The 2013 Tour de France (100th Edition) Route
In the 2013 edition of the race, sprinters will get a golden opportunity on day one, with a relatively flat run from Porto-Vecchio to Bastia, setting up top-rated British racer Mark Cavendish for the first yellow jersey of his career.
The race switches to the mainland after finishes in the Corsican towns of Ajaccio and Calvi with a 25km team time-trial around the southern city of Nice, shaking up the overall standings early and setting up Team Sky to take pole position.
The race winds its way along the French Riviera, taking in Marseille and Montpellier before the peloton’s climbers are given the first chance to show their credentials in the Pyrenees on stage eight.
A nasty 15km climb awaits the pack at Port de Pailheres before the first summit finish at Ax 3 Domaines and a slog over 8km where the gradient is a stiff 8.2 percent.
There is then no let up in stage nine, with five climbs littered across 165km of racing between Saint-Girons and Bagneres-de-Bigorre, before a well-deserved rest day on July 8.
The race heads toward northwestern France, when it resumes with a scenic run towards the Breton port of Saint Malo before a crucial 33km individual time-trial between Avranches and Mont-Saint-Michel.
The route then heads south through central France, taking in Tours, Montrond and Lyon before a showpiece Bastille Day stage that includes the mythical Mont Ventoux in the Vaucluse, where British champion Tom Simpson died in 1967.
A second rest day precedes the final time trial over 32km, before a climb over the legendary Alpe d’Huez, which features twice on a day that will again prove crucial in determining the 2013 champion.
Stages 19 and 20 will provide more opportunities to attack the race leader and two more summit finishes at Le Grand-Bornand and Semnoz before the final day run to Paris starting with the start line at king Louis XIV’s chateau at Versailles.