Wind, cobbles, punchy climbs, a handful of gruelling mountain-top finishes, almost no individual time trial – Tour de France organisers have designed one of the most exciting courses for the 2015 race, which will heavily favour the climbers.
The Tour will climax with a nervous, demanding penultimate stage finishing at l’Alpe d’Huez with the race winner likely emerging from a nerve-wrecking three-week dogfight.
The race, which will feature time bonuses – 10, 6, 4 seconds for the top three stage finishers – for the first time since 2008, will start from Utrecht, Netherlands, where the gusty winds could split the peloton and see some leaders lose valuable time early on.
The third stage in northern France takes the bunch through cobbled sections again, on which lightweights often struggle, at the notable exception of defending champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy, who this year hammered his rivals on the cobbles.
"But we can't say the route is tailor-made for Nibali because you never know what can happen," Tour director Christian Prudhomme told reporters. "One thing is sure this Tour is going to be a huge battle."
There are five mountaintop finishes but also a couple of very short, brutal climbs on the Mur de Huy, where the Fleche Wallonne classic ends, and at Mur de Bretagne.
In the Pyrenees, finishes up at La Pierre St Martin (15.3km at an average gradient of 7.4 per cent) and on the Plateau de Beille (15.8km at 7.9 pc) should sort out the men from the boys.
It will be far from over, however, as four consecutive gruelling mountain stages are on the menu in the final week in the Alps.
The 17th stage ending in Pra Loup is reminiscent of that of 1975 when France's Bernard Thevenet beat Belgium great Eddy Merckx.
“The descent of the Col d’Allos is very technical, very hard to tackle,” Thevenet warned.
The following day, organisers have spiced things up in the trek to St Jean de Maurienne with a very short and brutal 18-hairpin climb of the Lacets de Montvernier shortly before the finish.
The 19th stage will be the queen stage with a 138-km ride to La Toussuire featuring four demanding climbs, before the 20th stage, which should favour the aggressive riders as it’s only 107km long with the col du Galibier in the middle.
There will also be only 14km of individual time trial, a post-World War II low that should spice things up between the top climbers – Nibali, Alberto Contador, Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and Thibaut Pinot.
Route for the 2015 Tour de France
July 4 - Stage 1: Utrecht (Netherlands) to Utrecht, 14km (individual time trial)
July 5 - Stage 2: Utrecht to Zelande (Netherlands), 166km
July 6 - Stage 3: Anvers (Belgium) to Huy (Belgium), 154km
July 7 - Stage 4: Seraing (Belgium) to Cambrai, 221km
July 8 - Stage 5: Arras to Amiens, 189km
July 9 - Stage 6: Abbeville to Le Havre, 191km
July 10 - Stage 7: Livarot to Fougeres, 190km
July 11 - Stage 8: Rennes to Mur de Bretagne, 179km
July 12 - Stage 9: Vannes to Plumelec, 28km (team time trial)
July 13 - Rest day in Pau
July 14 - Stage 10: Tarbes to La Pierre St Martin, 167km
July 15 - Stage 11: Pau to Cauterets-Vallee de St Savin, 188km
July 16 - Stage 12: Lannemezan to Plateau de Beille, 195km
July 17 - Stage 13: Muret to Rodez, 200km
July 18 - Stage 14: Rodez to Mende, 178km
July 19 - Stage 15: Mende to Valence, 182km
July 20 - Stage 16: Bourg de Peage to Gap, 201km
July 21 - Rest day in Gap
July 22 - Stage 17: Dignes les Bains to Pra Loup, 161km
July 23 - Stage 18: Gap to St Jean de Maurienne, 185km
July 24 - Stage 19: St Jean de Maurienne to La Toussuire Les Sybelles, 138km
July 25 - Stage 20: Modane Valfrejus to L'Alpe d'Huez, 110km
July 26 - Stage 21: Sevres to Paris Champs Elysees, 107km
Total: 3,344km
