Tour De France Unveils 2016 Route Featuring Four Summit Finishes

Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in western Europe, will take a "starring role" in the '16 edition of the Tour de France, whose complete route was unveiled in Paris on Tuesday, according to the AFP. It is a route Tour director Christian Prudhomme described as "a sporting challenge in beautiful surroundings." Notably for the hosts, the finish to the 12th stage on July 14, France's Bastille Day, will take place on the Mont Ventoux, a windswept, 15.7km climb that averages a "punishing" 8.8% gradient. The Tour heads "unusually quickly to the mountains," where it will dip into Spain and Andorra during the Pyrénéan stages before also visiting the Swiss Alps later on. In total, there will be four summit finishes, one less than this year, "but several stages which include a short but tricky or technical descent" to the end after a "tough climb." Prudhomme: "The Tour is always for the climbers. Three days around Mont Blanc will be fantastic" (AFP, 10/20).

Source: LE TOUR