Paris (AFP)

The veil rises Thursday on the route of the Tour de France 2022, which will start on July 1 from Copenhagen for the northernmost start in its century-old history.

Three stages in Denmark and an arrival on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, on July 24, are the only certainties validated by ASO, the organizing company, which intends to reserve the officialization of the route of the Grande Boucle for the meeting of the Palais. des Congrès, in Paris.

Unlike last year, when the pandemic had forced the organizers to limit themselves to a TV program, the ceremony regained its pomp and its distinguished guests.

Next to Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, the double winner of the Tour, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, and the world champion, Julian Alaphilippe, are expected to discover the novelties of this Tour which is preceded, for the first time, by the presentation of the Tour de France Women, a highly anticipated creation.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, winner of the Tour de France 2020, July 18, 2020 in Paris Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

Marion Rousse, newly appointed to the management of the new event, and Christian Prudhomme, Tour director since 2007, will unveil the contours of the race which will begin with a prestigious stage a few hours before the finish of the Tour.

Before the men's 109th Tour map is displayed, along with technical explanations.

As usual, rumors have multiplied on the basis of the confidences of elected officials, all happy to have had their candidacy endorsed, hotel reservations, journalistic surveys.

- The myth of 1986 -

The North, often synonymous with cobblestones, should be in the spotlight for the return to France following the first Danish days.

Then the Vosges, since the Planche des Belles Filles is on the way to becoming a classic since the first arrival in 2012, the Alps (the Granon and Alpe d'Huez were mentioned in the regional press) after a foray into Switzerland, and finally the Pyrenees, before a time trial in the southwest on the eve of the finish.

Subject to confirmation by Christian Prudhomme, the Tour would thus return to Alpe d'Huez, the climb to the 21 bends invaded by the public, after a four-year break.

The Welshman Geraint Thomas won in the Oisans resort and then won the race in 2018.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, accompanied by five-time winner Eddy Merckx on October 25, 2018 in Paris STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN AFP / Archives

As for the Granon, the pass above Serre-Chevalier (Hautes-Alpes) has only been climbed once in history. In 1986, Bernard Hinault, who will attend the presentation on Thursday, left his yellow jersey to the American Greg LeMond. The two champions arrived hand in hand at Alpe d'Huez the next day at the end of a legendary stage (via the Galibier and the Croix-de-Fer).

How many arrivals at the top and how many big passes?

What part is given to the time trial?

What place for sprints and the middle mountains?

So many unanswered questions for the moment, even if we know that the first "stopwatch" in Copenhagen, in the wide arteries of the Danish capital, will be 13 kilometers long.

The second stage will cross the Great Belt for 18 kilometers, above the sea, in the spectacular final leading to Nyborg.

"There will be a good chance of having to fight in the middle of the gusts of wind", has already warned Christian Prudhomme.

The other traps remain to be discovered.

© 2021 AFP