LIVE: Stage 10 updates & results

    Summary. Stage 10 - four categorised climbs. 148km from Morzine les Portes du Soleil to Megeve. Final climb 19km at average of 4%. Pogacar wears yellow jersey as race leader. Vingegaard second, 39 ...

  15. 2026 Tour de France all-but-confirmed to start in Barcelona

    The Tour de France is set to welcome its fourth Grand Départ in five years in 2026 with Barcelona all-but-confirmed to host the start of the race in two years. Following Grand Départs in the ...

  16. Jonas Vingegaard wins the 2023 Tour de France

    Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) sailed through the final stage of the 2023 Tour de France to be crowned overall champion for the second year in a row. Pogačar added to his reputation as the ...

  17. Primož Roglic's Tour de France Defeat

    While there is the more obvious comparison to the 1989 Tour de France LeMond-Fignon scenario (in which Laurent Fignon agonizingly loses the Tour to LeMond by eight seconds in the final time trial ...

  18. Come to the Tour

    Official games. PRO CYCLING MANAGER 2023 (PC) TOUR DE FRANCE 2023 - VIDEO GAMES (PC, XBOX ONE, PS4 & PS5) Fantasy by Tissot. Cycling Legends (iOS, Android) - Official Mobile Game.

  19. Taylor Swift Eras tour adds Tortured Poets Department and combines

    Email us at [email protected]. LIVE Updated 2m ago. 2m ago. Welcome to the blog. Taylor Swift's epic Eras Tour reaches Europe this week, beginning with four nights in Paris. Photograph ...

  20. Max Set for June Launch in France With Prime Video, Canal+ Deals

    Warner Bros. Discovery will launch its streaming service Max in France on June 11 with distribution deals with Canal+ and Prime Video, ahead of the start of the Olympic Games on July 26.. The ...

  21. Tour de France 2022: Results & News

    Stage 2 - Tour de France: Fabio Jakobsen wins crash-marred sprint stage 2 in Nyborg | Roskilde - Nyborg. 2022-07-02199km. Results|Live report|Contenders. Stage 3 - Tour de France: Groenewegen wins ...

  22. China's Xi Jinping Begins Europe Tour in France as Macron Seeks to

    May 5, 2024 at 7:16 PM PDT. Listen. 3:28. President Xi Jinping has arrived in France to begin talks aimed at stabilizing China's relationship with Europe, as he tries to perform damage ...

  23. Taylor Swift's European Eras Tour leg kicked off in Paris with a new

    The Eras Tour began its European leg with four dates at the La Defense Arena in Paris. "I wish I could have toured Europe more. This is a dream crowd," the 34-year-old megastar told the ecstatic ...

  24. What to Know About Xi Jinping's Trip to Europe

    This week, for the first time in five years, President Xi Jinping of China is visiting Europe, with stops in France, Serbia and Hungary. Mr. Xi's trip comes at a time of tensions with many ...