tour de france 3d

How to create cool Tour de France-style 3D route videos from your Strava rides (video)

Relive.cc pulls data from your Strava rides to create amazing shareable videos

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You know those cool videos produced to show off the Tour de France route with a wiggly yellow line snaking its way across a Google Earth base map, going up and down as the race hits categorised climbs? Well wouldn't it be cool if you could do that for your own rides.

>>> The Strava app has received a major new update, but not everyone's happy about it

Now you can thanks to relive.cc , a website that connects with your Strava account to create Tour de France-style route videos based on your real-life rides.

Created by a Dutch trio consisting of a design engineer, data analyst, and software designer, the website is linked to your Strava account, sending you a video of each of your rides (or at least those longer than 20 minutes and 10 kilometres). Starting with the title of your ride, the video shows a line traversing the landscape matched with a ride profile at the top of the screen.

>>> Top 12 funniest Strava segment names

Along the way, the video shows the point of your top speed, maximum heart rate, maximum power, and the highest point on the ride, and also shows any geo-tagged photos that are linked to the Strava activity. At the end of the video, the camera then pans up to show your entire ride route as well as a few of the key stats. Pretty cool, eh?

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Henry Robertshaw began his time at Cycling Weekly working with the tech team, writing reviews, buying guides and appearing in videos advising on how to dress for the seasons. He later moved over to the news team, where his work focused on the professional peloton as well as legislation and provision for cycling. He's since moved his career in a new direction, with a role at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

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How We Made the 3D Tour de France Interactive

Webgl and gps data recreate an iconic stage of the race.

• interactive

By Andrew Mason

Posted on: September 16, 2015

In sports coverage, interactives can convey an event's intensity while also allowing the user to participate. As we considered an interactive for the Tour de France , we knew we wanted something fun and compelling, an interactive that would combine quality writing and photography with real-world data. So we thought about a 3D representation of the most grueling stage, Alpe D'Huez. It’s a 13.8 km climb up 21 hairpin bends to the finish at an altitude of 1,850 m. With some of the steepest climbs in the entire race, including an incline of 13 percent, Alpe D'Huez was the perfect choice for this type of interactive.

Exploring the Data

We started by exploring GPS data of the route by importing it into QGIS . QGIS is a powerful geographic tool for editing and manipulating geo-data. Once in QGIS , we could see the location and altitude information for the whole route. We also added a satellite imagery layer to provide context. As you can see below, the satellite layer allowed us to view the surrounding area from both a photographic and terrain perspective.

GPS data imported into QGIS

I began sketching out ideas on how to visualize the route. The challenge was to show the intensity of the climb while providing information in an intuitive way. By dividing the route up into a series of steps, I was able to focus on different aspect of the climb. I switched between QGIS and sketching to rough out a simple storyboard, which became the foundation of the interactive.

Next, I needed to frame the GPS route by choosing an area around it. The area needed to be close enough to keep focus on the route but distant enough to show off the dramatic inclines. With an area chosen, I could move on to creating the 3D model. For that, I needed NASA ’s help.

Obtaining Elevation Data

Creating the 3D terrain around Alpe D’Huez required digital elevation model ( DEM ) data. DEM is a representation of height information and often seen as grayscale heightmaps. NASA provides DEM data as radar topography imagery for free. I found the easiest way to get this information was through the Global Data Explorer website. You specify a region, choose a map type, and download the image.

The vertical height of terrain is obtained from the DEM layer. It’s important to note that if you are only using a small part of a larger DEM layer, then you'll only be using a small part of the full height range. Standardize the range by cropping the DEM to match the region of interest.

Once the DEM layer was imported into QGIS , I was ready to create the contours and the 3D terrain.

DEM heightmap of Alpe D’Huez

I generated contours using QGIS built-in raster tools and then saved them as a vector layer.

QGIS built-in contour generator

Generating 3D Terrain

Creating the 3D terrain required the use of a QGIS plug-in called Qgis2threejs . It uses the DEM layer to generate a 3D mesh that can be explored in the browser and downloaded. It can also use satellite imagery from the tile-map layer to create an image used to add color to the 3D model, also known as a diffuse map . With the Tour route, boundary, and tile map finalized, I saved out all the assets.

The diffuse map needed editing before we could use it. I applied color correction and scaled the image so that the dimensions were a power of two. While not essential, images in these dimensions take advantage of GPU optimizations and increased compatibility with older hardware.

Diffuse map color correction before and after

Optimizing 3D Terrain

To optimize the terrain, I needed to reduce the number of faces . Faces, also known as polygons, are small triangles that make up the surface of a 3D shape. The more faces a model has, the more detail it can show, but it comes at a price—file size and computation. Too many faces and you'll experience slowdowns and stuttering. We used the open-source tool Blender for optimizing.

After importing the 3D model, I could see it was made up of 6,000 faces. Applying a simplify filter allowed me to visually experiment with different face counts. I was able to reduce the face count by half without losing visual detail.

Reducing face count using a simplify modifier

UV  Mapping

UV maps are instructions to a 3D model about how to display an image texture. In this case, it was simple: the edges of the image texture matched the edges of the terrain. Blender is able to take the current 3D view and use that as the UV map. This meant I could view the terrain from above and choose from the Blender option “project from view” to get the UV  map.

UV  map

After previewing the textured model to ensure everything lined up correctly, it was time to export. The three.js Blender plug-in allows you to save scene and mesh data as JSON . With the model optimized, textured, and exported, it was time for the animations. You can experiment with precision values and using the JSON compressed format msgpack when exported to reduce file size.

Building the Steps

Each step in the storyboard needed to be made into a 3D scene. Transitioning between each scene would see the camera smoothly pan while objects changed. We used a tool called dat-gui which allows you to interact with object values easily and in real-time. The camera and objects’ values that made up each scene were saved into a JSON  file.

Modifying scene values using dat-gui

At this point there were scenes that could be switched between, but there was no animation. To transition between each step, tween.js was used. By tweening the object values stored in the current scene to the next, it was possible to create a smooth animation. During this process, I checked the interactive on mobile and desktop devices to ensure it “felt” right. If there were any issues with the transitions, I edited the JSON , previewed again, and re-saved.

