The 2011 Tour de France was the 98th edition of the race. It started on 2 July at the Passage du Gois and ended on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 24 July. The cyclists competed in 21 stages over 23 days, covering a distance of 3,430 kilometres (2,130 mi). The route entered Italy for part of two stages, including an overnight stop.The emphasis was on the Alps in 2011, as it was on the Pyrenees in 2010, commemorating the 100th anniversary of those peaks first being visited in the Tour.