Paris: Organisers have unveiled the route for the 2017 Tour de France featuring many early climbs in a bid to limit the opportunities for strong teams to dominate stages and reward aggressive riders looking to shake up the sport’s greatest spectacle.
Race director Christian Prudhomme has peppered the 2017 course with steep climbs, five of them making their first appearance on the Tour and many early in stages, which will start from Duesseldorf, July 1 and go through four countries before ending July 23 here.
“We want to favour the long-range attacks,” Prudhomme told reporters before unveiling the route here Tuesday. “We want to break the catenaccio on the race,” he added, referring to the conservative tactics top teams are able to impose on flatter stages.
Organisers are hoping that the top teams will not be able to impose their rule in such a stage having seen Britain’s all-powerful Team Sky in particular often control many stages with meticulously planned and executed group riding.
“Let’s hope that some aggressive top riders will be able to break away in the Col du Grand Colombier (the second of the three big climbs in the stage) and hold on to their lead all the way to Chambery. It will be difficult for any team to control that stage,” asserted Prudhomme.
No Frenchman has won the Tour since Bernard Hinault clinched the last of his five titles in 1985, but France have been on the final podium of two of the last three editions with Romain Bardet, Thibaut Pinot and Jean-Christophe Peraud. Fans are hoping that one of the three will break the 21-year-old jinx.
Reuters
