After a series of dour flat stages in the first half of the 2017 Tour, Prudhomme has also sought to shake-up the racing beyond the mountains by introducing three, two and one second time bonuses at key points on the road stages up to and including stage nine. The 2018 Tour will also be contested by eight-rider teams, rather than nine.

– Etape du Tour 2018 sportive route announced: four major climbs and a dirt road –

The race will start in the Vendée region on Saturday July 7, a week later than normal due to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the first nine stages will provide opportunities for the peloton’s sprinters and rouleurs as the Tour begins its clockwise circuit of France.

The climbing continues on stage 11, which measures just 108km, but the race’s toughest Alpine test will come a day later, on a 175km route which packs in more than 5,000m of climbing via the Col de la Madeleine, hairpin-laden Lacets de Montvernier, returning to the Tour for a second time having debuted in 2015, and the Col de la Croix de Fer, before finishing on Alpe d’Huez.

The race will then traverse the south of France before the first of three tough stages in the Pyrenees. Stage 16 covers 218km and includes three major climb in the final 80km, while stage 17 will be raced over just 65km, finishing on the the Col de Portet, a 16km climb averaging 8.7 per cent. The short stage is typical of Prudhomme’s reign as Tour race director, with aggressive racing expected as the race enters its finale. Every general classification rider still in contention will need to be on guard.

Stage 18 will provide some respite before the final test in the Pyrenees, a 200km stage with four ascents, including the Col du Tourmalet, and finishing with a fast descent to Laruns. If the yellow jersey is still in doubt by then, the champion will be decided on stage 20 and a lumpy 31km time trial from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle to Espelette.

It is on the roads of the French Basque Challenge that Froome and co can expect one final test from Tom Dumoulin who, having won the Giro d’Italia in May, is expected to launch an attack on the Tour de France next July. This is no pan-flat time trial, though, with the hilly route featuring the Côte de Pinodieta, a 900m at a gradient of 10.2%.

But Froome believes he is up to the challenge set both by his rivals on the road and the varied parcours announced by Prudhomme in Paris.

“I wouldn’t expect anything different from the organisers,” said Froome, who will bid to win a fifth Tour title and join Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain in the record books.

“It is a massive challenge for next year and a Tour de France that tests every aspect of cycling.”

Stage ten – July 17: Annecy – Le Grand Bornand, 159km

Stage 11 – July 18: Albertville – La Rosière, 108km

Stage 12 – July 19: Bourg-Saint-Maurice Les Arcs – Alpe d’Huez, 175km

Stage 13 – July 20: Bourg d’Oisans – Valence, 169km

Stage 14 – July 21: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – Mende, 187km

Stage 15 – July 22: Millau – Carcassonne, 181km

Rest day – July 23: Carcassonne

Stage 16 – July 24: Carcassonne – Bagnères-de-Luchon, 218km

Stage 17 – July 25: Bagnères-de-Luchon – Saint-Lary-Soulan (Col de Portet), 65km

Stage 18 – July 26: Trie-sur-Baïse – Pau, 172km

Stage 19 – July 27: Lourdes – Laruns, 200km

Stage 20 – July 28: Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle – Espelette (ITT), 31km

Stage 21 – July 29: Houilles – Paris Champs Elysées, 115km