2016 Tour de France Route Unveiled

The riders of the 103rd Tour de France will begin their three week journey in the La Manche region in the north of France in west Normandie. Finishing with a sprint at Utah Beach Sainte-Moarie-du-Mont, offers the opportunity to salute the soldiers who bravely landed on the Normandy shores back in June 1944. Then continuing from Saint-Lô, the capital of La Manche, to the second finale near Cherbourg-Octeville and a fearsome climb of La Glacerie which should give an early picture of who's hot and who's not. Three days and 435km later and the race will continue through France.

Today the rest of that 2016 route has finally been revealed and the Haute Savoie area will feature heavily in the last 5 days. On 20th July the Tour will begin in Berne, Switzerland, before making its way back towards the French border for a stage finish at the Emosson Dam near Chamonix Mont Blanc. Before finishing on the 23rd July in the mountain resort of Morzine.

The mighty Mont Ventoux will once again feature in this year's tour. The Giant of Provence has been a popular part of the Tour since back in 1951 and riders will make their way from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux on the 14th July.

The decisive mountain stages begin on stage 18, on the 20th July, with a new finish at the edge of the Emosson dam after the Forclaz climb at an altitude of 1960m, overlooking Mont Blanc. The steep climb was used in the 2014 Criterium du Dauphine, with Contador attacking Froome close to the summit and taking the leader’s jersey. The discovery of a secret tunnel road down the other side of the mountain will allow the organisers to create an evacuation for the riders and race caravan and so permit a Tour de France finish in the relatively small area at the dam.

The next stage will be a mountain time trial from Sallanches to Megeve. Albertville to Saint Gervais will see the Tour passing over three different 'Forclaz' to Mont Blanc which will offer a stunning backdrop to the final mountain stages with finishes in Megève, Saint-Gervais-Mont Blanc and Morzine.

The 20th stage, before the final showdown on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, will be from Megeve to Morzine (also the Etape du Tou, where members of the public can take part ahead of the Tour riders coming through). Climbs will include those of the Aravis, the Col de Colombiere, Col de la Ramaz and onto the Col de Joux Plane. This is a stage where the final positions of the GC (General Classification) riders will be decided.

The 21 Stages of the Tour de France 2016:

Stage 1: Saturday, July 2 - Mont Saint-Michel to Utah Beach - 188km
Stage 2: Sunday, July 3 - Saint-Lô to Cherbourg-Octeville - 182km
Stage 3: Monday, July 4 - Granville to angers - 222km
Stage 4: Tuesday, July 5 - Saumur to Limoges - 232km
Stage 5: Wednesday, July 6 - Limoges to Le Lioran - 216km
Stage 6: Thursday, July 7 - Arpajon-sur-Cère to Montauban - 187km
Stage 7: Friday, July 8 - L'Isle-Jourdain to Lac de Payolle - 162km
Stage 8: Saturday, July 9 - Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon - 183km
Stage 9: Sunday, July 10 - Vielha (Spain) to Arcalis (Andorra) - 184km
Monday, July 11 - first rest day
Stage 10: Tuesday, July 12 - Escaldes-Engordany (Andorra) to Revel - 198km
Stage 11: Wednesday, July 13 - Carcassonne to Montpellier - 164km
Stage 12: Thursday, July 14 - Montpellier to Mont Ventoux - 185km
Stage 13: Friday, July 15 - Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc - 37km individual time trial
Stage 14: Saturday, July 16 - Montélimar to Villars-les Dombes - 208km
Stage 15: Sunday, July 17 - Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz - 159km
Stage 16: Monday, July 18 - Moirans-en-Montagne to Bern - 206km
Tuesday, July 19 – second rest day
Stage 17: Wednesday, July 20 - Bern to Finhaut-Emosson - 184km
Stage 18: Thursday, July 21 - Sallanches to Megève - 17km individual time trial
Stage 19: Friday, July 22 - Albertville to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc - 146km
Stage 20: Saturday, July 23 - Megève to Morzine - 146km
Stage 21: Sunday, July 24 - Chantilly to Paris - 113km