Tour de France 2019 route: Day-by-day breakdown, maps, profile, final kilometre of every stage

The 2019 Tour de France route looks high and hard, with a crucial summit in the opening week

The 2019 Tour de France has been labelled the highest in history with five summit finishes and plenty of brutal climbs dotted through the Pyrenees and the Alps.

The final three stages are particularly eye-catching, all climbing high into the sky over the Alpine mountains, and whoever wins this particular edition will have to reach deep into the lungs when the air gets thin.

While there are fewer hors categorie climbs than last year’s race, there are plenty more category twos and threes designed to encourage aggressive riding and entertaining viewing.

Crucial in the opening week could be the finish on top of La Planche des Belles Filles (The Plank of Beautiful Girls), where Chris Froome won in 2012 and Vincenzo Nibali won in 2014.

That stage six climax looks set to be the perfect moment for one of the big GC contenders to make their mark and take control of the yellow jersey.

Take a look through our stage-by-stage guide above to see how the 2019 race route unfolds.