Sunday 01 November 2020 at 12h02
initially published on 7 October at 11.20PM, updated on 8 October at 9.26AM, on 9 October at 6PM, on 13 October at 11.23PM, on 14 October at 9.21PM, on 17 October at 2.04AM, on 20 October at 10.06PM, on 21 October at 10.13PM, on 22 October at 11.02PM, on 25 October at 9.50PM, on 26 October at 10AM, on 27 October at 10.24AM and at 6.40PM, on 28 October at 8.27AM and at 12.11PM, on 29 October at 9.30PM, on 30 October at 11.52PM and on 1 November at 12.02PM
Is it possible that Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.), the organisor of the Tour de France, really does everything to prevent me from finding the Tour de France 2021 race route based on the rumours? Going as far as organising the Tour de France 2020 in September right in the middle of the usual timespan in which the race route starts to build up in the publication which is now usual on velowire.com where you can find the rumours about next year's Tour de France race route since 2007?
Going as far as well to change the location of the Grand Départ in Copenhagen in Denmark to French Brittany and more precisely Brest where the start of the 108th edition of the Tour will take place in the end?
No, of course we know that this is all related to the health crisis the world is going through right now. But this did however prevent me from publishing this article any earlier, while the official announcement is planned for
The Tour de France 2021 will take place from Saturday 26 June till Sunday 18 July 2021 (the race has been moved ahead one week, due to the Olympic Games in Tokyo which will finally take place starting 23 July 2021 instead of 24 July 2020).
This year, the political influence seems to have stepped up a bit compared to what it's impact previously was in the construction of the race route of the Tour de France. Indeed, even though it's always been the political representatives of the local authorities (cities, departments and regions) who declare a city or a more larger area a candidate to receive the Tour, the arrival of ecologists in the last elections seems to disturb some of the plans A.S.O. could have because numerous cities could cancel their candidature which A.S.O. was maybe relying on for the Tour in one of the upcoming years. A.S.O. says they're open to discuss about it but rather from man to man to allow for a real discussion, than via the media as it has been the case this summer. During the official ceremony at the start village of the stage starting in Grenoble, Christian Prudhomme answered in a very energetic way to the comments made about the Tour de France: in addition to this request and besides the request to contact him directly, he also insisted on the fact that "trying to break what links us is not an error, it's a mistake":
In this article on velowire.com you'll sometimes find mentions of rumours which could develop or turn out to be false but on the map you'll only find the stages which really seem to be confirmed. Little by little, this article will be completed and will provide the most complete as possible race route before 29 October ... What shows up for now is a race route which has a great part in Brittany, crosses France below Paris and go on little by little towards the Alps which will for the first time since 2018 be the first mountain area and which will thus most probably be visited less exhaustively than previously while the Pyrenees mountain area will be the most important one, exploring it right from the south-east of the Pyrénées Orientales and which will precede a time trial in Nouvelle-Aquitaine just before the transfer towards the Parisian region.
As far as possible, I'll also share any rumours about the Etape du Tour 2021, the cyclosportive which is organised on the race route of one of the stages of the Tour de France 2021, if there will indeed be a stage of the Tour 2021 which will be added to the Etape du Tour around Nice which was postponed to early July 2021 on the race route of the stage "Nice haut-pays" of this year's Tour.
What's for sure: the Grand Départ in Brittany
On 10 August, A.S.O. officially announced that instead of Denmark, it would be Brittany which will receive the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2021.However, the only thing which was announced about this Grand Départ so far is the start of the first stage from Brest (which will see the start of the first stage of the Tour de France for the 4th time, after 1952, 1974 and 2008) and that the Grand Départ will be made up of 4 stages which will entirely take place in Brittany, visiting the 4 departments which make up the region. The stage cities (starts and finishes) of these different stages of the Tour de France 2021 have thus not been revealed yet.
What's next for the Tour de France 2021: the rumours about the stage cities of the 108th Grande Boucle!
