Cycling/News round-up: With seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong set to miss the race for the first time since 1999, the announcement of the route for next year's race was yesterday billed by its organisers as an opportunity for a fresh start.

Race directors Jean Marie Leblanc and Christian Prudhomme welcomed the prospect of a new champion and a more open race, with the former declaring that "one man dominated the race for seven years. It was time for things to change."

"We will have a wide-open race without any obvious favourites again," Leblanc continued. "We were feeling some tiredness that the scenario of the race was repeating itself over the years."

With Armstrong retired, several riders have emerged as likely challengers for next year's Tour. This year's runner-up, Ivan Basso, king of the mountains winner Michael Rasmussen, Floyd Landis and Alejandro Valverde were among those present and each pronounced themselves satisfied with elements of the unveiled route.

Tough mountains will help each mount a strong challenge, although 1997 winner Jan Ullrich, who was absent yesterday, will be the rider who most welcomes the three individual time trials.

"There will be no less than 115 kilometres of individual effort," stated Prudhomme. "This is more than we have had since 1999, and is designed for specialists."

Next year's Tour begins on July 1st with a seven-kilometre time trial in the German district of Strasbourg. The race then heads north for three days, passing through Luxembourg and the Netherlands, before diverting southwest through Belgium.

It then skirts along the northern part of France to Saint Grégorie, where on stage seven the main contenders will test their form with a 53km time trial to Rennes. This solo test against the clock replaces the team time trials which have featured in recent years.

Following the first rest day on July 10th in Bordeaux, the peloton will gear up for the first high mountains. Stage 10 to Pau sees the riders cross the Col du Soudet and the Col de Marie-Blanque, before the first mountain-top finish at Pla de Beret 24 hours later.

Three flattish stages and a rest day give the riders a degree of respite after the Pyrenees. However, things rear skywards once again on the 15th stage of the race when the field tackles two climbs over 2,000 metres, the Col d'Izoard and the Col du Lautaret, on the way to the legendary summit finish of Alpe d'Huez.

The monstrous Col du Galibier (2,645 metres) follows on stage 16, with the Col du Glandon and the Col du Mollard coming before the uphill finish at La Toussuire.

The next day also offers an opportunity to the climbers, although the descent off the Col de Joux-Plane to the line in Morzine will blunt their gains somewhat.

If any time trial specialists are still in contention, things will swing back in their favour with the penultimate stage's 56km race against the clock from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines on July 22nd. The race will end, as always, in Paris.

In all, the 2006 Tour will be approximately 3,600 kilometres long, featuring nine flat stages, four moderate mountain stages, five full mountain stages plus a prologue and two time trials.

Leblanc and Prudhomme's talk of a new beginning had a double-meaning, with the organisers also referring to the accusations printed by L'Equipe earlier this year that retrospective analyses of urine samples taken during Armstrong's first victory strongly suggested the use of EPO.

"It raised doubts about Armstrong's performances and it led us to think that his behaviour was not beyond reproach then," Leblanc stated.

An independent investigation continues into the accusations, but the tone of yesterday's presentation made it clear Leblanc and Prudhomme are keen to rid the sport of the spectre of drug use.

The Frenchmen gave a long presentation on the need for the battle against doping to be stepped up, calling for increased co-operation between the UCI, cycling's world governing body, and Wada. They said that out-of-competition testing would be stepped up. prior to the 2006 Tour.

"We are at a crossroads: ethics or chaos," Leblanc said. "I am pleading with the riders, but particularly with their doctors and managers, that they go in the right direction."