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The route
Running from Saturday July 7th to Sunday July 29th 2018, the 105th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,351 kilometres.
8 flat stages
5 hilly stages
6 mountain stages and 3 altitude finishes (La Rosière, Alpe d’Huez, Saint-Lary-Soulan col du Portet)
1 individual time-trial
1 team time-trial
2 rest days
The 2018 Tour de France will include a total of 26 mountain climbs or hills and altitude finishes ranked in second, first of HC class.
The geographic distribution will be as follows:
12 in the Alps
4 in the Massif central
10 in the Pyrenees
On the last three editions of the race, the total was as follows:
25 in 2015, 28 in 2016 et 23 in 2017.
Distinctive aspects of the race
ALMOST 100 % FRENCH
Except for a short visit of around 15 kilometres in Spain during stage 16 between Carcassonne and Bagnères-de-Luchon, the 105th Tour de France will never go out of the borders of France. 36“départements” will be travelled through and the Basque country that hadn’t been visited since 2006 will once again be on the map of the Tour.
THE COBBLES RETURN
During the 9th stage, Arras > Roubaix, there will be 21.7 kilometres of cobbled roads. The riders will take on a total of 15 sectors with lengths varying from 500m to 2.7 kilometres.
TIME-TRIALS: TTT AND ITT
Like it was the case last summer in Marseille, the winner of the 105th edition should be crowned after the 20th and penultimate stage, a time-trial between Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle and Espelette on a distance of 31 kilometres. After a three-year absence, a team time-trial of 35 kilometres will also be on the menu during stage 3 in Cholet.
176 AT THE START
Based on a decision taken by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), each one of the 22 teams taking part in the Tour will, in 2018, be formed of 8 riders. There will therefore be a total of 176 riders present at the Grand Départ in Vendée Pays de la Loire.
3, 2, 1 BONUS …
It’ll be an innovation: from the Grand Départ until and including the 9th stage, 3, 2 and 1 bonus seconds will be awarded to the first three who reach a specific kilometre of the course determined in advance. It will have no incidence however on the points classification.
… AND 10, 6, 4 EXTRA BONUS
More conventional: 10, 6 and 4 bonus seconds will be taken off the overall times of the first three of each normal stage of the Tour (except for time-trials).
There will be 9 locations or stage cities visited for the first time out of 39:
Fontenay-le-Comte (finish of stage 1)
Mouilleron-Saint-Germain (start of stage 2)
Sarzeau (finish of stage 4)
Dreux (start of stage
La Rosière (finish of stage 11)
Trie-sur-Baïse (start of stage 1
Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle (start of stage 20)
Espelette (finish of stage 20)
Houilles (start of stage 21)
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