The 2021 Tour de France route was unveiled on Sunday evening, with fewer mountains than in previous years.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme detailed the profile of this next Grande Boucle on Europe 1.

INTERVIEW

Less mountainous and a more classic profile: the 2021 Tour de France route was unveiled on Sunday evening.

The next Grande Boucle, which will take place from June 26 to July 18, will be significantly different from this year's one, one of the most mountainous of the modern era.

Cycling enthusiasts will not be outdone, notably with a two-time ascent of the legendary Mont Ventoux.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme analyzed the route on Europe 1.

Here is the official # TDF2021 route!



Here is the official route of # TDF2021!

pic.twitter.com/MEoDFc2ph2

- Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) November 1, 2020

"The first week of the Tour will be magnificent with four stages in Brittany"

Initially scheduled for Copenhagen, the start will finally be given in Brittany, the host region for the first four stages.

Consequence: the first third of the route has been modified by the organizers.

"The 2020 Tour was exceptionally mountainous with the start from Nice, which allowed us to enter the legendary Col de Turini on the second day for example. Obviously, when we start from Brest there are a few more kilometers to do to find the mountain ", analyzed Christian Prudhomme.

"The first week of the Tour will be magnificent with the four stages in Brittany, the first two are made for puncheurs. I don't think it has ever happened that the first two stages of the Tour de France are built for punchers, in Landerneau and in Mûr de Bretagne, "detailed the boss of the Tour.

Two time trials on the program

“Then, to break the pace, there is an individual time trial in Mayenne, then the crossing of the Morvan. And then the Alps on Saturday and Sunday, so a week after the start of the Tour. is really to vary, it is not to harden ", assured Christian Prudhomme.

The Tour thus returns to its forgotten tradition of two individual time trials, the first in Laval on the fifth day, the second in the prestigious Bordeaux vineyards between Libourne and Saint-Emilion, on the eve of the finish.

The last "stopwatch" of the 2020 Tour, with the already legendary twist succeeded by Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who stole the yellow jersey from Primoz Roglic during the penultimate stage, seems to have put the discipline back in the saddle.

"A desire for balance" between medium and high mountains

"We put a maximum of two consecutive stages made for sprinters and there is a return of the middle mountain stages, so-called hilly stages: there will be five in the next Tour. It is often on these stages, which do not necessarily look like the surprises can be the greatest. There is a desire for balance with the mountain stages, six mountain stages and three finishes at altitude ", continued the director of the Tour.

Four climbs will have the "hors category" label next July: the Mont Ventoux (11th stage), the Col du Portet (17th stage), the Tourmalet and the ascent of Luz-Ardiden (18th stage).

The mythical Ventoux, the "giant of Provence" located in the Alps, will thus be climbed twice, a great novelty.

"We are going to do a double ascent for the first time in the history of the Tour de France. The Ventoux is building its legend thanks to the Tour de France and the Tour de France is also building its own thanks to the Ventoux."