Sunday 18 October 2015 at 20h40
initially published on 23 August 2015 at 0.04AM, updated on 4 September at 10.30PM, on 9 September at 10.15AM, on 12 September at 9.45PM, on 13 September at 3.20PM and at 10.55PM (addition of the map), on 14 September at 12.30PM, on 17 September at noon, on 24 September at 9AM and at 1.30PM, on 27 September at 4.05PM, on 30 September at 10.40PM, on 6 October at 9.50AM, on 7 October at 10.25AM and at 9.05PM, on 8 October at 3.48PM, on 10 October at 3.03PM and at 5.53PM, on 12 October at 9.58PM, on 13 October at 9.10PM, on 15 October at 5PM, on 16 October at 10.34PM, on 17 October at 2.17PM, on 18 October at 2.40PM and at 8.40PM
While the official announcement is only planned for Tuesday 20 October at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, you are used to find here early September (and this year even a bit before for the French version) the first rumours about the Tour de France race route for next year, in this case the Tour de France 2016 which will take place from Saturday 2 July till Sunday 24 July 2016. We'll discover over the next days and weeks the whole race route of the 103rd edition of the Tour!
In this article you'll sometimes find rumours which could get confirmed later on or might be false in the end, but on the map you'll only find the stages which really seem to get confirmed. Little by little, the article will develop and will provide as usual - at least I hope so - the whole race route of the 2016 Tour de France before October 20th ...
As far as possible, I'll also share with you any rumours about the Etape du Tour 2016, the cyclosportive which is organised on the race route of one of the stages of the Tour de France 2016.
What's for sure: the Grand Départ from the Manche departement and the informations about the first three stages
As announced by velowire.com early October 2014 and confirmed on 24 November 2014 and finally officially presented on 9 December 2014, the Tour de France 2016 will start in the Manche department in the Basse-Normandie region.2 stages in line will entirely take place in the Manche, knowing that the 3rd stage will also start in this department.
The programme of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2016 is as usual:
Since 18 December 2014, velowire.com already presented you the race route on Google Maps for these first stages of the Tour de France 2016!
In addition to the start, we know since 15 January 2015 that the Tour de France 2016 will have a stage finish, a rest day and a stage start in Andorra. The Tour de France will visit this country for the 5th time in 2016, after 1964 (finish of the 13th stage coming from Perpignan, won by J. Jimenez, rest day and start of the 14th stage towards Toulouse), 1993 (finish of the 15th stage coming from Perpignan, won by O. Rincon, and start of the 16th stage towards Saint-Lary-Soulan), 1997 (finish of the 10th stage in Andorra Arcalis coming from Luchon, stage won by Jan Ullrich, and start of the 11th stage towards Perpignan) and 2009 (finish of the 7th stage in Andorra Arcalis coming from Barcelona, stage won by Brice Feillu, and start of the 8th stage the next day towards Saint Girons).
Apart from that, things are a bitt less certain and that's where we get to the usual activity on velowire.com in September and October ... but this time the article has been published a bit earlier, among other reasons because of the new collaboration announced below!
New: win your Haribo box with exclusive information!
As usual, you can help finding the race route by finding the right rumours about the Tour de France 2016 race route. However, this year there's something new! Indeed, for the first time since velowire.com presents you the rumours about the Tour de France race route, you can - in collaboration with Haribo, one of the sponsors of the Tour! - win your Haribo box with exclusive information about one of the start or finish stages that you'll be the first to provide to velowire.com!Of course you can comment the article below and if you're the first to mention a start or finish city for the right date and if it turns out to be on the map of the Tour de France 2016 at that dat, Haribo will send you a box of sweets! If you have exclusive information, I'd recommend you to send it by e-mail and I'll try to check with Haribo to give you even more sweets :).
What's next for the Tour de France 2016: the rumours about the stage cities of the 103rd Grande Boucle!
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3/ Monday 4 July 2016 - Granville > Angers
After theHowever, CYRILLE, our usual information provider for hotel bookings, announced that A.S.O. had asked for hotel rooms in Angers for the night of 4 July 2016. The next day, Angers Info was the first to mention a possible stage finish or start in Angers. More precisely, Angers Info mentioned Terra Botanica - an amusement and botanical park at the north of the city Angers - indicating that Christian Gillet, the President of the Conseil départemental de Maine-et-Loire, would have mentioned this possibility during a press conference for the presentation of the 19th edition of the "fête du Vélo en Anjou".