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Brittany: the 4 stages of the Grand Départ
In 2021, in addition to the start in Brest, the first 4 stages from Saturday 26 June 2021 till Tuesday 29 June 2021 will take place in Brittany.In the previous editions which had their Grand Départ in the Brittany region (including those in 1952, 1974 and 2008 starting in Brest), the cities Auray (2008), Brest (1952, 1974 and 2008), Dinan (1995), Fougères (1985), Lanester (1985), Lannion (1995), Lorient (1985), Morlaix (1974), Perros-Guirec (1995), Plumelec (1985 and 2008), Rennes (1952 and 1964), Saint-Brieuc (1995 and 2008), Saint-Malo (1974 and 2008), Saint-Pol-de-Léon (1974), Vannes (1985) and Vitré (1985 and 1995) have been visited, knowing that in addition to these Grand Départs, no less than 17 other cities have already received the Tour de France, including for example Mûr-de-Bretagne in 2011, 2015 and 2018 (for the last one, that was with a start in Brest) or Quimper (1958, 1962, 1965, 1991, 2004 and 2018). But we've also seen Cancale (1982), La Guerche-de-Bretagne (1951), Redon (2011), Saint-Grégoire (2006), Saint-Méen-le-Grand (2006), Carhaix (2011), Châteaulin (1958, 1965 and 1982), Concarneau (1982), Morlaix (1974), Roscoff (1998), Saint-Pol-de-Léon (1974), Cap Fréhel (2011), Dinan (1995 et 2011), Lamballe (2004), Plouay (1998 and 2002) and Sarzeau (2018).
Will we see these cities again on the race route of the Tour de France in 2021? Or will there be any first-time cities in Brittany which will come complete this list? Probably both in fact ...
1/ Saturday 26 June 2021 - Brest > Landerneau
Even before the official announcement of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2021 in Brittany, the local newspaper Le Télégramme announced that Landerneau wanted to organise a stage finish. If this becomes truth, Landerneau would see the Tour de France stop for the first time in the city which is the birth place of the E. Leclerc supermarket ... one of the major sponsors of the Tour de France!
Even though the mayor, Patrick Leclerc, only mentioned the city as a candidate and even though the ecologists are against it, the most recent article of the Télégramme seems to confirm the finish in Landerneau. This would thus mean that Quimper would be put aside as a candidate.
And this finish could actually not be promised to the sprinters, if the finish line is drawn in the rue de la Fossé-aux-Loups.
Very recently, Ouest France confirmed this stage as the first stage of the Tour de France 2021.
2/ Sunday 27 June 2021 - Perros-Guirec > Mûr-de-Bretagne Guerlédan
According to Le Télégramme, Alain Cadec, President of the Conseil Départemental des Côtes-d'Armor would have delivered a double information: the fact that Mûr-de-Bretagne will be the finish city of a stage for the 4th time in the history of the Tour, but also that there will be a stage which will be 100% in the Côtes d'Armor department.
Adding to that the information that Perros-Guirec is a candidate for a stage start this could well be the stage in the Côtes d'Armo with a stage start in Perros-Guirec. In this same article we discover that Paimpol would also be interested but could maybe only ask for the stage to visit the city without being a start or finish, maybe during the stage which connects Perros-Guirec with Mûr-de-Bretagne.
Still in Le Télégramme we previously found the information that Saint-Brieuc is also a candidate for a stage start and Le Télégramme also announced the wish of Loudéac and Pontivy (also confirmed by Ouest France, Pontivy Journal and by Breizh-Info) to invite the Tour - maybe for a team time trial - and Ouest France and Le Télégramme also added Plédran and Plœuc-L'Hermitage to the list, but the most recent article of the local newspaper seems to turn out Perros-Guirec as the winner for this stage's start.
This same article indicates that the 3rd stage would take place in the Morbihan department, mentioning that the city of Grand-Champ which received in extremis the French Championships this year - after Plumelec gave up - and which created a dedicated finish area for that in a very short time, is also ready to receive the Tour de France just like the mayor Yves Bleunven announced at the end of the championships. Still according to this article, the 4th stage would finish off the Grand Départ in Brittany in the Ille-et-Vilaine department.
3/ Monday 28 June 2021 - Lorient > Pontivy
In the Morbihan department, Le Télégramme also announced Quiberon as a candidate (and that information was republished in Le Télégramme and Ouest France when the candidature was officially handed out to Christian Prudhomme), but Ouest France and Le Ploërmelais indicate that Ploërmel is also ready to receive the Tour, for a stage start or finish (also here).
