2016 Tour de France Route Rumours. This page will contain all the info I come across about the route of 2016 Tour de France up to the presentation on the route in October 2015. Rumours, hearsay and wild speculation.
2016 Tour de France to start in Normandy.
The 2016 Tour de France will be the 103 edition and will get under way from Manche Department, Normandy in 2016. The department has welcomed the Tour de France 23 times between 1911 (Cherbourg) and 2013 (individual time-trial from Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel), but it has never hosted the Grand Départ before. The last start in France was in 2011 in Vendee.
In the aftermath of the Grand Départ in Corsica, Yorkshire and Utrecht in Holland in 2015, a spectacular visual feast will be part of the program for the beginning of the 2016 Tour, which will set off from the foot of the Mont-Saint-Michel. The riders will first follow the bay then, after crossing the Cotentin Peninsula, will head to Utah Beach, one of the 6 June, 1944 landing beaches, situated at Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. This mainly coastal route could expose the riders to wind gusts, but the totally flat profile will most certainly be to the advantage of the teams of the top sprinters.
The 2016 Tour will waste little time in posing a challenge to the contenders. As early as day two of the race, Sunday July 3, 2016, the leaders will have to make themselves and their intentions known and head into battle. After leaving Saint-Lô, the race will make its way towards Coutances then back to the coast with the Channel Islands in the background. But in approaching La Hague, the riders will have to prepare for a more difficult time. The crossing from Cherbourg to Octeville will bring the peloton, or what is left of it, towards the tough La Glacerie climb. At the top there will be seconds to take after a three kilometer ascent with a 14% grade section.
After crisscrossing the department and skirting its coastline, the Tour de France peloton will say goodbye to the Manche on Monday July 4, 2016. Stage three will start from the west coast port and seaside resort of Granville, for a destination that will remain unknown until October 20, 2015, the date of the 2016 Tour de France presentation.
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France Director: “The Manche is a very beautiful department with breath taking scenery. It offers varied terrain that will favor the sprinters at Utah Beach, and allow the punchers their chance to standout in the hills above Cherbourg-Octeville. Let us not forget the Mont-Saint-Michel that will majestically enhance the very first pedal strokes of the riders of the peloton, three years after it was the backdrop for the 100th Tour de France.”
Jean-François Le Grand, President of the Manche General Council: “It was written that the history of cycling, the Tour de France and the Manche would one day converge. We are proud to offer cycling a sumptuous setting, to promise the Tour de France a warm and passionate welcome and to offer the Manche all the glory it deserves. The coming together of the three during the 2016 start will be magic.”
The Manche stages of the 2016 Tour:
• Saturday July 2: Mont-Saint-Michel – Utah Beach Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, 188 km
• Sunday July 3: Saint Lô – Cherbourg-Octeville, 182 km
• Monday July 4: Granville > …
Stage |
Date |
Start |
Finish |
Stage Type |
Notes |
1 |
Saturday 2nd July | Le Mont-Saint-Michel | Utah Beach Sainte-Marie-du-Mont | 188km road stage | |
2 |
Sunday 3rd July | Saint Lô | Cherbourg-Octeville | 182km road stage | |
3 |
Monday 4th July | Granville | Angers | ||
4 |
Tuesday 5th July | Saumur | Limoges | ||
5 |
Wednesday 6th July | Limoges | Le Lioran | Mountain top finish | |
6 |
Thursday 7th July | Arpajon-sur-Cère | Montauban | ||
7 |
Friday 8th July | Isle-Jourdain | Lac de Payolle | ||
8 |
Saturday 9th July | Pau | Loudenvielle or Luchon | ||
9 |
Sunday 10th July | Val d’Aran | Andorra | ||
Rest-Day |
Monday 11th July | Andorra | Andorra | Rest Day | |
10 |
Tuesday 12th July | Andorra | Revel | ||
11 |
Wednesday 13th July | Carcassonne | Montpellier | ||
12 |
Thursday 14th July | Montpellier | Mont Ventoux | ||
13 |
Friday 15th July | Bourg-Saint-Andéol | Vallon-Pont-d’Arc | ||
14 |
Saturday 16th July | Montélimar | Villars-les-Dombes Parc des Oiseaux | ||
15 |
Sunday 17th July | Bourg-en-Bresse | Culoz | ||
16 |
Monday 18th July | Moirans-en-Montagne | Berne | ||
Rest-Day |
Tuesday 19th July | Berne | Berne | Rest Day | |
17 |
Wednesday 20th July | Berne | Finhaut-Emosson | ||
18 |
Thursday 21st July | Sallanches | Megève | ||
19 |
Friday 22th July | Albertville | Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc | ||
20 |
Saturday 23rd July | Saint-Gervais-les-Bains | Morzine | ||
21 |
Sunday 24th July | Chantilly | Paris |
Normandy start for 2016
http://www.ouest-france.fr/cyclisme-le-tour-de-france-partira-de-la-manche-en-2016-2717376
http://www.76actu.fr/cyclisme-le-tour-de-france-pourrait-partir-de-normandie-en-2016_86218/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cyclisme-le-tour-de-france-pourrait-partir-de-normandie-en-2016
http://www.paris-normandie.fr/detail_article/articles/1081757/breves+normandie/le-tour-de-france-s-elancera-de-la-normandie-en-2016#.U9N2mPlgx8F
Paddy, An Inner Ring post from today: http://inrng.com/2015/07/tour-stage-22-preview/#more-25972
Thanks karen. Rumour locally is that le Tour will stay in Pau for 2 nights.