More than one month later, on 10 July 2015, Ouest France talked about it and Entreprise Angers did the same on 3 August.
UPDATE 4 September 2015 at 10.30PM: on the 1st of September, Ouest France came back on this stage finish, indicating that the hetels in the city are already fully booked. Not surprising when we know that A.S.O. already made its bookings in July and following the publication here, that other rooms have been booked!
For Angers this will be the 16th time that the city receives the Tour de France, the last one being in 2004 when the finish was disturbed by a crash before the bunch sprint which was won by Tom Boonen.
4/ Tuesday 5 July 2016 - Angers ? > Limoges
For the 4th stage, the first information came from du Populaire du Centre on 31 July when the local newspaper announced that this stage would connect Tours to Limoges. Apart from the fact that a start in Tours is hardly probable since Tours is at about 130 kilometers from Angers while A.S.O. booked hotel rooms in Angers and not in Tours, a reaction from Xavier Dateu, delegated to sports in Tours, came rather quickly since La Nouvelle Rubrique indicated the next day that the delegate commented: We have never discussed such a thing with ASO, even though we're regularly in touch with them concerning the race Paris-Tours. Nothing has been signed. It would cost 75,000 € to be a start city, that's not possible within the budget of the city next year. We can however start thinking about receiving the Tour in 2018.UPDATE 4 September 2015 at 10.30PM: in a TV show called Quai des Carmes on the local station Angers TV, the Mayor of Angers - Christophe Béchu - confirmed that the Tour will indeed have a stage finish here, but he said there won't be a stage start on Tuesday 5 July. Check out his declatation in the video below at 29'06":
UPDATE 12 September 2015 at 9.45PM: according to my informations, the start of this 4th stage would take place in the neighbour city of Angers, Saumur. In the history of the Tour de France, Saumur saw the race stop only once, in 1987 for a stage start and this experience could thus be reproduced 29 years later!UPDATE 24 September 2015 at 9AM: when Ouest France published an article last week about the visit of the Mayenne department by the stage which finishes in Angers, the newspaper also mentioned a stage start in Bressuire for this stage. For now however, my informations still point to Saumur ... we'll see what gets confirmed in the next few days.
UPDATE 30 September 2015 at 10.40PM: while I already exclusively announced you a stage start from Saumur since 12 September, it was tonight finally the Courrier de l'Ouest who took over this information, announcing it - incorrectly thus - as an exclusivity!For Limoges this would bring back the Tour de France after 6 years of absence (start in 2009, for a stage towards Issoudun) knowing that the city has seen the Tour no less than 14 times already).
5/ Wednesday 6 July 2016 - Limoges > Le Lioran
Still according to Le Populaire du Centre on 31 July (and a bit more in detail on the 1st of August), the 5th stage would also start in Limoges, the porcelain city.The La Montagne newspaper came with the information about the finish of this stage which would be at the winter sports station Le Lioran in the Cantal mountains which are part of the Massif central. Le Lioran hasn't seen a Tour finish since 1975 when the Belgian rider Michel Pollentier won the stage. In 2011, a stage crossed the village of Le Lioran and the first rest day officially took place there. This information was also published by Le Populaire du Centre which is part of the same group.
According to France 3 Limousin, the eternal second placed rider Raymond Poulidor would have confirmed this information saying: These rumours are correct.
And then ... towards the Pyrenees!
6/ Thursday 7 July 2016 - Arpajon-sur-Cère > MontaubanThe next day, one could - for example based on this very short article in La Montagne - think about a stage start in Aurillac.
UPDATE 15 October 2015 at 5PM: as France Bleu Auvergne announces today, the start of this stage will not be in Aurillac itself but just south-east of this city, in Arpajon-sur-Cère. According to the radio station, the stage would visit Marcolès, the village in which a famous after-Tour criterium is organised every year!France Bleu Auvergne also indicates the information that I also received, concerning the finish of this stage. Indeed, it would finish in Montauban.
