Tour de France stage guide: Adam Yates profiles 2020 race stages

Adam Yates' best Tour finish is fourth in 2016, when he won the best young rider jersey

Tour de France
Dates: 29 August - 20 September
Coverage: Live text commentary on each stage on the BBC Sport website and app

This year's rescheduled Tour de France starts in Nice on Saturday and finishes in Paris on Sunday, 20 September.

The riders will tackle a particularly tough course, with plenty of unique touches, as they race 3,470km around France.

Britain's Adam Yates is targeting stage wins over general classification in his fifth Tour and has given BBC Sport his insight into each of the stages.

This page will be updated throughout the Tour with the winner and brief report after each stage has been completed.

Saturday, 29 August - stage one: Nice - Nice, 156km

Kristoff secured the yellow jersey with a superb sprint finish

Winner: Alexander Kristoff (Nor/UAE-Team Emirates)

Report: Kristoff wins first stage as several riders crash in rain

Alexander Kristoff timed his sprint finish to perfection to win the opening stage, with Mads Pedersen second and Cees Bol third. There were several crashes on wet roads, but Team Ineos' defending champion Egan Bernal largely avoided the trouble and finished safely in the peloton.

Sunday, 30 August - stage two: Nice - Nice, 186km

Julian Alaphilippe was the fastest finisher from the late attackers as the peloton closed quickly but ultimately too late

Winner: Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

Report: Alaphilippe rides into yellow with Yates second overall

Our Tour guide Adam was in with a shout of winning stage two after launching a late attack alongside Julian Alaphilippe and Swiss youngster Marc Hirschi.

In the end he did not have the legs in the final sprint, but his third place in Nice was enough to put him into second overall, four seconds behind effervescent Frenchman Alaphilippe.

Monday, 31 August - stage three: Nice - Sisteron, 198km

Caleb Ewan has won stages in all three Grand Tours

Winner: Caleb Ewan (Aus/Lotto Soudal)

Report: Ewan sprints to dazzling victory

As Adam said this was indeed a sprint finish, and one taken in spectacular fashion by Aussie speedster Caleb Ewan.

After Peter Sagan had led out from distance it looked like Irishman Sam Bennett was set for victory, but Lotto Soudal's Ewan came from deep, squeezed past a fading Sagan on the barriers and swooped around Bennett to win in sensational style.

Tuesday, 1 September - stage four: Sisteron - Orcieres-Merlette, 160.5km

Primoz Roglic secured his third Tour stage win on the 2020 edition's first summit finish

Primoz Roglic made a statement of intent with victory on the first summit finish of this year's race. The Slovenian's Jumbo-Visma team set the pace on the final climb before Roglic countered a late attack by Guillaume Martin to claim his third Tour stage win.

Despite Roglic's show of strength, most of the contenders did not lose any time, with Julian Alaphilippe retaining the yellow jersey and Adam Yates remaining second overall.

Winner: Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma)

Report: Roglic shows impressive form in summit finish win

Wednesday, 2 September - Stage 5: Gap - Privas, 183km

Adam Yates is the ninth different British rider to wear the yellow jersey

Our guide Adam Yates claimed the yellow jersey for the first time in his career in strange circumstances after Julian Alaphilippe was docked 20 seconds for taking a bottle off a team support member inside the final 20km of the stage.

It had been a quiet day until the finale, with unusually no breakaway forming, before Belgium's Wout van Aert underlined his all-round talents by beating the best sprinters in the race. Ireland's Sam Bennett finished third to take the green jersey off Peter Sagan.

Winner: Wout van Aert (Bel/Jumbo-Visma)

Report: Yates takes yellow after Alaphilippe penalised

Thursday, 3 September - stage six: Le Teil - Mont Aigoual, 191km

Alexey Lutsenko's only previous Grand Tour stage win came at the 2017 Vuelta a Espana

A strong eight-man group established a healthy lead early on before Kazakh champion Alexey Lutsenko steadily dropped the rest of his breakaway partners. The Astana rider rode the last 17km alone to take an impressive first Tour stage win.

Adam Yates comfortably retained the yellow jersey, with none of the contenders mounting any attacks, although Julian Alaphilippe sprinted late on to grab one second back.