Adding Labels

We used labels to show the hairpin bends and elevation along the route. WebGL doesn’t have a way to render text, but fortunately we can use HTML . Each label in the interactive is a styled HTML element positioned on top of the 3D layer. When the scene transitions, the position of each label is retrieved from the 3D scene, and added to the HTML with a CSS  style.

Initially, I used position:absolute to align the labels, but this caused browser repaints, lowering the frame rate, so I changed the alignment to transform: translate which offloads the work to the GPU . I also batched DOM edits together for additional performance improvements.

Labels are an HTML  element

Creating the Alternative Image Version

With the animations finalized, I could create an image-based alternative version. Creating a non–3D alternative was important because WebGL is still a new technology and browser support remains limited . The alternate version uses screenshots of the final frame from each 3D transition—for those without 3D support, the animated transitions are replaced with these screenshots, which fade in and out.

Alternative WebGL version using image fading

Adding Navigation

It was important for the navigation to be simple and intuitive. Large, colored buttons allow the user to navigate back and forth. Also, you can swipe and use the keyboard arrows as navigation, which is essential for accessibility and touch interfaces. We made the button target areas much larger than they appeared to the user as well, to prevent users from missing the button when tapping on a small screen.

We tested the interactive across all major browsers and devices, including the Guardian's native apps for iOS and Android. We would normally use BrowserStack, but it does not support WebGL—this is also true for a lot of virtual machines. Therefore, we had to rely on a combination of real devices and virtual machines.

The project launched on the morning of July 23, two days before the Alpe D'Huez stage. The reader response was very successful, with over 100,000 unique views in the first week. Device usage was 48% desktop, with the remaining 52% split between mobile, tablet, and native apps.

This was a fantastic project to work on, and it shows that 3D interactives can enhance the narrative of a story and engage the reader. While there remain challenges to overcome before these types of interactives become commonplace, it is another example of how 3D on the web has a bright future.

If you want to learn more about 3D and WebGL, there are lots of good resources available online. Udacity provides an introductory course called Interactive 3D Graphics that covers the theory and terminology. There is also a large collection of interactive WebGL examples to explore on GitHub.

The biggest lesson I learned during development was the importance of restraint. It’s easy to get carried away with the possibilities of interactives. We could have added video or allowed users to fly around the route but every addition requires more development and risks losing focus on the original idea. Restraint is even more important when developing 3D interactives. 3D isn’t just a third dimension, it’s a whole new knowledge domain. This interactive was kept deliberately simple but still required knowledge on camera properties, polygon counts, texture mapping, and more. Yet, if you keep things simple and use 3D to enhance an idea, it can be a great resource.

If you’re just getting started in this area, I’d advise you to experiment by creating small prototypes. Don’t worry about choosing the right tools or making things work on every device, as that comes later.

What’s important is exploring ideas quickly, iterating, and seeing what works and what doesn’t.

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Tour de France - 3D Presentation of 2023 route

The route for the 2023 Tour de France has been revealed at a ceremony in Paris. The 110th edition of the Grand Tour begins with three days in Spain as the peloton heads to Paris over three weeks and 21 stages.

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Stage 1 | 06/29 Florence > Rimini

Stage 2 | 06/30 cesenatico > bologne, stage 3 | 07/01 plaisance > turin, stage 4 | 07/02 pinerolo > valloire, stage 5 | 07/03 saint-jean-de-maurienne > saint-vulbas, stage 6 | 07/04 mâcon > dijon, stage 7 | 07/05 nuits-saint-georges > gevrey-chambertin, stage 8 | 07/06 semur-en-auxois > colombey-les-deux-églises, stage 9 | 07/07 troyes > troyes, rest | 07/08 orléans, stage 10 | 07/09 orléans > saint-amand-montrond, stage 11 | 07/10 évaux-les-bains > le lioran, stage 12 | 07/11 aurillac > villeneuve-sur-lot, stage 13 | 07/12 agen > pau, stage 14 | 07/13 pau > saint-lary-soulan pla d'adet, stage 15 | 07/14 loudenvielle > plateau de beille, rest | 07/15 gruissan, stage 16 | 07/16 gruissan > nimes, stage 17 | 07/17 saint-paul-trois-châteaux > superdévoluy, stage 18 | 07/18 gap > barcelonnette, stage 19 | 07/19 embrun > isola 2000, stage 20 | 07/20 nice > col de la couillole, stage 21 | 07/21 monaco > nice, tour culture, grand départ florence émilie-romagne 2024, grand départ lille-nord de france 2025, 2024 tour de france finale in nice, riding into the future, all the news, official tour operators, history of tour de france, accessories.

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Tour de France 2023

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Tour de france 2023 results.

Stage 21: Jonas Vingegaard crowned Tour de France champion in Paris / As it happened

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) won the Tour de France for the second  year in a row after finishing safely in the main field with his Jumbo-Visma teammates. Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) sprinted to victory on the Champs-Elysées, beating green jersey Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) by less than a tyre width to take his first stage victory of the Tour de France.

Vingegaard topped the general classification with a 7:29 ahead of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and 10:56 on Pogačar’s teammate Yates.

Stage 20: Tour de France: Pogacar rebounds to take stage 20 victory as Vingegaard seals his second overall title / As it happened

Rebounding after a disastrous stage 17 on Col de la Loze, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won the final mountain stage of the 2023 Tour de France. Crossing the line in third, with the same time, was Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) who is set to claim the overall victory for a second year, with just Sunday’s final parade stage to Paris left to race. Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën) was second on the stage. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), who delivered one final attack on his home roads to the delight of the huge crowds massing the roads, was caught on the final climb.

There were no changes in the top 3 on the general classification, Vingegaard, Pogačar and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) are set to be on the final podium. Fourth on the stage, Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) moved up to fourth overall.

Stage 19: Tour de France: Mohoric outsprints Asgreen in drag race to stage 19 finish / As it happened

There was no rest and little recovery on a wickedly fast stage 19 of the Tour, where the winning breakaway took 100 kilometres to go clear. Three riders attacked from the 36-rider move, with Matej Mohorič giving Bahrain Victorious their third stage win after Pello Bilbao on stage 10 and Wout Poels on stage 15. The GC contenders all came in together almost 14 minutes behind.

