The route

Here we go again… Running from Saturday July 1st to Sunday July 23th 2006, the 93rd Tour de France will be made up of a prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,600 kilometres. With 450,000 Euros for the first prize and a total prize fund of 3.2 million for stage winners and jersey holders there’s loads to fight for.

These 20 stages have the following profiles:
• 9 flat stages
• 4 medium mountain stages
• 5 mountain stages
• 2 individual time-trial stages

Some of the highlights:
• 3 mountain finishes
• 2 rest days
• 116 kilometres of individual time-trials (including the prologue)
• 22 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed
• 8 new stop-over towns: Obernai, Saint-Grégoire, Cambo-Les-Bains, Val d’Aran – Pla-de-Beret, Montélimar, La Toussuire, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Antony.

The map:

The stages:

Prologue Saturday, July 1st 7 km Strasbourg (TT)
1. Sunday, July 2nd 183 km Strasbourg to Strasbourg
2. Monday, July 3rd 223 km Obernai to Esch-sur-Alzette
3. Tuesday, July 4th 216 km Esch-sur-Alzette to Valkenburg
4. Wednesday, July 5th 215 km Huy to Saint-Quentin
5. Thursday, July 6th 219 km Beauvais to Caen
6. Friday, July 7th 184 km Lisieux to Vitré
7. Saturday, July 8th 52 km Saint-Grégoire to Rennes (TT)
8. Sunday, July 9th 177 km Saint-Méen-le-Grand to Lorient
Rest day Monday, July 10th Rest day – Bordeaux
9. Tuesday, July 11th 170 km Bordeaux to Dax
10. Wednesday, July 12th 193 km Cambo-les-Bains to Pau
11. Thursday, July 13th 208 km Tarbes to Val d’Aran – Pla-de-Beret
12. Friday, July 14th 211 km Luchon to Carcassonne
13. Saturday, July 15th 231 km Béziers to Montélimar
14. Sunday, July 16th 181 km Montélimar to Gap
Rest day Monday, July 17th Rest day
15. Tuesday, July 18th 187 km Gap to L’Alpe d’Huez
16. Wednesday, July 19th 182 km Bourg d’Oisans to La Toussuire
17. Thursday, July 20th 199 km Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Morzine
18. Friday, July 21st 193 km Morzine to Mâcon
19. Saturday, July 22nd 56 km Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines (TT)
20. Sunday, July 23rd 152 km Antony-Parc de Sceaux to Paris Champs-Élysées

So the classic stage?

Well for us it has to be the Tarbes to Val d’Aran – Pla-de-Beret stage on stage 11 (see the profile below)… 208 kms including the Col du Tourmalet, the Col D’Aspin, the Col de Peyresourde, the Col du Portillon and finishing atop the Pla de Beret. A true TdF stinker. It will be a popular one for the Spanish climbers as it finishes in Spain and a possible Tour deciding type day. Look out for a day long breakaway and the big hitters hitting the front for the first time in the Tour.

The Gap to Alpe D’Huez stage in the Alps will be a classic but the following day they will go up the Galibier, poor souls. Plenty of time trials and alas no team time trial. Now Lance has retired it’s going to be a wide open race and the parcours seems to suit the climbers. I expect a ‘new’ name as the winner by the time we get to Paris…