UPDATE 14 October 2020 at 9.21PM: finally nothing like that! In his article at the end of the day, the cyclism journalist Philippe Priser of Le Télégramme (confirmed by Ouest France) announces that this 3rd stage of the Tour de France 2021 will take place between Lorient at the south-west side of the Morbihan department and Pontivy. According to Priser, this stage will honour Jean Robic, winner of the Tour de France in 1947 by visiting Radenac, the commune of who would have had 100 years next year. It's indeed in Radenac that the rider has lived his youth, where his dad had a bicycle shop and where a street named Rue Jean Robic was created later on, at the place where's the house where he lived in his youth, behind the church.4/ Tuesday 29 June 2021 - Redon > Fougères
In the Ille-et-Vilaine department, we know that the city of Rennes refused the Grand Départ's first start which was finally awarded to Brest, because of ecologist considerations.
In a press release sent out by the city of Lohéac on 23 September, the city of 664 inhabitants reminds of its usual link with automotive sports being the host city of the 1st world championships Rallycross (FIA / IMG – 70,000 spectators) and of the biggest private automobile museum in France (Michel Hommell groupe Echappement Auto-Hebdo – 14,000 m², 400 old timer cars) and also hosting the biggest festival of car sales in France (20,000 visitors). The city also reminds that the human and technical resources related to these events give the city the know-how which could help to receive the Tour. Associated to Vallons de Haute Bretagne Communauté the city is thus a candidate for a stage start of the Tour de France 2021 saying: "Being a reference in mechanical sports doesn't prevent us from being fan of all sports. The collaborative spirit of our teams allows us to organise very popular events thanks to the help and support of all economical and political forces of the department and the Brittany region."
This possible stage start could take place on the automotive circuit. Radio Laser went to the press conference and managed to interview the mayor, Patrick Bertin, and Joël Sieller, President of Vallons de Haute Bretagne Communauté and the other people who support this candidature. A candidature which is by the way also supported by Bernard Hinault!
This candidature has also been mentioned by Ouest France (also here) and France 3 Bretagne.
UPDATE 14 October 2020 at 9.21PM: again these candidatures haven't finally led to the result they hoped for. In his late today, the cyclisme journalist Philippe Priser of the newspaper Le Télégramme (confirmed by Ouest France) indeed indicates that this stage will start in Redon.In addition to that, in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Fougères and Pipriac are also candidates, as mentioned by Ouest France, which indicates that Fougères is a candidate already since 2018, following the last visit of the Tour in this city - for the start of the 7th stage towards Chartres.
More recently, Ouest France, Chronique Républicaine and Jnews seem to mention Fougères as the candidate with most chances of organising this stage's finish ... which seems quite logical with regards to what follows in this Tour leaving Brittany!
5/ Wednesday 30 June 2021 - Changé > Laval - individual time trial
Leaving Brittany eastwards, the first big city which we find on our road is Laval and -after having announced on 8 September that Olivier Richefou, President of the Conseil Départemental de la Mayenne, would meet the organisors of the Tour during the Châtelaillon-Plage > Poitiers stage - this is according to France Bleu the place where a team time trial will take place on Wednesday 30 June 2021 as the 5th stage of the Tour de France 2021 (France Bleu mentions the possibility of 29 June with a stage starting in Brittany, but that is in full contradiction with the informations of 4 stages which will 100% take place in Brittany for the Grand Départ). And that's what seems to confirm Olivier Richefou, first on France Bleu, and even more certainly in his tweet on the last day of the Tour de France 2020:Bravo à toute l'équipe autour de Christian Prudhomme d'avoir parfaitement réussi à maintenir cette magnifique épreuve sportive populaire qu'est le Tour de France ! À l'année prochaine avec une stage en #Mayenne ! @LeTour @mcommemayenne @amaurysport #TDF2020
— Olivier Richefou (@olivierrichefou) September 20, 2020
In its latest article, France Bleu goes even further in the details, saying that the start ramp of this time trial, which would finally be individual, will be located in Changé, just north-west of Laval and of which Olivier Richefou is the former mayor and nowadays still in the local council (!), possibly in the Parc des Ondines, and that the finish in Laval could be close to the Espace Mayenne, the brand new multi-activities location (events, sports and culture) of which the director is someone who's well known to the Tour organisor A.S.O. This would be a 100% Mayenne department stage for which the race route could be drawn alongside the river with the same name to come to a more important distance than the 3 kilometers and a half which separate the start and finish locations.
