Last week, Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.) and the Manche department, officially announced (at the Mont-Saint-Michel ) the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2016 in the Manche and more precisely at the Mont-Saint-Michel!

As usual, since velowire is always trying to provide you all the details, you can now discover the precise race route of the first two stages and the start of the third stage on Google Maps/Google Earth and maybe even get a first idea of the finish city of the 3rd stage?!

The race route of the first two stages of the Tour de France 2016 on Google Maps

The programme of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2016 follows the same logic as usual:

• Wednesday 29 June 2016: the Permanence and the press room open at the Parc des Expositions in Saint-Lô
• Thursday 30 June 2016: official presentation of the Tour de France 2016 teams
• Saturday 2 July 2016: first stage - Mont-Saint-Michel > Utah Beach - Sainte-Marie-du-Mont - 188 km
• Sunday 3 July 2016: second stage - Saint-Lô > Cherbourg-Octeville - 182 km
• Monday 4 July 2016: start of the third stage in Granville

Hereunder you'll find the race route of these stages in Google Maps/Google Earth. Please keep in mind that the precise details of the start and finish locations have not yet been announced and that the race routes might still be subject to modification based on the approval of the different authorities and other reasons which might prevent the Tour from passing on a road which is currently part of the plan. Therefore and since these maps are based on the information available at the time of publication, the final version might be a little bit different in July 2016!

The race route of the 1st stage of the Tour de France 2016 - Saturday 2 July 2016 - Mont-Saint-Michel > Utah Beach - Sainte-Marie-du-Mont - 188 km

The first stage will thus start at the foot of the Mont-Saint-Michel. From there, the riders will follow the coast line in eastern direction down to Pontaubault where they'll turn north via Avranches where the individual time trial towards the Mont-Saint-Michel started in 2013. They'll continue north following the coast line, via Granville and up to Lessay where they go a little bit more landinwards. In Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte the trip continues north-east towards Montebourg and up to the coast line on the other side. The riders will briefly follow the coast line before they turn back right in south-western direction in order to visit Sainte-Mère-l'Eglise before they continue towards the finish at Utah Beach - Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.

Hereunder you'll find the profile of the first stage of the Tour de France 2016 and the map with its race route on Google Maps:

The race route of the 2nd stage of the Tour de France 2016 - Sunday 3 July 2016 - Saint-Lô > Cherbourg-Octeville - 182 km

The second stage will start in Saint-Lô and go off south-east towards Torigni-sur-Vire where the riders will turn west down to Percy. That's where they'll start going up north via Coutances and its cathedrale and again Lessay where the peloton gets on the coast line at the same place where they left it the day before and go up towards the landslide and they'll turn just before Beaumont-Hague, in order to cross the Cotentin peninsula towards Cherbourg where they'll get to the finish line starting on the sea side and then first climb the Côte de Cherbourg before the final climb of the Côte de la Glacerie which goes up to 14% at some point. The rider who's wearing the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France 2016 (most probably a sprinter) could thus well get in difficulties at the finish of this second stage.

Hereunder you'll find the profile of the second stage of the Tour de France 2016 and the map with its race route on Google Maps:

And the third stage of the Tour de France 2016?

For the third stage we officially only know that Granville will be the start location: no information has been provided about the destination of this stage.
If however we try to imagine a bit .. why not imagine a stage finish in Rouen? Indeed, in 2016, 60 years after the separation of the Basse-Normandie region - which contains the Manche department and thus the stage start city of this 3rd stage - and the Haute-Normandie region - of which Rouen is the Préfecture, the two Normandies will be reunited in one single region, Normandie. And is there a better way to salute this reunification than a stage which connects the former Basse-Normandie region, where the Grand Départ will be in the Manche department, with the former Haute-Normandie region and its main city, Rouen?

We'll see, on October 20, 2015 at the official presentation of the Tour de France 2016 race route - or maybe a bit before on velowire.com of course! - if this idea is confirmed and thus if the Tour de France wants to celebrate this reunification, 19 years after the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in Rouen (1997) ...

The race route of the first Tour de France 2016 stages in Google Earth

If you prefer to see these maps in Google Earth, you can do so by downloading the following KML file:

>> Download the race route of the first Tour de France 2016 stages in Google Earth

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Tour de France | Tour de France 2016 | OpenStreetMap/Google Maps/Google Earth

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