7/ Friday 8 July 2016 - L'Isle-Jourdain > Lac de Payolle
UPDATE 15 October 2015 at 5PM: while France Bleu Auvergne proudly gives itself some compliments by saying it published an information concerning the start of the 6th stage which had been announced on no single specialised website, those sites where the specialists try to get together the Tour's race route before it's official publication, velowire.com can announce you exclusively that the next day's stage, the 8th stage, will start in L'Isle-Jourdain and finish at the Lac de Payolle, finish location of the first stage of the Route du Sud 2014, which was won by Jesús Herrada López (Movistar Team).8/ Saturday 9 July 2016 - Pau ? >
It's quite usual for the Tour de France to visit the capital of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pau. This is even the 3rd most visited city of the Grande Boucle, after Paris and Bordeaux. According to La République des Pyrénées in its edition the day after the stage start of the Tour de France 2015 in Pau, a delegate to the Mayor of Pau - Josy Poueyto - would have declared during this start that there will be something in Pau next year for the Tour, while Christian Prudhomme, the director of the Tour de France, would have added: Josy Poueyto is the only delegate in France who is an official delegate for the Tour de France, this is the proof of the strong links between the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Tour de France.
It is highly probable that this is all about the start of the first stage of the Tour de France 2016 in the Pyrenees.
For the finish, I don't have any precise information for now, but this could well be in Peyragudes or in Loudenvielle (see below).
UPDATE 6 October 2015 at 9.50AM: and if we believe today's La Dépêche, the final choice seems to have been Loudenvielle.UPDATE 18 October 2015 at 8.40PM: while La Semaine des Pyrénées and La République des Pyrénées seemed to confirm the finish in Loudenvielle this week, the most recent information I got make this stage finish in Bagnères-de-Luchon anyway, as seemed to indicate La Dépêche. This would thus be a finish location which has become usual every two years since 2010, where the stage was won by Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) in 2014 ahead of Thomas Voeckler who won the stage there in 2010 and in 2012. I can not be 100% sure of this finish (especially becaude the local media thus mentioned a stage finish in Loudenvielle recently ... was that a simple copy of my initial information??) but since the most recent info indicates me that it would be Bagnères-de-Luchon, I fill in a finish there now.CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
Three days in Andorra
As indicated half January, the Tour de France 2016 will spend 3 days in Andorra. There will be a stage finish, a rest day and a stage start.
Following the schedule which seems to be the one of the Tour 2016 based on the different rumours, the Tour would arrive in Andorra on Sunday 10 July 2016 (precise location to be confirmed).
UPDATE 24 September 2015 at 9AM: yesterday, the "Conseil Général" of the Val d'Aran in Spain announced that this stage would start on its territory, probably in Vielha, the city which is used to receive the Tour de France in its hotels when it passes nearby (for example in 2014, the Trek Factory Racing and Movistar teams, but also the direction of Tour (!) slept there). For the finish the day before, one could thus think of Bagnères-de-Luchon which is just on the other side of the border and which already received the Tour several times, but the rumours I heard about rather point towards a finish either as a mountain top finish at Peyragudes or in the valley, in Loudenvielle!UPDATE 27 September 2015 at 4.05PM: Andorra Difusio mentioned last week, as indicated by "lucho", that Cortals d'Encamp could be - if I correctly understood the translation - a stage finish or at least a place where the race could be coming by during the Tour de France 2016. As a reminder, the Tour of Spain 2015 had its stage finish there for the 11th stage. This could thus be the finish location of this 9th stage ...UPDATE 17 October 2015 at 2.17PM: while the #GASS elPeriòdic.ad newspaper announced yesterday that the stage finish would logically take place in the ski domain Vallnord (which regroups Pal-Arinsal and Ordino Arcalis), but the newspaper wasn't able to indicate which one of the two stations would have the honour to receive the Tour de France 2016. Despite the obligation to keep things secret which was mentioned by the newspaper yesterday, its publication today is far more precise and indicates that the finish will take place - as in 1997 and in 2009 when Brice Feillu won the stage - at Arcalis. The newspapers provides many other details about the stage now, explaining that after the start from Vielha, it will stay a while in Spain, visiting Salardú, the climb of the Port de la Bonaigua, Sort, the climb of the Port del Cantó, Adrall, La Seu d'Urgell (of which the bishop is, together with the President of France, the co-prince of Andorra) and than enter Andorra in Sant Julià, go through the city of Andorra la Vella and Escaldes-Engordany, the climb of the Collada de Beixalís and the descent either towards Ordino via La Massana or directly to Ordino and finally the final climb towards Arcalis. A stage of about 180 kilometers with 4 difficulties would thus be on the programme the day before the rest day.Monday 11 July 2016 - rest day in Andorra
The next day, on Monday 11 July 2016, the riders and followers of the Tour would thus have a rest day in Andorra, before they leave again the next day.