6/ Thursday 1er July 2021 - Le Mans or close (or Tours ?) > Châteauroux
According to La Nouvelle République on 24 August already, the Tour de France 2021 would apparently finish in Châteauroux, where the Tour stopped for the last time in 2011 (with Mark Cavendish as the stage winner), and this would thus most logically be the finish of the 6th stage on 1st of July 2021.On the radio channel France Bleu Berry, Serge Descout, President of the Conseil départemental de l'Indre, confirmed the venue of the Tour de France 2021 in the Indre department "for 80% sure" and he indicated he was "asking for a stage finish" after having alreayd indicated to La Nouvelle République "I previously said that we would have the Tour de France soon and we'll finally have it real soon":
More recently, La Nouvelle République once again confirmed the finish of this stage which would, as usual in this city, take place on the avenue de la Châtre and the newspaper also gives an idea on how the final part of this stage could be.
As for the start of this stage, while La Nouvelle République mentioned a finish Tours the day before yesterday, the newspaper seems to mess things up and finally mention the next day a stage start, while France Bleu doesn't mention the type of venue of the Tour (start or finish), but this all seems quite surprising. Indeed, between Laval and Tours there's no less than 185 kilometers by car and even though some hotels seem to be booked in Tours for the 30th of June, there seem to be more in Le Mans and it is thus well possible that Le Mans will be the start city of this 6th stage, or otherwise it could be a city in the surroundings. We might know a little bit more about this at the occasion of Paris-Tours this weekend ...
UPDATE 25 October at 9.52PM: Paris-Tours didn't provide any further information in the end, but it now seems that Tours is getting confirmed anyway for the start of this stage towards Châteauroux!7/ Friday 2 July 2021 - La Châtre ?? Vierzon or Bourges?? > Le Creusot/Autun/Chalon-sur-Saône/Mâcon
The day after the finish in Châteauroux, the start of the 7th stage will probably not be far from there. UPDATE 13 October 2020 at 11.23PM: today, La Nouvelle République announced that for the start of this stage it's "Vierzon which seems to have the biggest chances" citing for that "other sources" than the mayor Nicolas Sansu who "says he's not aware of anything". Le Berry Républicain also published this information saying that "all indicators point to Vierzon for a stage start on Friday 2 July 2021". The newspaper admits it has copied this information from the Nouvelle République but says "it is able to confirm this information". In order to do so, the newspaper says that "the city will be represented in the room" and that this information comes from a "representative of the major political party in the city, who doesn't officially confirm a stage to come to the city, but being « very optimistic » about this topic" even though the newspaper adds that the mayor "denied having received an invitation for the 29th of October". Le Berry also mentions two other cities who are candidates for the Tour: Bourges and Saint-Amand-Montrond which, according to the newspaper, "havent received the precious invitation for the presentation on 29 October". Concerning the finish of this stage, the usually well informed Creusot Infos mentioned this stage's finish in the Saône-et-Loire, for example in one of the cities Chalon-sur-Saône, Mâcon, Le Creusot or Autun. Chances are high that one of these cities will thus be the finish location of this 7th stage this Friday 2 July.
Le Creusot saw the Tour de France for the last time in 2006 for a time trial towards Montceau-les-Mines (the same kind of stage took place in the opposite direction in 1998) while the Tour was in Chalon-sur-Saône most recently in 2019 (stage finish coming from Belfort), just like Mâcon (start towards Saint-Etienne) while Autun was last visited in 2007. Based on these last visits and if indeed these two cities are candidates, it seems to be most logical that this finish will be in Le Creusot or in Autun, even more because Mâcon (and even Chalon-sur-Saône) seems a bit far.
