Organizers for the Tour de France, Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), presented next year’s route to audience of more than 4,000 people in Paris this morning.
Next year’s race won’t feature a prologue time trial or a team time trial, and seems apt to favor the “climbers”, with such venerable climbs as Mont Ventoux.
The 103rd edition of the Tour de France, will start in the northern Manche region of France with three road race stages, with the first starting in and around Mont-Saint-Michel island.
From there, the race will head south via Angers, Limoges and Montauban, with several stages aimed at the “sprinters”.
The mountain stages in the Pyrenees will finish in Lac de Payola, followed by a climb to Arcalis in Andorra, which was last visited in 2009. In addition, riders will be given their first rest day in Andorra, before heading to southern France and across to Montpellier.
Mont Ventoux will again host a mountain-top finish, which will coincide with the country’s Bastille Day on July 14.
During the third week, the Tour will visit the Alps early, with a finish in Villars-les-Dombes, along with an ascent up Grand Colombier on stage 14, before heading to Bern, Switzerland.
The decisive mountain stages are set to begin during stage 18, with a new finish at the Emission dam, following the Gueulaz climb, which overlooks Mont Blanc at an elevation of 1960 meters.
After Mont Blanc, the final mountain stages will feature finishes in Megève, Saint-Gervais-Mont Blanc and Morzine, with the stage to Saint-Gervais-Mont Blanc biting into the climbers with a 7 kilometer ascent to the ski station with an average gradient of 7.7%.
Following the Alpine mountains, the 2016 Tour de France will conclude in Paris on Sunday July 24, with the traditional road race stage – starting in Chantilly.
The race’s new technical director, Thierry Gouvenou, confirmed that the 2016 Tour de France will again break with tradition, by repeating last year’s counter-clockwise direction.
2016 Tour de France Stage 1: July 2, Mont Saint-Michel to Utah Beach Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, 188km Stage 2: July 3, Saint-Lo to Cherbourg-Octeville, 182km Stage 3: July 4, Granville to Angers, 222km Stage 4: July 5, Saumur to Limoges, 232km Stage 5: July 6, Limoges to Le Lioran, 216km Stage 6: July 7, Arpajon-sur-Cere to Montauban, 187km Stage 7: July 8, L’Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle, 162km Stage 8: July 9, Pau to Bagneres-de-Luchon, 183km Stage 9: July 10, Vielha Val d’Aran (Spain) to Andorre Arcalis (Andorra), 184km July 11: Rest day Stage 10: July 12, Escaldes-Engordany (Andorra) to Revel, 198km Stage 11: July 13, Carcassonne to Montpellier, 164km Stage 12: July 14, Montpellier to Mont Ventoux, 185km Stage 13: July 15, Bourg-Saint-Andeol to La Caverne du Pont-d’Arc, 37km (time trial) Stage 14: July 16, Montelimar to Villars-les-Dombes Parc des Oiseaux, 208km Stage 15: July 17, Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz, 159km Stage 16: July 18, Moirans-en-Montagne to Berne (Switzerland), 206km July 19: Rest day Stage 17: July 20, Berne (Switzerland) to Finhaut-Emosson (Switzerland), 184km Stage 18: July 21, Sallanches to Megeve, 17km (time trial) Stage 19: July 22, Albertville to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, 146km Stage 20: July 23, Megeve to Morzine, 146km Stage 21: July 24, Chantilly to Paris Champs-Élysées, 113km
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