Paris, Tuesday, October 20, 2015 |
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| TOUR DE FRANCE 2016THE MOUNTAINS, IN A VARIETY OF FORMS | ||||||||||
| The route of the Tour de France 2016, presented this morning in Paris before an audience of almost 4,000 people, gives the strong men of the mountains opportunities spread over 17 days! Chris Froome, present at the Palais des Congrès to discover the map, can already start thinking about his strategy to defend his title…
There are still ways of changing perspectives, of giving already-known territories a new look. The riders in the 2016 Tour de France will certainly recognise certain places, for which they have their bearings. However, they will need to put their certainties aside to get to grips with a route inspired by the theory of scattering: “The mountain stages have been spread out between the 5th and the 20th stages, from the Massif Central to the Alps via the Pyrenees and the Jura. I am willing to bet that, once again, the intermediate mountain ranges will not just provide us with indicators. They will make the selection,” says Christian Prudhomme. After a series of sprints starting at the foot of Mont-Saint-Michel, difficulties will begin to arise half-way through the first week in the form of a passage through the French Department of Cantal and a finish in Le Lioran ski resort, where the favourites will have already had to play their hands. The Pyrenees stages won’t let the big guns of the Tour let up either as they will have to step up a gear up on the Andorran stage of Arcalis. The peloton will certainly deserve a day’s rest after such an effort.
A bit further down the road, the Alps stages will be preceded by an assault on Mont Ventoux on July 14th, a demanding time-trial stage in the Ardèche at Caverne de Pont d’Arc and high-percentage twisty sections around the Grand Colombier on the stage to Culoz. The final programme will take place with the dazzling and majestic Mont Blanc as a backdrop, especially because the mountain specialists will be tested to the limit. This will be the case on brutal mountain climbs like the one that leads to Finhaut-Emosson to complete the visit of Le Tour to Switzerland, or on a very unusual time-trial stage in the mountains between Sallanches and Megève. The acrobats will also be judged on their descending talents, which could make a difference up to the dive down to Morzine just 24 hours before the finish in Paris. Opportunities are almost everywhere, wherever the riders are willing to grab them…
2016 POSTER: YOUR TWEETS…#TDFPassion
After the hundreds of photos that made up the poster of the 2015 Tour de France, this year it will be the words of the fans of Le Tour that will shape the official poster. The Twitter account @letour, which now has around 2 million subscribers, is ready to receive any declarations of love, outbursts of joy, messages of encouragement and even affectionate taunts. The most inspired, funniest or most touching tweets will be selected to appear on the poster and the digital and social wall on www.tdfpassion.fr. To get a special place in the 2016 Tour de France, you only have to tweet with the hashtag #TDFPassion. Messages can also be sent via Google + until December 15th this year. |
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More information about le Tour de France 2016 on www.letour.fr |
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L’Etape du Tour 2016 : A final ahead of schedule
On Sunday 10th July 2016, the 24th edition of L’Étape du Tour will take place on the route of the Megève-Morzine stage, which, for the elite peloton, will be scheduled the day before the final finish of the Tour de France in Paris. The 2016 edition will be a real challenge for the climbers, and will take place in this setting which could almost be Colombian…Read more here
L’Etape du Tour 2016 profile
More information about L’Etape du Tour 2016 on www.letapedutour.com
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| Press contactAmaury Bodinabodin@aso.fr – (+33)6.07.02.42.17 | ||||||||||