UPDATE 8 October 2020 at 8.26AM: this night, Creusot Infos now seems to be sure that it'll be Le Creusot which will receive the finish of this 7th stage and this is also the information provided by le Journal de Saône-et-Loire. Creusot Infos goes way further and even guesses the race route while publishing a fake profile which comes from an online game in which fictive Tour de France race routes are created, as we're now used to see with the media which don't really double check their informations ... Despite that, the information about the finish could well be correct, as I already more or less indicated in my publication last night.CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
8/ Saturday 3 July 2021 - Le Creusot ??? Oyonnax > Le Grand Bornand
Direction the Alps for this 8th stage, As for Oyonnax, Adrien Santiago, the director of the cabinet of the mayor, would have declared to the newspaper that "all lights are on green. The current information is positive, but nothing is confirmed yet. We're awaiting the decision of the organisors but we remain cautious. Especially in the current context with the health crisis which changes a lot".
9/ Sunday 4 July 2021 - Le Grand Bornand ??? Cluses > Tignes
R1/ Monday 5 July 2021 - rest day in Tignes
Several independant sources informed me of the same information, which is the fact that the stage on 4 July 2021 will finish in Tignes and that the riders will have a rest day in the station above 2000 meters the next day.UPDATE 1 November at 12.02PM: for the start of this 9th stage, all indications these last few days seem to point to the fact that it will be not far from Le Grand Bornand, in Cluses.
10/ Tuesday 6 July 2021 - Bourg-Saint-Maurice ?? Albertville > Valence
After a rest day in Tignes, the start of the 10th stage should most logically take place in the same area. Apparently this won't be in Tignes itself (following the model of the start in Méribel this year the day after the finish on the Col de la Loze, with a neutralised itinerary between fictive and real start of 21.5 km) and for now we can thus only guess where it can be. It would thus be possible that this start is in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, for the rest day in Tignes to make sense (if the start was further away, it would maybe have been more logic to have the rest day at that location).UPDATE 29 October at 9.30PM: in its publication with a complete but not up-to-date map of what could according to France Bleu be the Tour de France 2021 race route, we see - out of the blue - appear the mention of Albertville as a stage start, according to France Bleu for the stage towards Tignes. Coming from Le Grand-Bornand this doesn't seem very logical (but we have already seen that this Tour will not necessarily be logical!) and without any further explanations about this, I thus won't take over this information as is, even though Albertville could indeed again be start city of the Tour, after having already been so most recently in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
UPDATE 30 October at 11.52PM: where France Bleu thus announces Albertville as the start city of the stage towards Tignes, and Le Dauphiné seems to mess things up (saying that the stage towards Tignes starts from Le Grand-Bornand according to France Bleu and that the stage on 6 July starts in Albertville), I have good reasons to believe that it's actually the stage after the rest day in Tignes which starts in Albertville.
UPDATE 26 October at 10AM: last night, France Bleu Valence said that several indications all seem to indicate that Valence will again be on the race route and this would concern the finish of this 10th stage on 6 July 2021. The start location remains unsure for now and it'll thus most probably not be Bourg-Saint-Maurice looking at the distance between start and finish ...CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
11/ Wednesday 7 July 2021 - Montélimar ??? Sorgues > Malaucène via the Mont Ventoux
UPDATE 20 October at 10.06PM: based on hotel reservations around here and some other indications which didn't however lead to any articles in the press so far, it became clear the finish of this stage could have been planned to be on the top of the Géant de Provence, the Mont Ventoux! In the comments on this article, JOHN D (#213) confirmed the finish on the Mont Chauve as well yesterday, and today it's La Provence which mentions the fact that Maurice Chabert, president of the Conseil départemental du Vaucluse is invited, in ten days, at the official presentation of the 108th edition of the Tour de France in Paris. This would thus lead to big comeback to the Mont Ventoux, because the last finish of the Tour de France took place there on 14 July 2016 after a stage of 184 kilomètres coming from Montpellier, which was however reduced in length and ended at the Chalet-Reynard because of the huge winds on the top that day!