Direction Carcassonne and Montpellier
10/ Tuesday 12 July 2016 - Andorra la Vella > RevelAccording to CYRILLE, A.S.O. has booked hotels in Carcassonne for Tuesday 12 July 2016, which would thus mean that the 10th stage which will start in Andorra (precise location to be confirmed) would go towards the medieval city, without being sure that it would finish in Carcassonne itself.
UPDATE 8 October at 3.48PM: several sources, and mainly La Dépêche indicated today and yesterday (yesterday in the subscribers edition of La Dépêche) that the finish of this stage would be in Revel, thus confirming the information which had already been shared a few weeks ago by Pierre Lacoue and which was shown on my map below since several days now :).
11/ Wednesday 13 July 2016 - Carcassonne >
On Wednesday 13 July, the stage would thus start in Carcassonne, and go off - also based on the hotel bookings indicated by CYRILLE - towards Montpellier, the main city of the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Midi Libre also indicated half July the possibility that Montpellier would be on the map of the Tour de France 2016, and France 3 Languedoc-Roussillon did the same, indicating that, following a visit of the Mayor of Montpellier - Philippe Saurel - that While the Mayor thinks about 2017, the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, would prefer 2016, which is a very clear indication which seems to confirm that the hotel bookings are really not just a coincidence.
UPDATE 12 September 2015 at 9.45PM: for the start of this stage, the city Carcassonne has been confirmed in today's La Dépêche article. Indeed, in the interview with Gérard Larrat, the mayor of Carcassonne, the answer to the question if he's in contact with Christian Prudhomme is clear: Absolutely, I can confirm that and I'll soon be able to give you a complete answer. It's becoming more and more sure and we'll be the start city and without any doubt we'll have even more in 2017 .... Of course, the mayor can not confirm anything for sure as of now, but his answer seems to clearly confirm this stage start, knowing that the finish the day before would not be at the Medieval city. For 2017, it would be a time trial ...According to the La Marseillaise newspaper on 23 July, this even has been confirmed since - by the Mayor himself - during a meeting of the municipal council the same day where he apparently announced that Montpellier will be a stage city (finish and start) of the Tour de France 2016.
UPDATE 7 October 2015 at 10.25AM: concerning the start of this stage in Carcassonne, La Dépêche talked about this again today, re-confirming the stage start with quite a vague description: if we can believe the information which came around yesterday, without being more precise about where / who / what / how yesterday ...
And then the Alps and maybe Italy and / or Switzerland?
12/ Thursday 14 July 2016 - Montpellier When one says stage city this means there's a stage finish and start for Montpellier, which would mean that the 12th stage - the day of the National Bank Holiday - will also start here.
Several sources, and mainly France Bleu Vaucluse on 20 July and La Provence on 31 July, announced that there would be a finish on top of the Mont Ventoux during the Tour de France 2016 and La Provence added that this would be on 14 July 2016, the National Bank Holiday. This would mean that 3 years after its last visit, the Tour would again visit the Géant de la Provence.
I think we should see coming a little bit more precise elements confirming this finish however, since what's most surprising for me is that Ventoux Magazine, usually the first one to announce a Tour visit of the Ventoux and in that case very reliable, had not at all mentioned a possible stage finish in the Tour 2016 on the Mont Ventoux ! To be confirmed ...
