On Tuesday the route for the 103rd Tour de France will be unveiled but now the complete stage schedule has maybe been leaked. Sporza have published a map with a potential course and claim it to be based on a a well-informed source. Remarkably, there will only be one time trial on the menu and the Vosges will the battleground of the last mountain stages.
As previously announced, the Tour will start atthe scenic Mont-Saint-Michel. Unlike recent tradition, the riders will already face the first summit finish in the Massif Central on stage 5. In that stage, the cards can be shuffled on the final climb to the ski station Le Lioran, where Michel Pollentier won a stage in 1975.
Then the race heads towards the Pyrenees where Pla de Beret and Arcalis(Andorra) will offer two uphill finishes. In the Pyrenees, the riders will also pass Aspin, Peyresourde and Cortals d'Encamp.
The riders will be able to digest the tough climbing on a deserved rest day in Andorra. On July 14, the Mont Ventoux will be back and one day later it is time for the only time trial of the 2016 Tour. Then there will be a triptych of stages in the Alps where the riders may have to conquer climbs like Izoard and Galibier.
Before the Tour caravan gets to the Champs-Elysées attracts, they will head to the Vosges mountains for a spectacular finale. In the last mountain stage (Mulhouse), the Ballond'Alsace will be on the meny, a very atypical final mountain stage of the Tour.
The official presentation of the Tour course will have to wait until next Tuesday. ASO will unveil the stage schedule at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.
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