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News :: 2006 Tour de France Route Revealed

27 October 2005

2006 Tour de France Route Revealed

le Tour de France 2006, photo: ASO

It maybe October and the leaves maybe falling from the trees to a cold wet ground, but the Tour de France organizers have been working feverishly for next summer's Tour de France route unveiling.

[Go to the full and update Tour de France pages.]

We're going to need more than Lance Armstrong's retirement to breathe some life back in 93rd La Grand Boucle. It seems the Tour organizers have once again opted for the old tried and true route: An opening prologue, followed by a series of flat stages catering to the sprinters, then a long TT that transitions into several mountain stages, followed by some medium mountains, and with the final run into Paris being preceded by a final TT. Of note, however, is the exclusion of the team TT.

The 2006 Tour de France will kick off in Strasbourg on 1 July with a 7K prologue. Riders will then face another 52K test against the clock on 7 July. The final individual TT, 14 days later, will happen on the penultimate stage (56K).

Stage 11, photo: ASO

The mountains won't rear their ugly head until stage 10, at which point the peloton will face two successive days in the Pyrenees. Three stages of medium mountains and flats, followed by a rest day, will greet the riders before they head for their next appointment in the heavens. Monday 17 July is a scheduled rest day, but our guess is that there will be little rest the mind since the fearsome L'Alpe d'Huez will be looming the following day. After a flogging on the Alpe, the peloton will have another two days in the high mountains.

Stage 16, photo: ASO

The high mountains do seem to come later in the race than the typical format. This should keep the action heated until the end, where the GC candidates will have to save some gas for the final crucial TT.
- Paco

Stages
1 July, Prologue, Strasbourg TT, 7K
2 July, Stage 1, Strasbourg - Strasbourg, 183K
3 July, Stage 2, Obernai - Esch-sur-Alzette, 223K
4 July, Stage 3, Esch-sur-Alzette - Valkenburg, 216K
5 July, Stage 4, Huy - Saint-Quentin, 215K
6 July, Stage 5, Beauvais - Caen, 219K
7 July, Stage 6, Lisieux - Vitré, 184K
8 July, Stage 7, Saint-Grégoire - Rennes TT, 52K
9 July, Stage 8, Saint-Méen-le-Grand - Lorient, 177K
10 July, Rest day, Bordeaux
11 July, Stage 9, Bordeaux - Dax, 170K
12 July, Stage 10, Cambo-les-Bains - Pau, 193K, Map
13 July, Stage 11, Tarbes - Val d'Aran - Pla-de-Beret, 208K, Map
14 July, Stage 12, Luchon - Carcassonne, 211K
15 July, Stage 13, Béziers - Montélimar, 231K
16 July, Stage 14, Montélimar - Gap, 181K
17 July, Rest day, Gap
18 July, Stage 15, Gap - L'Alpe d'Huez, 187K, Map
19 July, Stage 16, Bourg d'Oisans - La Toussuire, 182K, Map
20 July, Stage 17, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Morzine, 199K, Map
21 July, Stage 18, Morzine - Mâcon, 193K
22 July, Stage 19, Le Creusot - Montceau-les-Mines TT, 56K
23 July, Stage 20, Antony-Parc de Sceaux - Paris Champs-Elysées, 152K
Total 3,639K

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