Paris (AFP)

One year after a high-altitude edition on the alpine peaks, the 2020 Tour is announced once again very mountainous: a choice above all linked to the great departure of Nice, at the foot of the passes.

Race director Thierry Gouvenou keeps the secret on the layout of next July. He agrees, however, to give AFP the thread of the race, on the eve of the presentation in Paris: "We will hardly leave the mountain, medium or high, this is the general spirit of this Tour . "

The man who is looking for novelties in the field and especially who puts in the lines drawn by the director of the Tour Christian Prudhomme, is best placed to discuss the differences between 2019 and 2020: "In terms of general difficulty, it will be almost identical, in total altitude, we will even be above. "

No offense to fans of data and statistics, however, the difference in altitude is not the ultimate value. "This is an index among others," says Thierry Gouvenou. "In 2020, we will accumulate a lot of altitude on stages that are not high mountain courses".

Last year, the total reached (before modification of the stages of Tignes and Val Thorens) 54,000 meters. Much more than the 2018 edition and its some 45,000 meters. Is the next Tour a new step in the race for records?

- "Two years out of the ordinary" -

"It's only the opportunity to leave in the south of France", corrects Thierry Gouvenou. "From the second day, we propose something big". Two important passes (the Colmiane, Turini) of a length exceeding or approaching the 15 kilometers, at a distance of course from the finish, another significantly shorter (Eze) in the final: no contemporary tower has presented such an entrance. material.

Is it likely to discourage sprinters? "No, even if there are very few real plain stages," says the race director. "There will be others where the sprinters can go all the way and play the win, but it will never be easy."

In twelve months, when the Tour 2021 will be presented, the climbers will do a little more grimace. Because the share given to the mountain can only be reduced, if we understand well Thierry Gouvenou: "This is not a heavy trend."

"2019 and 2020 are clearly two years out of the ordinary, with two Tours to the south," he said "Next year, we will move to a new sequence. more classical routes, in the plain and on moderately hilly terrain ".

The reason ? the site of the Grand Départ, set already in Copenhagen. But, says the race director, "the departure of Denmark is three days of flat".

© 2019 AFP