Winner: Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz/Astana)

Report: Lutsenko wins first Tour stage as Yates stays in yellow

Friday, 4 September - Stage 7: Millau - Lavaur, 168km

Millau did not feature on the Tour for 28 years until 2018, when Magnus Cort won a stage that ended in Carcassonne

There could be a chance for high winds and we will always take a look at the weather before the start. If there are winds, there's a bit less stress for me with not going for general classification, but it's still important to be in a good position to avoid trouble. It's a difficult start straight into a category three climb, but again I think the sprint teams will want to control the stage and will work their sprinters back into the race.

Rider to watch: Sam Bennett (Ire/Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

Saturday, 5 September - stage eight: Cazeres-sur-Garonne - Loudenvielle, 141km

Cazeres has never hosted a Tour stage before

Stage eight and nine could offer opportunities for riders not focusing on general classification to go up the road and then we'll see two races, one for the stage win and one for the GC. Port de Bales is probably the hardest of the three climbs because of its length. The final selection will have been made on the Peyresourde, but good descending skills could come in advantage toward the line.

Rider to watch: Esteban Chaves (Col/Mitchelton-Scott)

Sunday, 6 September - stage nine: Pau - Laruns, 153km

The Tour visits Pau nearly ever year, while Primoz Roglic won a stage in Laruns in 2018

This weekend's stages are still difficult, even though they don't finish uphill, and this is definitely the hardest start to a Tour de France I've been involved in. Again, stage nine is a good day for the break and with a rest day the day after there'll be a lot of people willing to go deep in search of the stage victory.

Rider to watch: Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R La Mondiale)

Monday, 7 September - rest day: Carente-Maritime

Rest days are always welcome. I am a rider that likes to take it easy when the opportunity is there, so I'll just take an easy spin. The only difference this year is that we can't stop mid-ride for a coffee stop, we will have to take that inside the team's hotel 'bubble'.

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Tuesday, 8 September - stage 10: Ile d'Oleron - Ile de Re, 168.5km

Ile de Re has never featured in any major cycling race before

Wednesday, 9 September - stage 11: Chatelaillon-Plage - Poitiers, 167.5km

Poitiers has not held a stage finish since the 1978 Tour when Sean Kelly won stage six there

Thursday, 10 September - stage 12: Chauvigny - Sarran, 218km

Germany's Jens Voigt claimed his first stage win at Sarran in the 2001 Tour

Friday, 11 September - stage 13: Chatel-Guyon - Puy Mary, 191.5km

The Tour has visited the foot of Puy Mary 10 times but this is the first stage finish at the summit

Saturday, 12 September - stage 14: Clermont-Ferrand - Lyon, 194km

Lyon hosted the finish of the first stage of the first Tour in 1903, with Maurice Garin winning a 467km long race

Sunday, 13 September - stage 15: Lyon - Grand Colombier, 174.5km

The Grand Colombier has featured three times in the Tour - 2012, 2016 and 2017 - with the first rider over the summit going on to win the 'King of the Mountains' jersey each time

Monday, 14 September- rest day: Isere

Tuesday, 15 September - stage 16: La Tour-du-Pin - Villard-de-Lans, 164km

Villard-de-Lans was popular during Tours in the 1980s and 1990s, with Pedro Delgado going a long way to ensuring victory in the 1988 race by wining here

Wednesday, 16 September - stage 17: Grenoble - Meribel, 170km

The yellow jersey was introduced during the 1919 Tour and first worn by Eugene Christophe after a stage that finished in Grenoble

Thursday, 17 September - stage 18: Meribel to La Roche-sur-Foron, 175km

La Roche-sur-Foron is more known for skiing but hosted the start of a Dauphine Libere stage in 1988

Friday, 18 September - stage 19: Bourg-en-Bresse - Champagnole, 166.5km

Bourg-en-Bresse has often suited sprinters when used as a stage finish, with Thor Hushovd winning there in 2002 and Tom Boonen doing so in 2007

Saturday, 19 September - stage 20: Lure - La Planche des Belles Filles, 36.2km (Time trial)

Chris Froome made his first big impression at the Tour on La Plance des Belles Filles by claiming stage seven of the 2012 race, which team-mate Bradley Wiggins went on to win

Sunday, 20 September - stage 21: Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris, 122km

Caleb Ewan, Andre Greipel and Alexander Kristoff are the three former winners on the Champs-Elysees riding this year's Tour