The 2023 route for the men's Tour de France unveiled on Thursday passes across all five of the nation's mountain ranges, favouring climbers such as 2019 champion Egan Bernal.
The 3 404km route embarks from Spain's Basque Country on 1 July for a route featuring eight mountain stages and four hilly stages with just one medium length individual time trial placed early in the final week.
The route however ignores almost all of western and northern France.
"Over five or six years it evens out and we eventually get everywhere," race organiser Christian Prudhomme said.
The killer stage in the 21 day race appears to be stage 17 from Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to Courchevel, doted with four peaks and ascending way above the tree line to 2 300m of altitude where the oxygen is thin.
That kind of mountain stage would appear tailor-made for Bernal and would give him hope against the two men who have won the title since, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard.
?? Here it is, the official route of the #TDF2023!?? Voici le parcours officiel du #TDF2023 ! pic.twitter.com/QPwvs91Ar6
Gone is the day-20 individual time-trial that produced such drama in the last two editions.
Instead, organisers this year placed a blockbuster mountain run on that 20th stage from Belfort to Le Markstein Fellering, with a devastating five mountains to climb on what is ostensibly the final day.
Emerging rider Remco Evenepoel won the Vuelta a Espana and the world championships in 2022, but the young Belgian may be discouraged by the lack of time-trial on this edition.
"We'd be absolutely delighted if he did come," said Prudhomme.
The women's Tour de France route from 23-30 July was also unveiled on Thursday with a 1 000km route starting from Clermont Ferrand and taking the
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