UPDATE 21 October at 10.13PM: today Le Dauphiné published an article (which I didn't read completely), wherein the newspaper seems to mention a stage (...) between Sorgues and Malaucène and the race coming by on the top of the Géant de Provence. However, this doesn't seem to be in line with the hotel reservations which are between 80 and 100 kilometers north of Sorgues for the night of 6 to 7 July while the teams should sleep in or close to Carpentras on the 7th at night. If something happens in Sorgues or Malaucène, it thus seems more logical this would be on the 8th in the morning, which means a stage start, knowing that the stage on the 8th should finish in Nîmes ...
UPDATE 28 October at 8.27AM: as indicated previously, I never really believed in it, mostly due to the hotel reservations which don't seem to correspond to this, but this morning France Bleu Vaucluse also indicated that this 11th stage would be "100% in the Vaucluse" mentioning for that a stage start in Sorgues, the climb of the Mont Ventoux of which the summit is currently under important road works for the creation of the Parc Naturel Régional du Mont-Ventoux, and a finish in Malaucène. These road works are by the way according to France Bleu one of the reasons of the finish in Malaucène instead of a summit finish: "the riders can pass but it seemed complicated to install all the trucks of the technical zone necessary for a finish in this road works area". Interviewed by France Bleu, Nicolas Garcera, organisor of the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge of which the 3rd edition will take place in June 2021 is on one side happy with the road works being accelerated due to the future venue of the Tour de France ("because we can finally create the race route we wanted to create right from the beginning: the climb from Bédoin and the descent via Malaucène") and confirms on the other side that the descent towards Malaucène "is without any interest for the sports side of this stage: the descent is technical, the rider who passes first on top is the winner down there... except if there's a very good descender who takes some risks because there's a U-turn bend down in Malaucène. If they want to make it interesting, they should add another loop of about ten kilometers before the finish". Adding to this the 125 km transfer necessary between Valence and Sorgues and we could almost qualify this as a race route mistake ... we'll see the confirmation of all this next Sunday!12/ Thursday 8 July 2021 - ??? > Nîmes
According to Objectif Gard, the finish of this stage13/ Friday 9 July 2021 - Nîmes > Carcassonne
Still according to Objectif Gard, relayed by Midi Libre and France Bleu Gard, the start of the 12th stage would also take place in Nîmes.UPDATE 13 October 2020 at 11.23PM: it's been several days that I was thinking about the dates of the Tour in Nîmes, especially based on hotel reservations. Indeed, I think that it won't be on 7 and 8 July that the Tour de France 2021 will be in Nîmes but on the 8th for a finish and the 9th for a stage start.With today's article by L'Indépendant, I'm now even more convinced. Indeed, according to the newspaper based in Perpignan, Narbonne and Carcassonne, the city of Carcassonne could receive a stage start and finish of the Tour de France 2021. For this, the newspaper mentions two possibilities concerning the dates, saying that with a start of the stage towards Carcassonne in Nîmes, the finish would be on 8 July and the start on the 9th, but there's a second possibility which would be to add a stage so the finish in Carcassonne would be on the 9th and the start on the 10th. According to the newspaper this 2nd version is pretty well possible, looking at another indication, the hotel reservations: with occupation rates almost going up to 100% (...) the dates of 9 and 10 July seem more credible". Adding to that the information I had about the dates in Nîmes, I simply think that the newspapers in Nîmes are one day off concerning the finish and stage start in Nîmes.
14/ Saturday 10 July 2021 - Carcassonne > Quillan
Still according to L'Indépendant, the start of this 14th stage could thus also have place in Carcassonne.UPDATE 22 October at 11.02PM: at the end of the afternoon, France Bleu Occitanie published an article listing the stages which could take place in the Occitanie region. Concerning this 14th stage starting in Carcassonne, France Bleu announces a stage finish in Quillan. The small city of Quillan has never received a visit of the Tour de France before and would thus be an exceptional stage finish. The city however does know the cycling sport already because it's here that every year (except for this year, because of the particular circumstances) on the 15th of August the oldest criterium of France takes place, the Critérium cycliste international de Quillan, of which the last edition in 2019 was won by Romain Bardet in his polka dot jersey of the best climber of the Tour de France 2019:CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
15/ Sunday 11 July 2021 - Céret > Andorra la Vella Port de Cabús or Ariège ???