UPDATE 10 October 2015 at 3.03PM: and the confirmation indeed arrived! My informations indeed confirm the answer Svam got from Ventoux Magazine and also the informations provided by La Provence yesterday: the finish of this stage will indeed be on top of the Mont Ventoux!13/ Friday 15 July 2016 - Bourg-Saint-Andéol > Vallon-Pont-d'Arc - individual time trial
After the Mont Ventoux (which remains to be confirmed!) we lose the trace of the Tour de France 2016 race route for now, but the Ardèche edition of e-tribune.fr announces that the Tour de France 2016 will go to the Ardèche department. We don't know much more about it for now, but the president of the Conseil Départemental de l'Ardèche would have indicated that While the habitants of the Ardèche and the people watching the Tour on TV have liked the Tour de France in 2015, they'll love it in 2016!, which seems indeed to indicate that the Tour will really have a stage in the department, while it only crossed it during the Mende > Valence stage in 2015.
Guessing on, e-tribune.fr mentions two possible places: Gerbier and the Caverne du Pont d'Arc. The last mentioned led to many discussions in the article about the rumours on the Tour de France 2015 race route but Vallon-Pont d'Arc, the small village which thanks its name to the natural bridge over the Ardèche river and which forms the entrance gate to the gorges of the Ardèche, has seen the Tour this year. The Caverne du Pont d'Arc is the fruit of a collaboration between the Ardèche department and the Rhône-Alpes region and is a replica of the Chauvet cave. It opened its doors in 2015. It is however not guaranteed that the Tour 2016 will visit these places ...
UPDATE 4 September 2015 at 10.30PM: on 25 August, Le Dauphiné also talked about this possibility, but mentioning a possible time trial in the gorges of the Ardèche between Bourg-Saint-Andéol and Vallon-Pont-d'Arc (on 17 July?). The way Le Dauphiné wrote this article is very unsure however, so they might not have many concrete sources for this "information" ...
UPDATE 9 September 2015 at 10.15AM: today, as revealed by Thomas26, Le Dauphiné seems to be much more sure of this information now, even though the newspaper adds the usual conditions, indicating that there'll indeed be a time trial between Bourg-Saint-Andéol and the area around Vallon-Pont-d'Arc knowing that the finish line could be drawn at the Caverne du Pont d'Arc. According to the newspaper, some managers from ASO were present at the finish of the last stage of the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche which took place at that same location.14/ Saturday 16 July 2016 - Montélimar > Villars-les-Dombes
Still according to Le Dauphiné, the next stage could start in Montélimar and still according to the newspaper but without any clear indication on the reliability of the information, the peloton could again go off towards Gap, like in 2006, following the same roads as in the Critérium du Dauphiné 2014.
UPDATE 24 September 2015 at 1PM: according to CYRILLE's informations, A.S.O. would have booked hotels in Mâcon and Bourg-en-Bresse, which brings back the possibility of a visit of the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes and maybe even a visit of the Col du Béal.15/ Sunday 17 July 2016 - Bourg-en-Bresse > Culoz
UPDATE 13 October 2015 at 9.10PM: today, first L'Est Républicain and later on also Le Progrès announced that the start of the 15th stage would take place in Bourg-en-Bresse. L'Est Républicain also announces that the finish will be in Culoz, a small village of just 3000 inhabitants, and even adds that this stage will climb the Grand Colombier!16/ Monday 18 July 2016 -
R2/ Tuesday 19 July 2016 - rest day in Bern (CH)
UPDATE 17 September 2015 at noon: today, the Swiss newspapers Berner Zeitung and Le Matin came back on Bern as the Swiss candidate which seems to have the best chances to be on the map of the Tour de France 2016! The mayor of the city, Alexander Tschäppät, would have indicated that it seems that our candidature has good chances to be chosen and he sees the double visit of the city by Christian Prudhomme as a positive sign. During these visits, the director of the Tour de France has met several local political figures. According to the newspapers there would have already been 1,500 beds booked by the organisor of the Tour for two nights in the period from Monday 18 (at night) till Wednesday 20 July 2016 (morning). It thus becomes quite probable that Bern will be on the map of the Tour 2016 not only for a stage finish but also for the second rest day and a stage start!UPDATE 24 September at 9AM: a few days later, Le Nouvelliste confirmed that the Tour de France 2016 will not visit Crans-Montana but that Christian Prudhomme has promised a visit next time the Tour comes to Switzerland.