Stage 18: Tour de France: Kasper Asgreen seizes stage 18 victory from all-day breakaway / As it happened

Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) won the closing sprint on stage 18 of the Tour de France to hold off his breakaway companions and a surging peloton. After 185 kilometres at the front of the race with Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) and Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X), it came down to the final 200 metres to secure the win for Asgreen, leaving Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny), who had bridged across 58km earlier, in second and Abrahamsen third. 

There were no changes in the general classification on the largely-flat stage between Moûtiers to Bourg-en-Bresse, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) remaining in yellow.

Stage 17:   Tour de France: Vingegaard dashes Pogacar's GC hopes on stage 17 across Col de la Loze / As it happened

Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) attacked from a reduced front group with under 13km to go and held on for a solo victory across the Col de la Loze on stage 17 of the Tour de France. Race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) stamped his authority on the queen stage by dropping his main rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) on the final climb. Pogačar finished the stage 7:37 down – 5:45 behind Vingegaard – leaving him still in second place overall but a massive 7:35 back of the Dane.

Stage 16: Tour de France: Vingegaard removes all doubt, crushes Pogacar in stage 16 time trial / As it happened

After two weeks of racing for seconds, Jonas Vingegaard finally carved out a significant gap over second-placed Tadej Pogačar in the stage 16 time trial in Combloux. Vingegaard won the stage by 1 minute 38 seconds over his rival to extend his lead in the GC to 1:48.

Stage 15: Tour de France: Wout Poels blasts to blockbuster stage 15 solo victory / As it happened

The stalemate between Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) continued on the third mountainous day in a row at the Tour de France. The duo marked each other’s attacks on the final climb to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc and ultimately crossed the finish line together. Attacking from the break, Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) won stage 15 after an 11km solo ride to to claim his first Tour de France stage win.

Stage 14: Tour de France: Carlos Rodríguez strikes for win on stage 14 as Vingegaard gains valuable second on Joux Plane / As it happened

Rivals Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) continued their intense battle on the final climb on stage 14 of the Tour de France with the yellow jersey Vingegaard gaining one second in an evenly matched duel. Both riders used their respective teams to dispatch all the other riders before fighting it out on the Col de la Joux Plane. Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) took advantage of the situation to fly down the descent to take the win in Morzine, and move up to third overall.

Stage 13: Tour de France: Kwiatkowski wins stage 13 on Grand Colombier as Pogacar closes in on yellow / As it happened

The Tour de France overall standings remained neck-and-neck between leader Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar on stage 13, the second hors-categorie summit finish of the race. Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos) won the stage from the breakaway, while UAE Team Emirates burned up the team to set up Pogačar. Vingegaard was on guard and fended his rival off until the final metres, losing eight seconds total but keeping the maillot jaune.

Stage 12:   Tour de France: Ion Izagirre secures solo victory on frantic stage 12 / As it happened

Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) won stage 12 of the Tour de France with a solo attack 30km from the line in Belleville-en-Beaujolais. His long-range breakaway rewarded the Basque rider with his second career Tour win, the last one coming in 2016. Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) outsprinted Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) 58 seconds back to complete the podium. 

The hectic first half of the hilly 168.8km stage saw lots of attack, including Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who was rewarded as the most combative rider. There were no changes between the top GC leaders, with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) still in yellow and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) in second and in the best young rider jersey.

Stage 11: Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen flies to fourth sprint victory on stage 11 / As it happened

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) showed more blistering speed, proving himself the best sprinter of the Tour de France on stage 11 to Moulins even without any lead-out from Mathieu van der Poel.

It was a squeaky clean sprint from the Belgian who has endured a flood of hate-mail about his previous sprints.

Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) was the day's sole breakaway rider and caught with 13km to go. The GC standings remained the same as all of the contenders finished in the peloton.

Stage 10: Tour de France: Pello Bilbao scorches sprint from breakaway to win stage 10 / As it happened

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) out-sprinted Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën) to win stage 10 of the Tour de France on a sizzlingly-hot day. The Spaniard was part of the day's breakaway that brought six riders into Issoire, where he claimed the first stage victory of his career.

The breakaway gained 2:53 on the group containing race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) third-placed Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) to keep the top four in the GC standings the same.

Stage 9: Tour de France: Michael Woods triumphs with stage 9 victory atop Puy de Dôme / As it happened

The Tour de France reached the mythical ascent of the Puy de Dôme at the finish of stage 9 where Michael Woods (Israel Premier Tech) triumphed with the day's victory after being part of a large breakaway that gained upwards of 15 minutes on the main GC contenders during the stage.

On the upper slopes of the ascent, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) then surged with 1.5km to go, to put valuable seconds into Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). Vingegaard now leads Pogačar by 17 seconds in the battle for the yellow.

Stage 8: Tour de France: Mads Pedersen beats Jasper Philipsen to win crash-marred stage 8 / As it happened

Stage 8 was a highly anticipated day for the puncheurs, even so, Mark Cavendish had his sights set on a 35th career stage win at the Tour de France, but it wasn't meant to be as the Manxman crashed with 60km to go and forced to abandon the event.

In a chaotic finish to the hilly run-in to Limoges, which saw a late-race crash take down Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) stormed to the victory in a close sprint ahead of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma). Jonas Vingegaard finished safely in the field and carries the yellow jersey into stage 9 with a finish at Puy de Dôme.

Stage 7: Tour de France: Philipsen denies Cavendish, completes hat-trick in Bordeaux / As it happened

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) blasted across the line in Bordeaux to win stage 7 of the Tour de France, winning by one bike length over Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan). Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) finished third in the sprint.

For Philipsen, it was his third victory of the three sprint stages in the first week of the 2023 race. He bolted down the main avenue and passed Cavendish in the closing 50 metres, holding the Manxman's attempt at a record 35th Tour stage win  at bay.

Stage 6: Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar claws back time with victory at Cauterets / As it happened

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 6 with a massive attack across the final 2.7km and stormed back into the general classification mix. He distanced Jonas Vingegaard at the line at Cauterets by 24 seconds, while the Jumbo-Visma rider took the overall lead and yellow jersey away from Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), who was 2:39 back in sixth place. 