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/pre-race/news/ahc/tour-de-france-2016-to-start-from-manche.html
Grand Depart confirmed.
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/pre-race/news/ahc/grand-depart-of-the-2016-tour-de-france-the-manche-a-first.html
Andorra
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/pre-race/news/ahc/tour-2016-to-visit-andorra.html
http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/01/news/tour-de-france-visit-andorra-2016_358286
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/30834098
More about the Tour de France 2016 on http://www.tourdefrance-2016.com
Ventoux on 14th July 2016
http://www.sports.fr/cyclisme/tour-de-france/articles/le-mont-ventoux-de-retour-en-2016-1300608/#end
http://www.laprovence.com/actu/sports-en-direct/3518185/le-tour-2016-passera-par-le-ventoux-le-14-juillet.html
http://www.francebleu.fr/infos/ventoux/le-tour-de-france-pourrait-revenir-sur-le-ventoux-en-2016-2496285
Limoges
http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/Vienne/Actualite/24-Heures/n/Contenus/Articles/2015/08/02/CYCLISME-Le-Tour-a-Limoges-2420890
http://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/limousin/haute-vienne/limoges/le-tour-de-france-passera-en-limousin-en-2016-780373.html
http://www.lamontagne.fr/limousin/sports/actualite/cyclisme/2015/08/01/la-grande-boucle-fera-etape-a-limoges_11538080-6671.html
http://www.sports-auvergne.fr/cyclisme/2015/07/31/le-tour-de-france-2016-passera-en-auvergne_11537950.html
http://www.lepopulaire.fr/limousin/sports/actualite/cyclisme/2015/07/31/le-tour-de-france-fera-etape-a-limoges-en-2016_11537904.html
Pau
http://www.larepubliquedespyrenees.fr/2015/07/16/pau-et-le-tour-une-histoire-d-amour-qui-va-durer,1264139.php
Definitely not the 2016 route, but someone went to an awful lot of trouble to produce a realistic looking map here: http://www.podiumcafe.com/2015/8/13/9151183/is-this-a-map-of-the-2016-tour-de-france
That has been doing the rounds for sometime. Definitely not the 2016 route.
Rumour of a Time Trial to Superbagneres.
Any idea where the Alps stages will finish?
Sorry no. Info is very scarce this year.
Hi, and thanks for your rumour updates…. Velowire has the 2016 route going in the opposite direction to what you are showing???
See >> http://www.velowire.com/article/940/en/tour-de-france-2016–the-rumours-about-the-race-route-and-the-stage-cities-.html
Based on historical, 2016 TdF is scheduled to be a clockwise route as per your schedule… Appreciate your comments or thoughts…..
Hi Gaille
There is very little evidence of any kind so far this year. Velowire may well be right. Generally the tour goes Alps first one year and Pyrenees first the next and so forth. But not always.
The only thing that local newspapers or politicians have said is that Le Tour will visit Andorre and Pau. No dates have been given. I think that Velowire is using hotel bookings to guess that it will be in Pau on 8th July which would mean Pyrenees first. A quick search of booking.com does seem to show that the hotels usually used by ASO are booked that night. I would also expect that l’Etape will depart Pau next year.
This was in one of the local papers this week. http://www.nrpyrenees.fr/article/2015/09/21/43404-tour-de-france-2016-une-arrivee-a-payolle.html
It seems contradictory as it says that the Pyrenees will be before the Alps but that a stage finishing at Payolle will come from Andorre and that the following day would depart Pau, which suggests traveling in the wrong direction.
I think that a stage finish at Payolle is accurate, but the question is from where? The answer will confirm whither Le Tour is clockwise or counterclockwise. From Andorre seems too far, but a stage from Pau crossing Marie Blanque, Aubisque, Soulor and Tourmalet is possible and if so then 9th July would be the most likely date.
I did hear from a very good source that an ITT from Luchon to Super-Bagneres was being considered, but that it was unlikely this year.
Thank you for the very good reply – much appreciated. I can only hope they do
Your route by the days above is aligning with Velowire….. and as you say on the next post, answers the question…
Regards – see you on the mountains!
http://www.conselharan.org/era-val-daran-acuelhera-era-gessuda-dua-des-etapes-deth-tour-de-franca-2016/
That answers the question.
Pau – Payolle on 9th July and Val d’Aran – Andorra on 10th.
http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2015/10/06/2191838-tour-2016-tout-sait-deja-dit.html
http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2015/10/08/2193488-exclusif-retour-tour-france-revel-12-juillet-2016-2016.html
http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2015/10/08/2193163-le-tour-de-france-fera-etape-cet-ete.html
http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2015/10/07/2192084-13-juillet-2016-retour-a-carcassonne.html
Hi,
Would you have any info on team hotels in Andorra on 10th & 11th July please?
Not at the moment. Perhaps closer to the date.
Thanks! I’ll be watching it in the Pyrenees and following it to Andorra for the rest day, always good to see the teams at their hotels.