The full 2016 Tour de France parcours was unveiled at the official presentation in Paris on Tuesday and displays a Tour consisting of several new summit finishes making their first appearance, a tough revisit to the top of Mont Ventoux and two challenging individual time trials likely to be some of the turning points of the race.
 
After analyzing the 21 stages of next year’s Tour de France, the main goal of his 2016 season, Alberto Contador asserts that the tough parcours will be one for the climbers.
 
"Next year's parcours appears to be very difficult and one has to start in good form because the fifth stage already has a fairly demanding finish. The two time trials stand out and are probably the ones that make the difference from the 2015 parcours. Both time trials are tough, the first one not excessively long and a priori I like them both."
 
"The mountain stages are evenly spread out from start to finish and you will have to manage your forces very well in order not to reach the final stages worn out. Is it a Tour for climbers? Yes, it is, although last year's Tour was even more since it didn't have so many time trials. It clearly is a course well suited to the profile of climbers."
 
"Overall, it is a parcours that I like, but as it is well known with the Grand Tours, it can turn against you at any moment. Without any doubt, it can be a nice and attractive Tour and I will prepare for it one hundred percent”, adds Alberto Contador.

The 103rd Tour de France travels counter-clockwise from its starting point at Mont Saint-Michel and takes on the Pyrenees head on already on the seventh stage. In total, nine mountain stages and two individual time trials, one of them being a mountain TT, await the riders. Nevertheless, the first, flatter stages in Normandy could equally play an important role, assesses Steven de Jongh, Tinkoff-Saxo Head Sports Director.
 
“It’s a very challenging parcours for Tour de France 2016. The first part consists of mainly flat sprinters’ stages, however on the first stage there’s an uphill finish, which could suit Peter Sagan. The first stages of the Tour are always very nervous with a lot of tension and any adverse weather could also be an important factor. Then the mountains at the end of the race in the Alps are all short and intense and will decide the Tour. But first we have to tackle the Pyrenees with a hard summit finish in Andorra above 2000 meters altitude”, states Steven de Jongh and adds:
 
“Stage 12 to Mont Ventoux will naturally provide a stunning backdrop to a very difficult stage, where the heat and wind can play a pivotal role. But what is also interesting is the 37km time trial the day after to the Gorges de l’Ardéche and the riders have to tackle it with Ventoux still fresh in the legs”.
 
“The second individual time trial on stage 18 is shorter but it’s almost uphill the entire time and it’s followed by two hard mountain stages to conclude the general classification. The plan is naturally to go for the win with Alberto but it’s too early to go into any specifics with more than eight months to the start in Mont Saint-Michel. We will have to study the parcours in detail and evaluate our strategy in due time”.