Nightime finish in Paris, double ascent of Alpe d'Huez on stage 18, Ventoux returns
Beginning with the first ever visit to Corsica and ending at night in Paris, looping around the Arc du Triomphe for the only time in the race’s history, the route of the 100th Tour de France was unveiled today with those and other notable features.
The 3,479 kilometre event will also see a team time trial on stage four, an individual time trial to Mont Saint Michel on stage 11, and then what is described as the most difficult Tour time trial on stage 17. Those races against the clock will be offset by four mountain top finishes, one more than this year, with two of those taking place in the final four days.
One of those is stage eighteen’s race to Alpe d’Huez, where the peloton will climb the famous ascent not once, but twice. It will be the first time the race does so in the Tour’s 100 edition history, and will see a key battle duked out in front of a huge crowd and amid spectacular scenery.
The other summit finishes are stage eight’s Pyrenean ascent to Ax 3 Domaines, stage 15’s slog up to the top of the legendary Mont Ventoux, and the penultimate day’s battle up to the summit of Annecy-Semnoz.
While the route is far off the ten summit finishes of this year’s Vuelta a España, the extra mountain top finish, a slight increase in the number of HC-ranked climbs compared to this year and the shorter time trial kilometres will tip the balance back a little towards the climbers or, at the very least, ensure that they are not as disadvantaged as this year.
That will provide encouragement for Andy Schleck, who was at today’s presentation, while fellow attendee Alberto Contador will relish the thoughts of fighting his rivals on the same terrain. The 2011 winner Cadel Evans, this year’s runner up Chris Froome and Tejay Van Garderen will also be pleased by what they saw today.
As for Bradley Wiggins, the defending champion has less TT kilometres to gain time over the pure climbers, and will know that his performance on stages such as the Ventoux and Alpe d’Huez will be crucial to his hopes of defeating the likes of Contador and Schleck.
More details to follow shortly…
2013 Tour de France:
Stage 1, June 29: Porto-Vecchio to Bastia, 212km
Stage 2, June 30: Bastia to Ajaccio, 154km
Stage 3, July 1: Ajaccio to Calvi, 145km
Stage 4, July 2: Nice to Nice, team time trial, 25km
Stage 5, July 3: Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marseille, 219km
Stage 6, July 4: Aix-en-Provence to Montpellier, 176km
Stage 7, July 5: Montpellier to Albi, 205km
Stage 8, July 6: Castres to Ax-3 domaines, summit finish, 194km
Stage 9, July 7: Saint-Girons to Bagnères-de-Bigorre, 165km
July 8: Rest day, Saint-Nazaire
Stage 10, July 9: St-Gildas-des-Bois to Saint-Malo, 193km
Stage 11, July 10: Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel, individual time trial, 33km
Stage 12, July 11: Fougères to Tours, 218km
Stage 13, July 12: Tours to Saint-Amand-Montrond, 173km
Stage 14, July 13: Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule to Lyon, 191km
Stage 15, July 14: Givors to Mont Ventoux, summit finish, 242km
July 15: Rest day, Vaucluse province
Stage 16, July 16: Vaison-la-Romaine to Gap, 168km
Stage 17, July 17: Embrun to Chorges, individual time trial, 32km
Stage 18, July 18: Gap to l’Alpe d’Huez, summit finish, 168km
Stage 19, July 19: Bourg d’Oisans to Le Grand Bornand, 204km
Stage 20, July 20: Annecy to Annecy-Semnoz, summit finish, 125km
Stage 21, July 21: Versailles to Paris/Champs-Elysées, 118km
Extra details:
3,479 kilometres over 21 stages
7 flat stages
5 hilly stages
6 mountain stages with 4 summit finishes
2 individual time trial stages
1 team time trial stage
2 rest days
10 new stage towns:
Porto-Vecchio, Bastia, Ajaccio, Calvi, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Saint-Gildas-des-Bois, Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, Givors, Chorges, Annecy-Semnoz