UPDATE 22 October at 11.02PM: still according the article by France Bleu Occitanie and also a dedicated article by France Bleu Pyrénées-Orientales, the Tour would return for the first time in ten years in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, more precisely for a stage start in Céret. Céret would, according to France Bleu, have been privileged above Prades - the city of the French prime minister Jean Castex - because of a negative report by the representatives of A.S.O. who visited the city, even though there has been a Tour of Spain stage start in Prades before. For Céret as well, this would be the very first time that the Tour de France stops here!Still according to France Bleu, this stage would go off towards Andorra, via the massif du Canigou, and Cerdagne, followed by the climb of the Port d'Envalira. However, as I already mentioned before, I continue to have some doubts for now about a visit of Andorra and I imagine there might be an alternative in the Ariège department. Looking at what's being said and what gets confirmed locally or not, this indeed gives the idea that Andorra has indeed been an option initially but has finally been put aside, maybe because of the risk of leaving the country in these incertain times with COVID19? By the way, there where France Bleu states that the finish would be on the Port d'Envalira (which was climbed during the stage which started in Andorra in 2016, to get out of the principality), the local media Andorra Difusio still mentioned Arcalis the day before yesterday (the finish location the day before the rest day which preceded the stage starting in Andorra in 2016) which would have been put aside and which would finally be replaced by the ski station Vallnord with a finish on the port de Cabús, on the border with Spain (at 2302 m altitude, where the paved road stops and continues in a gravel road), mentioning an operations base at the Coll de la Botella. Its colleague newspaper Diari d'Andorra still mentioned Arcalis, even though they also indicated that other options were being considered.
Let's see whether Andorra finally gets the race or whethet the Ariège department wins the battle "thanks to" the health crisis!
UPDATE 30 October at 11.52PM: and finally it thus seems that it'll be Andorra anyway which will win this battle. In the current context, this seems totally crazy, especially knowing that the Vuelta - the younger Spanish brother of the Tour de France organised by Unipublic in which A.S.O. has a majority participation - has had to face the cancelation of the finish on the Tourmalet mainly because of the conditions related to the health crisis, but this is however what seems to get confirmed locally according to the informations I received. By crossing the border, A.S.O. thus takes a big risk, even though they seem to have covered this risk with a back-up plan in the Ariège department, but this apparently won't be what will be announced this Sunday. UPDATE 1 November at 12.02PM: according to La Dépêche today, this stage would visit Prades before it would go off to Font-Romeu and the Principality of Andorre via the Col de Puymorens (a first since Vercingétorix (at least) according to the newspaper) and the climb of Envalira before a finish in Andorra la Vella.
R2/ Monday 12 July 2021 - rest day in Andorra
Based on the finish location the day before, the riders will thus enjoy the rest day this Monday 12 July either in Andorra or in the Ariège department. And this would finally thus be in Andorra.16/ Tuesday 13 July 2021 - Andorra - Escaldes-Engordy or El Pas de la Casa or Ariège ??? > Saint-Gaudens
UPDATE 22 October at 11.02PM: again according to France Bleu Occitanie, the 16th stage of the Tour de France 2021 on this Tuesday 13 July 2021 would finish in Saint-Gaudens, which would thus see the Tour come back for the first time since 2014 (when they had a stage start towards Saint-Lary-Soulan and the Pla d'Adet climb) and the city would for the first time since 1999 have a stage finish again.
UPDATE 30 October at 11.52PM: According to the latest informations and the article of Diari d'Andorra, it would thus be in Andorra that this stage starts and more precisely in Escaldes-Engordany. For this stage the newspaper mentions a distance of 147 km, but that's false because the minimum distance between the start and finish locations is 180 kilometers ...
UPDATE 1 November at 12.02PM: it is well possible that this stage will finally start in El Pas de la Casa on the French/Andorra border because even though La Dépêche ignores the question of the start location, this could be an excellent solution for not having to sleep in Andorra in case the health crisis will still not be resolved at that time and a stay in Andorra would turn out to be impossible! According to La Dépêche, this stage would leave Andorra and descend towards Tarascon-sur-Ariège via Ax-les-Thermes before the riders get on the climb of the Col de Port and descend via Bethmale (without however being able to walk around the beautiful lake and with the race route going over a quite narrow road) and Castillon-en-Couserans, Portet-d'Aspet and the descent towards Saint-Gaudens.
