2018 Tour de France route unviel.

News: Tour de France 2018 route unvail.

  21 stages include cobbles, dirt roads, two time trials and three big mountain finishes The route of the 2018 Tour de France has been revealed in Paris, with organiser ASO continuing a blend of tradition and innovation as they look to shake up the racing and seemingly make it harder for Team Sky and Chris Froome to dominate yet again.

 The 2018 Tour de France will include a team time trial on stage three, sections on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, a finish up and above L’Alpe d’Huez and then a grand finale of mountain stages in the Pyrenees before a hilly time trial will decide the winner of the yellow jersey.

 Stage 10, the first mountain stage of the race, includes a section of dirt road on the Plateau des Glières. It is 100km from the finish of the stage in Le Grand Bornand but comes after a six-kilometre climb at 11 per cent. Technical director Thierry Gouvenou has admitted he one day hopes to include a long dirt climb in the Tour de France.

 The 2018 Tour de France starts in the Vendée region on Saturday July 7 - a week later than usual due to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. It ends three weeks later in Paris on Sunday July 29 with the traditional evening stage and circuits of the Champs Elysées.

 Froome, Thibaut Pinot, Simon Yates, Nairo Quintana, Warren Barguil, Romain Bardet, Alberto Contador, Nacer Bouhanni, Arnaud Demare were amongst the 4000 guests at the presentation at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. They seemed stunned by the severity of the route, knowing they will race with just seven teammates in 2018 after team sizes were reduced to eight riders by the UCI and race organisers.

 A race of two parts

 The 21 stages are divided into two parts, with riders taking two plane transfers.The first nine stages visit the Vendée coast, Brittany and the north of France, with the cobbled stage from Arras to Roubaix coming before a transfer and first rest day at Annecy in the Alps. Stage 10 marks the start of the mountains, with three important stages in the Alps to Le Grand Bornand, La Rosière-Montvalezan and L’Alpe d’Huez.

The 2018 route avoids the South of France and the Mediterranean coast, crossing to the Pyrenees via Valence, an uphill finish to Mende, and a second rest day in Carcassonne.

 From the ancient walled town, the riders can see the jagged Pyrenean peaks on the horizon. They face four days of suffering, with a chance for the sprinters in Pau.

Two long stages to Bagneres-du-Luchon and Laruns are divided by the short stage to the Col de Portet. The stage is only 65km long but includes 37km of climbing. Pau will act as the base for many of the teams for all of the Pyrenean stages.

 The Tour de France will be decided by a 31km time trial on the final Saturday, with the rolling roads between Saint-pee-sur-Nivelle and Espelette in the French Basque Country hosting the showdown on the 2018 race.