Classic and original
12 new cities will appear on the Tour 2020 route. “It's a lot. We don't do it on purpose. There were 3 in 2019. 12 is in the high middle. As with the passes, the main idea is to always have new climbs and at the same time revisit the old ones if possible, ”summarizes Prudhomme. Symbol of the unprecedented, the magnificent and unprecedented Col de la Loze above Méribel (2,304 m) will be one of the attractions of this edition, such as the Grand Colombier, the theater of a first arrival at the summit.
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Half a card
Head south. Cut in the direction of the height last year, the map of the Tour will, in 2020, be cut in half in the direction of the width. The Tour 2020 obscures the North and West to offer an original design. In the collection of "special" cards, the Tour de France 2002 (departure from Luxembourg, had two very distinct parts, a northern part and a southern part). Like the Tour 2015. “What matters is what it can give in July and what matters is to irrigate our country over 5 or 6 years, to go almost everywhere, even if we have waited 110 years to go to Corsica. We try to go every 5 or 6 years to each of the regions of France, ”says Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour. The Pyrenees will be quickly visited (two stages, no arrival at the top).
"Very nice
“Nice is Paris-Nice. Nice is cycling, it's our meeting in March. The first stage race on the calendar in Europe, we have links. And leaving Nice allows you to be in mountainous areas, ”says Christian Prudhomme. After Fleurance (1977, 1979), Nice (1981), San Sebastian (1992), Monaco (2009) and Porto-Vecchio (2013), the Tour de France will start for the 7th time from the far south in 2020 and will make its return to Nice where the Tour will pass for the 37th time. The first 2 stages will start and arrive in Nice. For a full-bodied entry. The 1st uneven stage (a 50 km loop to be covered twice and 1 70 km loop) should offer a sprint, an appetizer followed by a stage for climbers (with the Colmiane, Turini, Eze et des Quatre Chemins) on the menu. "We start from the South, surely the most mountainous entrance in history," says Christian Prudhomme. 29 passes are on the Tour 2020 program (30 in 2019). There will be four sprint finishes in the 1st week but none consecutive. A first week that could smile on a runner like Warren Barguil… During the second week, two consecutive stages should fall into the sprinters' pocket. Afterwards, they will have less room to express themselves.
The route of the Tour 2020
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Wind and Vauban
The 1st breakaway on the map. "Island hopping. Ile d'Oléron (part of an arrival in 1983) -Ile de Ré (unpublished), this has never been done. It was a wish of Dominique Bussereau, president of the Departmental Council and former minister. I find it great. It is a very beautiful stage which will descend by Royan, it is also the stage of Vauban, there are half a dozen forts Vauban. A stage which can be crossed by the wind. I do not know what it will give but we must not go on the wrong side of the roundabout, that's for sure… ”, summarizes Christian Prudhomme, referring to the Saint-Flour stage in which Thibaut Pinot had been trapped during the last round.
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The tribute to Jacques Chirac
The Tour will pass in Sarran, a few meters from the museum in honor of Jacques Chirac. “There were several candidates from Corrèze, Brive in particular, and the Departmental Council. The stage was designed before the death of Jacques Chirac but the Tour will pay tribute to the former President of the Republic, in Sarran, the scene of an arrival on the Tour in 2001 (victory of Jens Voigt). “We will pass by Suc au May, a steep route for 3 ½ km. It's a bit the spirit of the Saint-Etienne 2019 final, before 26 km tortuous, sinuous as possible. It will not be for a sprinter. With such a final, the teams cannot roll, ”promises Christian Prudhomme. Two days later, Clermont will make its comeback on the Tour card after 32 years of waiting. Clermont will find the Tour, the start of a stage which will spin towards Lyon, via the climb of La Fourvière, before arriving on the banks of the Rhône. In the last 15 kilometers, the bumps will be linked, with a descent in the middle. A final not designed for a typical sprinter.
The volcanoes stage
The 100% Auvergne stage which will lead to Puy Mary will be the one with the most elevation difference in the Tour, more than in the Alps or the Pyrenees: 4400 m elevation, 7 ascents listed. “It will pass at the foot of Puy-de-Dôme, at the foot of Puy de Sancy, to finish at Puy Mary (5 km ascent but the last 3 11%, 13%, 15%). 15 km from the finish, there is the Col de Néronne via Le Falgoux (4 km at 9%). And Puy Mary, if it doesn't have the history of the Puy de Dôme, it has a hell of a mouth, ”underlines Prudhomme.
The trip to the top of the Jura giant
Le Grand Colombier (17 km at 7.1%) has started to settle on the Tour since a visit in 2012 and will experience its first arrival at the summit. "It is the giant of the Jura, the pyramid of Buget as people in the department of Ain say, a very special mountain with a setting, a completely fabulous environment on Lake Bourget on the Rhone just in low. We are going to make the Cantal pyramid (Puy Mary) and the giant of the Jura ”, underlines Prudhomme.
Dirt roads stay in fashion
After the Glières in 2018, a spectacular and moving passage, then the final of the Super Planche des Belles Filles in 2019, with its last new ramp, the Glières plateau will once again be on the Tour's program. In 2018, Julian Alaphilippe took the lead before picking the stage victory at Le Grand Bornand. The 6 km at 11% preceding the Glières will be an event for the peloton.
The Board of Beautiful Girls to decide before the Champs-Elysées
A single time trial is on the edition's program, 36 kilometers which will find their epilogue at La Planche des Belles Filles, present for the 5th time on the map after 2012 (stage victory by Christopher Froome), 2014 ( Vincenzo Nibali), 2017 (Fabio Aru) and 2019 (Dylan Teuns). The timing will offer a flat first third, a second third with a bump in two parts and the last third with the classic climb of La Planche (not the stony final of 2019, at “la super Planche”). Lure (city where Thibaut Pinot was born) will be the starting city of a stage which will pass by Melisey, whose mayor is the father of Thibaut Pinot.
The Tour de France in the heart of the cities
Toulouse and the popular Bagatelle district had been in the center of attention last July, rewarding a decade of passion and determination from Média-Pitchounes, an association. “There is continuity on the part of ASO and the Tour to speak to everyone. It was not the first time that we were in the cities in Toulouse, we went to Valence, to Roubaix, in the ZUP but last summer, it was the first time that an association resulting from the immigration wanted the Tour. The starting village for the last stage will be at Val Fourré. The start will be from Mantes-la-Jolie, before taking the Champs-Elysées route, for the closing parade. "The real challenge of the Tour is the challenge of France, adapting to a population that has changed," says Christian Prudhomme.
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- The Tour de France 2020 map