Vingegaard now has a 25-second advantage over rival Pogačar, while Hindley held the third spot in the overall, 1:34 back, after the massive 144.9km climbing day in the Pyrenees. 

Stage 5: Tour de France: Jai Hindley wins stage 5 as Vingegaard drops Pogacar in Pyrenees / As it happened

The first of the Pyrenean stages at the Tour de France had the potential to shake up the general classification, and it did just that as Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) went on a day-long attack, won stage 5 into Laruns and took the yellow leader's jersey in the process.

Hindley moved into the overall race lead by 47 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and 1:03 on Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), as Tadej Pogaçar (UAE Emirates) slipped to 6th now at 1:40 back.

Stage 4: Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen wins two in a row in crash-marred stage 4 / As it happened

There was no doubt who won stage 4 at the Tour de France, with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) securing his second-consecutive sprint stage win in Nogaro. A day for the sprinters ended in carnage, however, as several riders crashed along the motor speedway circuit that hosted the finish.

There were no changes to the overall classification as Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) finished in the field at the end of the 181.8km stage and will wear the yellow leader's jersey into stage 5.

Stage 3 - Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen wins stage 3 after impressive lead-out from Mathieu van der Poel / As it happened

Jasper Philipsen  (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rocketed across the line in a bunch sprint in Bayonne to win stage 3 of the 2023 Tour de France. A half a wheel behind, Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) claimed second and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) third.

All the general classification contenders, including Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) in the yellow jersey, finished safely in the field with no time changes after 193.5km from the hills of Spanish Basque territory to the roads of France.

Stage 2 - Tour de France: Victor Lafay gives Cofidis their first win since 2008 on stage 2 / As it happened

Victor Lafay (Cofidis) put in a stunning attack to claim stage 2 in San Sébastian. The Frenchman clipped off the front of a select group that formed after the Jaizkibel and stole the show from Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who won the sprint for second.

Tadej Pogačar added to his tally with a time bonus for third and also won the five bonus seconds atop the Jaizkibel ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). His teammate Adam Yates held the lead by six seconds.

Stage 1 - Tour de France stage 1: Adam Yates wins ahead of twin brother Simon in Bilbao / As it happened

Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 1 of the Tour de France in Bilbao, outsprinting his brother Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula)  after the duo escaped together after the final climb of the Pike. Adam Yates leads the general classification by 8 seconds over his brother, and 18 seconds over his teammate Tadej Pogačar who finished third on the stage.

Enric Mas (Movistar) abandoned the stage after crashing with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) with 23km to go. Carapaz ultimately crossed the line, over 15 minutes from Adam Yates. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) along with other contenders Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) are 22 seconds down overall.

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Tour de France 2023 route

The full 2023 Tour de France route was revealed at the official Tour de France presentation on 27th October .

The race starts across the border in the Basque Country, the first time the race has started there since 1992. A handful of hilly stages open the action before the race crosses the Pyrenees into France.

The route features only 22km of time trialling, all coming on the hilly stage 16. Four summit finishes also feature, including the Puy de Dôme for the first time in 35 years and the Grand Colombier in the Pyrenees.

The mountainous course brings a tough final week, concluding with a final showdown in the Vosges to Le Markstein on stage 20.

Tour de France 2023 contenders

2022 champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) will return to defend his title after dispatching two-time winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) last July. The Slovenian is racing after recovering from a fractured wrist in April, while Vingegaard starts off the back of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Other big-name GC men lining up at the start in Bilbao include David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Enric Mas (Movistar), Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious).

See: Tour de France 2023 – Analysing the contenders

Tour de France 2023 teams

The 2023 Tour de France will be made up of 22 teams, 18 WorldTour teams, the two top-ranked second-division teams, and two discretionary wild-card teams.

Lotto Soudal and TotalEnergies made the cut as the best ProTeams of 2022, while Israel-Premier Tech and Uno-X were chosen as the two wildcard teams for the 2023 Tour de France .

Tour de France 2023 schedule

Tour de france history.

Jonas Vingegaard is the reigning champion, having won his first Tour de France in 2022. The Danish rider denied Tadej Pogačar a trio of consecutive victories, the Slovenian having snatched the 2020 title before dominating the 2021 race. 

Pogačar himself broke a Ineos/Sky stranglehold on the race, with the British team having won seven of the previous eight Tours de France with Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and four-time winner Chris Froome . Vincenzo Nibali, then riding for Astana, was the other man to break the British squad's dominance with a win in 2014.

The Tour wins record is currently held by four men, with Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain all on five titles.

Peter Sagan getting once dominated the green jersey for the points classification but has been usurped in the past three years, with Wout van Aert establishing himself as the dominant man of all terrains in 2022. Sagan still holds the all-time green jersey record with seven wins in nine participations. Erik Zabel's six jerseys lie second, ahead of Sean Kelly's four.

In addition to his yellow jersey, Vingegaard won the polka-dot jersey for the mountains classification in 2022, as Pogačar did the previous two years.  Richard Virenque holds the record for polka dot jersey wins at seven, and it won't be beaten anytime soon as Pogačar and Rafał Majka are the only current riders to have won more than one king of the mountains title, with two.

Pogačar has won the white jersey for best young rider three years in a row and, at 24, is still eligible for a fourth crack in 2023.

Read on for a list of the riders with the most wins of the Tour de France, the most stage wins, as well as the major jerseys.