UPDATE 13 October 2015 at 9.10PM: in the article in L'Est Républicain today, we read that the start of this stage would take place in Oyonnax. Personally, I'm not convinced that the start location will be Oyonnax itself, even though I do agree that the stage start will be in this area!UPDATE 18 October 2015 at 2.40PM: while the local press thus seemed to be sure that this stage would start in Oyonnax, I wrote here that it would be close to Oyonnax because I heard about a stage start in Moirans-en-Montagne. I was not really sure whether I could believe this because we've never heard of this village being a candidate and because Moirans-en-Montagne is very small on the map of the Tour, with no more than 2,500 inhabitants. It seems however that this start from the capital of wooden toys is being confirmed these past few days and the Gentleman Alexis Vuillermoz which is organised there by the club of the young French rider, the Vel'haut Jura Saint Claude, and which took place yesterday, thus is only an appetizer for the big peloton of the Tour de France 2016 coming on Monday 18 July 2016!17/ Wednesday 20 July 2016 - Bern (CH) > Finhaut-Emosson (CH)
UPDATE 10 October 2015 at 3.03PM: however, according to the information I obtained, the finish of this stage starting in Bern on Wednesday 20 July 2016 would finally be in Switzerland anyway. More precisely, the finish line would be drawn on top of the climb of Finhaut-Emosson, which has been categorised as hors category on the Critérium du Dauphiné 2014 when Lieuwe Westra won the 7th stage there! We'll thus certainly see some very nice images seen from the helicopter of the lac d'Emosson!!UPDATE 24 September 2015 at 9AM: in an article on 19 September, the Dauphiné Libéré mentioned, while talking about a visit of the two cities to the organisor of the Tour in Issy-les-Moulineaux, that Méribel and Brides will be candidates for the Tour de France 2017 and also mentioned the possibility of the Tour de France 2016 going to Albertville, without however being very sure of it. Indeed, the newspaper simply mentioned that the politicians, so far openly candidate for 2017, no longer show a time schedule when they're talking about the Tour.18/ Thursday 21 July 2016 - Sallanches > Megève
UPDATE 13 September 2015 at 3.20PM: today, Le Dauphiné Libéré Haute-Savoie published an article in which it indicated that the Tour de France 2016 would go to Megève, a ski station which -as far as I know- has never before received the Tour de France. The newspaper mentions a stage finish and -start in Megève, but also 3 days in the Mont Blanc (Saint-Gervais ?). This seems a lot, except if one of those days is the second rest day. This however seems to be contradictory to INGA's comment #194 who said that hotels are booked in this area for the period from 20 till 23 July. INGA contacted me before the publication of this comment (but I didn't really know what to do with this information so far) and indicated that this information is based on reservations in hotels which A.S.O. usually books in this area ...UPDATE 7 October 2015 at 9.05PM: after some research, the Mont Blanc area will indeed receive the Tour de France 2016 for several days. More precisely, the cities I've hear of are (not necessarily in the right order) in addition to Morzine, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Megève and Sallanches. The last one has by the way been confirmed today on the Facebook page of C'Sallanches, Commerces de Sallanches, which indicates that this will be a stage start. The next few days, I'll try to obtain some further information about the way these cities will be taken up in the different stages of the Tour!UPDATE 16 October 2015 at 10.34PM: once I added Saint-Gervais and Morzine last week, I still had to find where Megève and Sallanches would fit in the puzzle, among two stage starts (of the 18th and the 19th stage) and a stage finish. In the table below I thus indicated the names of these two cities on the line of the 18th stage, in order to show that these should be placed somewhere in the 18th and 19th stages. This turns out to have been a good choice because it would simply be the stage start and finish cities of this 18th stage. According to my informations, it would start in Sallanches and finish in Megève, only about ten kilometers from there. It would however not be a time trial but a stage in line, which will no doubt go off in the mountains to go find some additional distance ...19/ Friday 22 July 2016 - Albertville > Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc
UPDATE 12 October 2015 at 9.58PM: while the start location of this 19th stage still remains unknown for me for now, the finish of this stage should be a mountain top finish. Indeed, the finish line would be at the same location as the one of the 7th stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2015, that is in the ski station of Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc. In the Dauphiné, this climb of 7 kilometers at 7.7% had been classified in the 1st category and the winner of the Tour de France 2015 and of the Tour de France 2013, Chris Froome, won this stage solo with a 17 seconds gap on Tejay van Garderen!UPDATE 16 October 2015 at 10.34PM: in the past few days, people like barbote, 1010 and maziro were guessing that, in order to prevent the Tour from turning around the Mont-Blanc, this stage could benefit from a start in Albertville. Even though they apparently didn't have any sources for this idea, except for the previous rumours about a possible presence of Albertville in the Tour de France 2016, my informations seem to confirm this stage start!! As Le Dauphiné indicated in September (as indicated hereabove), the Olympic city, so far openly candidate for 2017, no longer show a time schedule when they're talking about the Tour. « We are a candidate to have the Tour as soon as possible », recently indicated the mayor, Martine Berthet, willing to confirm the bike strategy of the Olympic city. And that "as soon as possible" thus seems to become truth right from 2016 because Albertville would thus be on the map of the Tour de France 2016 race route for the start of the 19th stage.20/ Saturday 23 July 2016 - Saint-Gervais > Morzine
UPDATE 12 October 2015 at 9.58PM: after the finish on top of the mountain the day before, the start of this forelast stage of the Tour de France 2016 would thus take place in the city at the foot of the Mont-Blanc, in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains.Even though the mayor of Morzine officially denied that a possible Tour de France 2016 visit would already have been confirmed, it also gave the confirmation that Morzine has send a file to be a "stage city" and that An information will be published as soon as the city will have received an official confirmation from the organisor.
This last sentence is quite direct actually in confirming that the Tour will come by and ... that's not really surprising ... Indeed, according to my information (which I got from someone who prefers to remain anonymous but who indicated that the information is for 99% sure!), Morzine will indeed be on the map of the Tour de France 2016
According to my information there would be a stage finish in Avoriaz
UPDATE 7 October 2015 at 9.05PM: finally, and I regret to find out about it, my research shows that a finish in Morzine indeed gets confirmed, but not the time trial the next day! However, Les Gets could play an important role in the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2016! For the finish in Morzine, this would be the finish of the forelast stage just before the riders head off to Paris ...21/ Sunday 24 July 2016 - Chantilly > Paris - Champs-Elysées
One thing is sure, on Sunday 24 July 2016, the Tour de France 2016 will finish on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.UPDATE 14 September 2015 at 12.30PM: according to the Courrier Picard newspaper, this last stage would start in Chantilly and that information would have been confirmed by the mayor of the city, Eric Woerth. If this information is indeed correct, it would be the first time since a very long time (I didn't have the occasion to verify it) that the start of the final stage would take place north of Paris! Le Parisien also indicated the same information today.L'Etape du Tour 2016
UPDATE 10 October 2015 at 5.53PM: Concerning the Etape du Tour, the cyclosportive which is organised every year on the race route of one of the most impressive stages of the Tour de France and thus also on one of the stages of the Tour de France 2016, the chosen stage remains unknown for now. However, the date seems to be known already now and would be Sunday 17 July 2016. Indeed, the Etape du Tour is - together with 5 other cyclosportives around the world - since this week part of an association known as WACE which stands for World Association of Cycling Events and on the page dedicated to the Etape du Tour on their website the date is simply announced: NEXT EDITION : Sunday 17th of July.
We also read there that the Etape du Tour will take place in the French mountains, either in the Alps or in the Pyrenees (to be confirmed). The rumours about an Etape du Tour between Limoges and Le Lioran which have been reported in several comments below thus don't seem to get confirmed!However, several comments also indicated that several hotels are already fully booked in Pau on the 16th of July which could thus well indicate that the Etape du Tour will be the stage which starts in Pau !
