The full route of the 2015 Tour de France will be released in Paris on Wednesday but already there is intense speculation that the opening ten days will be very tricky for potential winners to navigate.

There are strong rumours of a cobbled stage in Cambrai, Northern France as well as a finish atop ht e Mur de Huy, the almost silly steep climb that is the finale of the tough Fleche Wallonne Classic. There are also hints of a team time trial and an uphill finish on the Mur de Bretagne.

Already confirmed is the prologue in Utrecht, followed by sprint stage in Holland that could have crosswinds that split the field. Then the feared Mur de Huy summit finish is on stage 3. Stage 4 will be the cobbled stage, although there is no information on how many sectors there will be but the cobbles will not be as hard as they were in Arenberg in 2014.

Race director Christian Prudhomme dropped a hint on the cobbles in a recent interview with SBS cycling: “We go to the Pyrenees and the Alps every year but not to the north. Considering that we're in the north this time, there's no reason not to have a stage with the pave.”

The Mur de Bretagne is expected on stage 7 or 8, where Cadel Evans beat Contador and Vinokourov to take the win in 2011 before winning the GC overall. At the smallest, this will be 25km but winds could again wreak havoc on the stage. All of this contributes to a tough opening to the Tour, before the race will have even reached the Pyrenees.

After the Tour’s first rest day, the action resumes on Bastille day and the Tour is likely to visit a new summit finish at Arette La Pierre Saint-Martin, according to La Republique des Pyrenees. A second Pyrenean summit finish is expected two days later in the Ariège, at Plateau de Beille, according to La Depeche du Midi.

With a rumored finish at Mende in the Massif Central also in week 2, the Tour will leave the Pyrenees and head to the Alps, where a return of the infamous Pra Loup, last used in 1975 where Eddy Merckx’s dominance finally ended.

La Toussuire has been slated as a possible second summit finish in the Alps, while Le Dauphine and Velowire.com both suggest that the final major rendezvous of the race could come at Alpe d’Huez on the final Saturday of the race. The speculation may be based on part on the assumption that the Tour visits the climb every second year, although the ski station’s local council confirmed in the summer that it would bid for a Tour stage in 2015. If successful, it would mark the third time in Christian Prudhomme’s tenure that the Tour has featured a summit finish on the penultimate day, after the finales atop Mont Ventoux (2009) and Semnoz (2013).

Overall this looks a every difficult edition of La Grande Boucle with very little “easy days” for the GC contenders, if all of the above rumors, which they are for now, are proved to be true. One thing is for certain: all will be revealed on Wednesday.