Most Tour de France overall wins

• 5 – Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain
• 4 –  Chris Froome
• 3 – Phiilippe Thys, Louison Bobet, Greg LeMond
• 2 – Lucien Petit-Breton, Firmin Lambot, Ottavio Bottecchia, Nicolas Frantz, André Leducq, Antonin Magne, Sylvère Maes, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Bernard Thévenet, Laurent Fignon, Alberto Contador, Tadej Pogačar
• 1 – Geraint Thomas , Egan Bernal , Jonas Vingegaard

Most Tour de France stage wins

• 34 – Eddy Merckx, Mark Cavendish
• 28 – Bernard Hinault
• 25 – André Leducq
• 22 – André Darrigade
• 20 – Nicolas Frantz
• 19 – François Faber
• 17 – Jean Alavoine
• 16 – Jacques Anquetiil, René Le Grevès, Charles Pélissiier ...
• 12 – Peter Sagan
• 11 – André Greipel
• 9 – Tadej Pogačar , Wout van Aert
• 7 – Chris Froome

Most Tour de France points classification/green jersey wins

• 7 –  Peter Sagan
• 6 – Erik Zabel
• 4 – Sean Kelly
• 3 – Jan Janssen, Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Robbie McEwen
• 2 – Stan Ockers, Jean Graczyk, André Darrigade, Laurent Jalabert, Thor Hushovd, Mark Cavendish
• 1 – Michael Matthews , Sam Bennett , Wout van Aert

Most Tour de France polka dot jersey/mountains classification wins

• 7 – Richard Virenque
• 6 – Federico Bahamontes, Lucien Van Impe 
• 3 – Julio Jiménez
• 2 – Felicien Vervaecke, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Charly Gaul, Imerio Massignan, Eddy Merckx, Luis Herrera, Claudio Chiappucci, Laurent Jalabert, Michael Rasmussen, Rafał Majka , Tadej Pogačar
• 1 – Nairo Quintana , Chris Froome , Warren Barguil , Julian Alaphilippe , Romain Bardet , Jonas Vingegaard

• 2023 Tour de France route
• Tour de France past winners
• Pogacar, Vingegaard and a duel far too close to call - Tour de France 2023 Preview

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3D Tour de France becomes an augmented reality

The city of pau has adopted ptc’s vuforia augmented reality (ar) authoring environment to spice up the visit of le tour des géants, an innovative open-air tour de france museum. opened on the 19th july, by the french president, the vuforia based app will offer visitors a fun and exciting experience whilst learning about past tour de france winners..

• 4 years ago Posted in

The city of Pau is part of stage 13 of the Tour de France. To celebrate the 100 th anniversary of the event it has enchanted the visitor experience of Le Tour des Géants, a museum, dedicated to the winners and those who have made the Tour de France famous with AR content. Located in the Bois Louis, the Tour des Géants naturally takes its place on the historic site of the first arrivals of the Tour de France and the former Pau velodrome, built in 1901. The yellow jersey, or the ‘maillot jaune’, is the most iconic jersey in cycling and is worn every day by the race leader. It is no coincidence that the same yellow is used for totem poles throughout the history tour, each one saluting the performance of each winner of the Tour de France cycling competition.

"Once visitors have downloaded the app, they can use their mobile devices to connect to each totem pole and relive the Tour de France,” said Thibault Chenevière, deputy Mayor of Pau in charge of the digital strategy. “As the Tour des Géants is an open-air museum, it was imperative that the augmented reality experience we were developing was able to operate in all weathers, whatever the brightness and whatever the mobile device used by visitors. PTC’s Vuforia, in addition to being compatible with Android or iOS, has a powerful ability to recognize totems in grey, very sunny weather, or in the evening darkness and display 3D information in a realistic and stable way".

PTC's Vuforia® solutions offer a multitude of possibilities to design augmented reality experiences and create highly effective interactive content in a totally autonomous way. They are characterized by a totally agnostic technology compatible with many platforms, equipped with an unparalleled computer vision system and powerful features

"We are pleased to be able to support the initiative of the city of Pau with our Vuforia solution,” said Olivier Helterlin, VP Sales - France Benelux and Switzerland & country officer of PTC France. “The general public will be able to rediscover the giants who have contributed to the reputation of the Tour de France through a fun and interactive

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 I've put this together purely as an art piece, hopefully to show off 3D printing as well as homage to Tour de France - The Tour de France is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally making passes...

Peugeot 104 Kickers Tour de France 1989

In honor of the Tour de France, here is a mini cyclist toy. It is based on user's "DanBot" design (www.thingiverse.com/thing:279143). I have just carefully spliced it two and lay it flat so it can be printed. I've added a folding tab on the...

In honor of the Tour de France, here is a mini cyclist toy. It is based on user's "DanBot" design (<a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:279143">www.thingiverse.com/thing:279143</a>).</p><p>I have just carefully spliced it two and lay it flat so...

I designed 3d-model of real tour-de-france bike.he bicycle's invention has had an enormous effect on society, both in terms of culture and of advancing modern industrial methods. Several components that eventually played a key role in the development...

A keyring with all the jerseys, ideal for the fans supporting Le Tour....Allez, Allez Instructions Printed on a single head printer. ...For the multi-coloured effect, pause at 2mm, 4mm, 6mm, and 7mm.

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2017 Tour de France elevation profiles. ... Print .pdf and overlay the 3D Print Made with http://gpxtruder.xyz/

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Tour Eiffel France Lithophane Les dimensions : 92mm X 77mm - - Make Simple

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Tour optimisée pour plus d'efficacité qu'un simple cube. ...Chaque "branche" doit faire 100mm (10cm).

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Saddles of the peloton: which models do Tour de France riders use to stay comfortable?

First Published Jul 12, 2023

What sort of saddle would you use if you were riding over 100 miles nearly every day for three weeks straight? Here are the saddles the pros choose, and they’re a varied bunch, to say the least.

We used to see quite a lot of pros on saddles from brands that weren’t sponsoring their team. They might find a favourite saddle and stick with it for years, blacking out the logos so as not to make it too obvious.

> Check out the best road bike saddles 2023 

This is far less common than it once was. Most brands now have extensive ranges and clever fit systems that are designed to cater for everyone. Plus, social media means that non-sponsored components are far less likely to slip under the radar.

That said, we did spot this saddle on one of Elmar Reinders' bikes. Team Jayco Alula officially use saddles from Giant and its Cadex brand, but there’s no 3D-printed option from those guys. This saddle looks like a £400  Fizik Vento Argo 00 Adaptive with a little bit of black tape covering the logo at the rear. Fair play, they’ve done it neatly enough, but the 3D structure gives the game away.

> Read our Fizik Vento Argo 00 Adaptive saddle review

There are more 3D-printed saddles in the pro peloton now than ever before. Brands say that the lattice structure allows cushioning and support to be finely tuned in different areas more than is possible with traditional construction methods.

Ineos Grenadiers use saddles from Fizik, including 3D options. Ben Turner’s Pinarello Dogma F road bike is fitted with this Vento Argo Adaptive saddle, the same model used by Elmar Reinders  (above) – but without the dark glasses and false moustache. It’s a short-nose saddle with a claimed weight of 175g.