UPDATE 12 October 2015 at 9.58PM: apparently A.S.O. had to change the date of the Etape du Tour. Indeed, as some of you have discovered on the new Etape du Tour website, the date has been announed officially and finally it'll be on Sunday 10 July 2016. What you didn't see however is that A.S.O. has not yet corrected the date everywhere on the website before its publication. Indeed, on the "how to register page in English, it still says Next edition: Sunday 17th July 2016 while the French version of the same page shows Prochaine édition : dimanche 10 juillet 2016!
UPDATE 18 October 2015 at 2.40PM: without being 100% sure, based on the hotel bookings by A.S.O. in Morzine on the night of 10 July, it's almost sure that the Etape du Tour will finish there. Looking at the pro stages and following the logic which says that the Etape du Tour takes place on the race route of one of the pro stages, the only logical conclusion can be that the Etape du Tour 2016 will be Saint-Gervais > Morzine on 10 July 2016.
Of course this article will regularly be updated with the latest rumours in order to get, if possible, to the complete and correct race route (as has been the case in the past few years) before the official presentation of the Tour de France 2016 on 20 October.
The table of stages for the Tour de France 2016 based on rumours
When we put this all together, we already see quite clear what the structure of the race will be, even though there are still quite some gaps to fill in and things to be confirmed. In the table below you'll find an overview of the Tour de France 2016 stages based on the current rumours. As usual, it's useless to copy this table and reproduce it elsewhere because only here it'll be updated regularly as soon as new rumours surface! By the way, any copy of the contents (even parts of it) of this article is strictly forbidden!| # | date | start | finish | comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sat. 2 July 2016 | Mont-Saint-Michel | Utah Beach - Sainte-Marie-du-Mont | 188 km |
| 2 | Sun. 3 July 2016 | Saint-Lô | Cherbourg-Octeville | 182 km |
| 3 | Mon. 4 July 2016 | Granville | Angers | |
| 4 | Tues. 5 July 2016 | Saumur | Limoges | |
| 5 | Wed. 6 July 2016 | Limoges | Le Lioran | |
| 6 | Thu. 7 July 2016 | Arpajon-sur-Cère | Montauban | |
| 7 | Fri. 8 July 2016 | L'Isle-Jourdain | Lac de Payolle | |
| 8 | Sat. 9 July 2016 | Pau | Bagnères-de-Luchon | |
| 9 | Sun. 10 July 2016 | Val d'Aran (ES): Vielha | Andorra Arcalis | |
| R1 | Mon. 11 July 2016 | rest day in Andorra | ||
| 10 | Tues. 12 July 2016 | Andorra la Vella | Revel | |
| 11 | Wed. 13 July 2016 | Carcassonne | Montpellier | |
| 12 | Thu. 14 July 2016 | Montpellier | Mont Ventoux | |
| 13 | Fri. 15 July 2016 | Bourg-Saint-Andéol | Vallon-Pont-d'Arc | individual time trial |
| 14 | Sat. 16 July 2016 | Montélimar | Villars-les-Dombes | |
| 15 | Sun. 17 July 2016 | Bourg-en-Bresse | Culoz | |
| 16 | Mon. 18 July 2016 | Moirans-en-Montagne | Bern (CH) | |
| R2 | Tues. 19 July 2016 | rest day in Bern (CH) | ||
| 17 | Wed. 20 July 2016 | Bern (CH) | Finhaut-Emosson (CH) | |
| 18 | Thu. 21 July 2016 | Sallanches | Megève | |
| 19 | Fri. 22 July 2016 | Albertville | Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc | |
| 20 | Sat. 23 July 2016 | Saint-Gervais-les-Bains | Morzine | |
| 21 | Sun. 24 July 2016 | Chantilly | Paris Champs-Elysées | |
The map of the Tour de France 2016 based on rumours
As usual, I created a map of the Tour de France 2016 based on the rumours in order to allow you to better understand the race route. Again, please don't copy this map to reproduce it elsewhere (this is by the way strictly forbidden, as indicated on the copyright page) because only here this map will regularly be updated based on any new rumours!(in order to zoom in on the map, click on it when the magnifying glass shows up and then click on the arrows at the bottom right of the image to show the original size)
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this publication is published in: Tour de France | Tour de France 2016
by barbote over
Parc des Expositions-- finally this will most probably be at the Haras (horse stable) of Saint-Lô