Attila Valter of Jumbo-Visma prefers the Fizik Antares Versus Evo 00 Adaptive which features two separate 3D-printed pads that leave a channel down the centre of the saddle designed to relieve pressure on soft tissue.

This is a popular saddle in the pro peloton. AG2R Citroen’s Aussie rider Ben O’Connor, for example, uses the same model.

Edvald Boasson Hagen uses this Specialized S-Works Romin EVO with Mirror saddle , for example, as do many other riders on the Bora-Hansgrohe, Soudal Quick-Step and TotalEnergies teams.

> Check out our Specialized S-Works Romin Evo Mirror saddle review

Specialized claims there are 22,000 struts and 10,700 nodes (points where the struts join) per saddle. We'll take its word for that.

Specialized offers several 3D-printed saddles. Bora-Hansgrohe’s Ryan Mullen, who isn’t racing the Tour, had this S-Works Power with Mirror saddle on his time trial bike at the Critérium du Dauphiné, for example, with a carbon shell and rails.

> Here's our review of the Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror Saddle

Fizik and Specialized work with US company Carbon  for their 3D-printing, as does Selle Italia.

Carbon says, “Carbon Digital Light Synthesis (Carbon DLS) is a breakthrough resin-based 3D printing process that uses digital light projection, oxygen-permeable optics, and engineering-grade materials to produce polymeric parts with exceptional mechanical properties, resolution, and surface finish. The Carbon DLS process allows engineers and designers to iterate faster and radically reimagine their products by making possible consolidated parts, unmouldable geometries, and software-tunable lattices.”

A whole lot of tech goes into creating a comfy saddle these days.

Far from all riders take up the option of a 3D-printed saddle, though. David Gaudu (Groupama - FDJ), for example, goes for a fairly traditional-looking Prologo Nago Evo with Nack carbon rails to keep the weight down to a claimed 187g.

> Review: Prologo Nago Evo CPC saddle

EF Education-EasyPost uses Prologo saddles too. This is the Scratch M5 CPC on one of Richard Carapaz’s training bikes (hence the Ass Saver clip-on mudguard). Carapaz was forced to abandon the Tour after a crash on Stage 1.

The saddle upper is divided into various distinct sections. Prologo calls this its Multi Sector System (MSS) , the idea being that “active foam pads, separated from each other, create independent zones that work smartly and individually, favouring the natural movement of the pedalling phases both of pushing and pulling, absorbing the vibrations that the base transfers to the saddle”.

The cover features Prologo’s CPC technology which has been around for a few years now.

Prologo says, “The 3D polymer cones maximise the grip when assuming an aggressive position.”

CPC is used across various saddle platforms. This rider is using a Prologo Zero II with CPC panels, for example.

> Check out our Prologo Zero II PAS CPC Nack saddle review

Looking around the pro peloton, most riders prefer a hole or at least some form of channel in the centre of the saddle to avoid pressure in that area.

Movistar’s Enric Mas, for instance, uses a Fizik Vento Argo 00 short-nosed saddle  – the non-3D version – with low-bulk cushioning and a huge cutout in the centre.

Teammate Nelson Oliveira uses the longer Fizik Vento Antares 00 . That short white line that you can see in the middle of the saddle is used as a reference by the mechanics when they’re setting up bikes for the individual riders. It helps them get the measurements exactly right, and we all know how keen pro teams are when it comes to detail.

Current Tour de France race leader Jonas Vingegaard uses the same Fizik Vento Antares saddle. Even though it’s 270mm long, the claimed weight is just 118g.

Over at Soudal Quick-Step, Julian Alaphilippe opts for  Specialized’s S-Works Romin Evo with a similarly large cutaway section in the centre.

When we reviewed this saddle, we said it was brilliant for riders who favour a low, aero riding position. It’s the stiffest pedalling platform in Specialized’s range, and we loved that about it, but we know that some people prefer a bit more give.

> Check out our review of the Specialized S-Works Romin Evo saddle 

DSM-Firmenich ride Scott bikes and use many components from the Scott-owned Syncros brand, including saddles. The Belcarra is a popular choice and comes in various forms. This is the Belcarra V 1.0 Cut Out which is intended for flexible riders who tend to sit towards the front of the saddle.

Lotto Dstny’s climber Maxim Van Gils uses the Selle Italia SLR Boost Pro Team Kit Carbonio Superflow – which has to be about the longest saddle name out there – on his prototype Ridley.

The SLR has been around in various forms for many years. This model has carbon rails while the ‘Superflow’ part of the name refers to the large cutout that reduces pressure on the perineum.

The Specialized Power saddle shape is well-liked at Bora-Hansgrohe. Irish rider Sam Bennett (who isn’t riding the Tour de France) foregoes the usual carbon-fibre rails in favour of hollow titanium. This looks like the Specialized Power Expert  (£115) that’s less than half the price of the top-level S-Works model  (£240). It’s a little heavier too but some riders prefer metal rails for resilience in the event of a crash.

> Read our review of the Specialized Power Expert Saddle

This Astana rider has opted for a Proxim W650 Performance saddle rather than one of the more popular models from Prologo’s range. The rails are made from TiroX which is a form of steel. In this 145mm width, the saddle comes in at a claimed 220g. That’s not exactly heavy but it’s an unusual choice in the pro peloton when Prologo offers options that are considerably lighter.

Something like this Prologo Dimension shorty saddle with Nack carbon rails on the bike of Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) is a more common selection. Prologo claims a weight of 155g for this one and the one we reviewed hit the road.cc Scales of Truth at 157g... so we’ll give ’em that.

> Review: Prologo Dimension Nack Saddle

UAE Team Emirates' Adam Yates uses a Prologo Dimension Space 153 with Nack carbon rails.

It sits on top of a superlight seatpost from Darimo .

This Prologo Scratch M5 PAS on an Intermarché bike is superlight at 134g. PAS stands for Perineal Area System and it’s Prologos take on a channel designed to avoid pressure.

We mentioned earlier that Jayco’s Chris Harper is using a thinly disguised Fizik saddle but the rest of the team are all using sponsor-correct options from Giant/Cadex. Sprinter Dylan Groenewegen uses this Cadex Boost shorty saddle , for example, which uses what the brand calls ETPU Particle Flow technology for cushioning. Essentially, that means there are pockets under the microfibre cover and foam within them can mould to the rider’s anatomy.

> Read our review of the Cadex Boost Saddle  

This Jayco rider is using the Giant Fleet SLR saddle which also uses the Particle Flow system. It’s another short-nosed option. When we reviewed it, we said the Giant Fleet SLR was comfortable, supportive, and nicely priced at £129.99.

> Check out our review of the Giant Fleet SLR saddle 

The neutral service bikes – which riders can use if their own bike fails and there’s no team car around to provide a substitute – are fitted with Stealth saddles from Shimano’s Pro brand. This looks like a model with stainless steel rails . 

Each neutral service bike is fitted with a quick-release seatpost clamp that allows the rider to get a saddle height that’s there or thereabouts.

Many riders use a standard saddle on their time trial bikes but others go for a TT-specific option because the pelvis is tilted further forward than on a road bike and they want padding that’s concentrated on the nose.

Jayco’s TT specialist Luke Durbridge uses this Giant saddle with metal rails and plenty of cushioning upfront, for example. If you can’t make it out, that’s the Shimano Di2 junction box tucked away at the front there.

Bora’s Nils Politt has this Specialized TTS time trial saddle with titanium rails. It’s a model that’s no longer available which might explain the grey duct tape on the cover. Even the pros have to make do and mend sometimes.

The new Transiro saddles are popular with Fizik-sponsored teams. This is Jonas Vingegaard’s Transiro Aeris R1 Long Distance , for instance, with carbon rails.

Fizik says, “The nose is split into two halves for an unprecedented pressure-relief system that maintains the firm support and balance needed for long hours spent pedalling in the aero, time-trial position.”

This Jumbo rider has grip tape stuck to the saddle cover to help keep him in position. It’s a long-established TT tradition, although it doesn’t necessarily do much for the health of your shorts.

Check out loads more Tour de France 2023 stories here.

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Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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TOUR DE FRANCE TECH NOTES -TUBELESS & 3D PRINTED PARTS?!

By Dan Cavallari

While most of the bikes at the 2022 Tour de France are under lock and key due to COVID protocols, the team paddocks will undoubtedly be filled with brand new gear and tech when the bikes come out of hiding for the Grand Depart. And with those big reveals comes conjecture: What new tech will stick, and what won’t?

With the Tour just kicking off, here are a few gear predictions and the impact they will have on the peloton.

Tubeless tires will take over the peloton this year. The peloton has a whole lot of youth riding in it. These guys grew up on disc brakes and don’t understand the rim brake debate at all. If that’s any indication of what’s to come with tubeless tires, consider tubulars all but dead.

Yes, of course there will be holdouts and there will be plenty of mechanics pulling late nights to glue tubulars in Copenhagen. But it won’t be long before we’re looking back on that practice as a way-back-when curiosity.

Why? What’s different about tubeless setups today as compared to the ones no one trusted just a few short years ago? For starters, the ‘standards’ — an ever-dreaded term in cycling, as standard have rarely ever been standard — have tightened. Tire manufacturers and rim manufacturers are now working within tighter parameters, which means more reliable equipment. In fact, nowadays tire and rim manufacturers are one in the same.

So tubeless systems have become far more reliable. They are less likely to lose air over time than they were just a few years ago. And the interfaces between tire beads and the rims have gotten more efficient too, so burps and blowouts are less likely.

While riders may not get fewer flats, they will get fewer flats of consequence. Tubeless sealant can plug tiny holes quickly, which means riders won’t be hampered as often by flats.

And tubeless tires are faster. There’s a long explanation for this that includes lower tire pressures, a wider contact patch, and better hysteresis performance. But put simply, eliminating an inner tube and running a lower pressure equals more speed.

Cycling is a fickle game, so flats will never go away. But any team looking to hedge its bets in a game of milliseconds knows tubeless is the future.

Tire inserts will play a bigger role as tubeless acceptance grows. We tech folks often talk about one of the major advantages of tubular tires that racers lose by going tubeless. Yes, it’s possible to run tubulars flat and keep riding. It’s something only racers will do, of course, which is perhaps why tubulars have hung around as long as they have.

But the best tubeless setups also allow riders to continue rolling. It’s definitely a sketchy affair and not recommended for, well, anyone. But it is possible.

That said, teams have already experimented with tire inserts that maintain some tire shape in the event of the flat. And that’s only one of the tangential benefits of inserts.

For starters, tire inserts help prevent pinch flats by supporting the sidewall of tires and acting as a bumper between the road and the rim walls. But more importantly, that sidewall support can improve cornering capabilities, especially at lower tire pressures.

As you corner, your tire folds over slightly. On very tight corners, that can lead to a skittish feel, or evn the tire losing grip on the road. The liner can provide some more structure to the sidewall, keeping the tire from folding over and the rider losing grip.

The biggest drawback is, of course, weight. The liners do add weight to the wheel system, which is the all-important rotational weight. So teams will of course consider the added weight before implementing tire inserts. Look for such inserts to find use during flat stages for sprinters and rouleurs before they find their way to climbing bikes.

3D printed parts will hit the mainstream. Pro riders have been using 3D-printed parts for some time now, usually at great expense to the team. We have seen 3D-printed titanium handlebars on Team Sky bikes as early as 2015 races and the 2016 Tour de France, in fact. And in subsequent years, other one-off 3D-printed plastic parts like chain catchers have been spotted on various pro bikes.

With the process more streamlined — and slightly more affordable — than in years past, we will see 3D-printed parts trickle down from the pro bikes into consumer bikes. The trend has already begun, with the likes of Dimitris Katsanis — a member of the “Secret Squirrels Club,” a team of engineers that included Chris Boardman, tasked with redesigning and revamping Team Great Britain’s Olympic track bikes — spearheading one of the first consumer-facing 3D-printed parts companies in Mythos Components.

Let’s not get crazy, though: 3D-printed components will remain halo products for the immediate future. Large 3D printers capable of creating bicycle parts are still quite expensive, and that cost gets passed onto the consumer. So for now, such parts will remain a stable of pro race bikes. As prices come down, the customizability of 3D-printed parts will become irresistible even to recreational riders looking for comfort and performance tailored specifically to their bodies and bikes.

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Building Cinematic Route Animations with MapboxGL

How we create Animated Route Tracking Scenes and Video Exports

Chris Whong

Moritz forster.

Jul 26, 2022

You may have seen Mapbox tweets and instagram posts featuring animated videos showing each stage of the Tour de France . With graceful camera movements, satellite imagery, and 3D terrain, we can immerse the viewer and give a good impression of the elevation changes and distances that the cyclists on the tour must endure.

In this post we’ll review all of the moving parts involved in creating these animated videos:

• Zoom in to the route area from high altitude
• Animating the route on the map
• Following the leading edge of the animated route with the camera
• Smoothing/slowly rotating the camera to create a more visually appealing scene
• Exporting from web canvas to video

The approach for these videos begins with the Query Terrain Elevation example from the Mapbox GL JS docs, which shows similar route-tracking on 3D terrain, but without the precise camera control.

Revealing the Route

Starting with the route encoded as a geoJSON LineString , we must reveal the length of the line incrementally to animate “progress” over time. 

Animation is a series of still images played together, so the task at hand is to programmatically build each frame with the necessary changes as compared to the previous frame.  For this, we use the browser’s window.requestAnimationFrame() method, which also helps us keep track of time.  

To reveal the line over time, we modify a paint property called line-gradient .

First we calculate the value of the animationPhase by dividing the amount of time that has passed since the animation started, and dividing by the preset duration of the animation. This yields a value between zero and one for each frame as we move from start to finish.

We then apply this with setPaintProperty() :

In plain english, this expression is saying “Color each point along the line yellow if it falls before the current point of progress, and color it transparent if it falls after it.” Because animationPhase trends closer to 1 with each frame, every time this setPaintProperty() method is called we reveal another small chunk of the line.

Here's an example showing this technique to reveal a simple two-point LineString over 3 seconds:

Moving the Camera to Follow Along

The line is now revealing itself with each frame, so how do we make the camera follow along? The answer requires turf.js and a bit of trigonometry along with Mapbox GL JS' FreeCamera API . First, we need to grab the coordinates of the “leading edge” of the line. turf.distance() and turf.along() are used with animationFrame to pick the correct point along the length of the line.

To control the camera, we must provide four things: position/altitude (where is it?) , and pitch/bearing (which way is it pointing?).   The altitude and pitch are constant in these videos, which leaves only bearing and camera position to be calculated.

The bearing of the camera is unrelated to progress along the path; we are changing it at a constant rate for a subtle cinematic rotation effect.

With a bearing, altitude, pitch, and the point we want to look at, we can use trigonometry to infer the camera position:

Note: Conversion of degrees of longitude to meters is latitude-dependent.  The function above uses a fixed conversion of 70km per degree, which is accurate enough for France, but will not work everywhere.

Here’s a visual to help describe the calculation happening in computeCameraPosition() .  We know the spot on the ground we want to look at along with the altitude and bearing, and pitch.  The new position of the camera is calculated relative to the target position as an x offset and a y offset.

Smoothing Things Out with LERP

In earlier iterations of the videos, the camera directly follow the path which may include sharp turns.  Since the camera is laser-focused on the leading edge of the line, the results in shakiness in the animation.

Linear interpolation, also known as “lerp”, can be used to smooth the camera movement by preventing it from moving too abruptly between frames.  

This codepen by André Mattos demonstrates a lerp function to smooth the movement of the circle. Move the mouse, and see how the circle smoothly follows the pointer. We used the same lerp function to add smoothing to our route animations.

We pass the previous position and new leading edge through a lerp function, and get a new position that is "smoother". This means the leading edge we want to look at may not be in the absolute center of the frame, but it will trend back towards the center over time as long as the movements aren’t too sudden.

Zoom in from the globe

Each video starts with a fly-in from high election to include what part of the world we'll see in the route animation. While Mapbox GL JS has a convenient flyTo() method , we couldn't use it here because it was difficult to seamlessly transition between the end state of the flyTo() and the beginning of our FreeCamera API controls. Instead, we wrote a custom function to transition the camera between the initial globe view and the starting view of the track animation.

Exporting the Canvas to Video

To export videos, we use a technique described in this example in the Mapbox GL JS codebase . It makes use of the mp4-encoder javascript library, and uses each render of the Mapbox GL JS canvas to save a frame.

The size of the canvas is controlled via CSS on the map container. For 16:9 videos we use a container with dimensions 1280px x 720px. For the square videos (used on Instagram), the dimensions are 1080px x 1080px.

Post-production

Once the animation is complete, those frames are assembled and downloaded as an mp4. Finally, the output mp4 is compressed using the CLI tool ffmpeg .

From there, members of our web design team add intro and outro graphics, and pass the finished product along to our social media team for publishing.

The code used to create these animations is published to our impact tools repository on github for your reference and re-use. We would love to hear about your experiences tinkering with the FreeCamera API and exporting high-quality videos from your Mapbox GL JS projects, so be sure to tag @mapbox on twitter as soon as you're ready to share.

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Maps feature data from Mapbox © Mapbox, OpenStreetMap © OpenStreetMap and their data partners, including Maxar (if applicable, © Maxar).

Senior Developer Evangelist @ Mapbox

Mapping tools for developers + precise location data to change the way we explore the world

Moritz Förster is a Germany based Solutions Architect at Mapbox who loves detailed maps

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 I've put this together purely as an art piece, hopefully to show off 3D printing as well as homage to Tour de France -

The Tour de France is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1903 except for when it was stopped for the two World Wars. As the Tour gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend around the globe. Participation expanded from a primarily French field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI ProTeams, with the exception of the teams that the organisers invite.

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light box dtour de france logo

Pendant tour de france cycliste - cycling tour of france pendant.

Porte clef logo specialized / specialized keychain

yellow jersey key ring of the tour de france

Knight square

Peugeot 104 Kickers Tour de France 1989

Renault 2500 Kg Bic Tour de France 1953 (1/43)

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