17/ Wednesday 14 July 2021 - ??? Muret or Saint-Gaudens > Pau Saint-Lary-Soulan
UPDATE 17 October 2020 at 2.04AM: For the stage of 14 July, the French national bank holiday, Concerning the finish, I currently don't have any precise information about the exact location. Indeed, historically the finishes here took place on the Pla d'Adet (photo), in the ski station, at an altitude around 1680 m, but the last finish there in 2018 went off to find the Col de Portet, at an altitude of 2215 m. We'll thus see what exact finish location will be chosen for this finish on 14 July 2021! Concerning the Col de Portet, Christian Prudhomme indicated in 2018 that this mountain has all the characteristics which are needed to become some sort of a new Tourmalet so this could well be a good indication!
UPDATE 20 October at 10.06PM: yesterday, La Semaine des Pyrénées confirmed the stage finish on the Col de Portet in Saint-Lary-Soulan which you discovered exclusively on velowire.com and La Dépêche also mentioned this information today, first under the title "a 14 July on the col de Portet" (as the link of the article still reveals) before it got changed into "a 14 July on top of the Pyrenees". According to this article, the start of this stage would be Saint-Gaudens and would go by the Port de Balès, the cols de Peyresourde, Azet-Val Louron, and a real final firework on top of the col de Portet.CONTINUE READING AFTER THIS ADVERTISEMENT
18/ Thursday 15 July 2021 - Tarbes > Iraty / col de Bagargui Pau > Luz-Ardiden
UPDATE 20 October at 10.06PM: if we must believe yesterday's article from La Semaine des Pyrénées and the one today in La Dépêche, the stage with finish on a Bask mountain top would finally not become truth. Indeed, La Semaine des Pyrénées mentions a finish in Luz and La Dépêche adds the full information, indicating that the second stage promised to the Hautes-Pyrénées would connect, the next day, Pau to Luz-Ardiden.19/ Friday 16 July 2021 - Oloron-Sainte-Marie or Trie-sur-Baïse Mourenx > Bordeaux Libourne
According to the Sud Ouest newspaper, France Bleu and Bordeaux Secret, the city of Bordeaux persists with its candidature but remains vigilant concerning the environmental conditions, criticizing mainly the advertising caravan and its gadgets, but also the importance of the cars in the race and even the financial conditions to receive the Tour.UPDATE 17 October 2020 at 2.04AM: according to France Info, the city Bordeaux didn't get what it wished for and the finish of this stage would finally take place in Libourne, the start city of the time trial the next day. Indeed, according to the media which is a partner of the Tour de France, the mayor of Saint-Emilion (location of the time trial's finish) - Bernard Lauret received a letter which confirmed him the time trial the next day and the finish of this stage in Libourne. The mayor of Libourne, Philippe Buisson, also seems to confirm this, while Pierre Hurmic, the mayor of Bordeaux, confirms the Tour won't come to his city in 2021, indicating that Christian Prudhomme told him "that « it was a definite no » for 2021 but open for next year, 2022".As for the start location of this stage, it's again the article from La Rép des Pyrénées which tells us this could well take place just outside the Bask country, in Oloron-Sainte-Marie.
UPDATE 27 October at 10.24AM: the past few days we have discovered that quite some information from the article of the Rép des Pyrénées turned out to be wrong. Looking at the distance, a stage start in Oloron-Sainte-Marie for this stage towards Libourne is certainly possible but it seems a bit long (at least 232 km). It is thus possible that this stage's start would not be in Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Without having had any precise confirmation, there seem to be local rumours mentioning a stage start in Trie-sur-Baïse. This small town in the Hautes-Pyrénées has had its very first Tour de France stage start in 2018, for 171 km towards Pau where it was won by Arnaud Démare.UPDATE 29 October at 9.30PM: finally, if we can believe La Rep des Pyrénées which apparently seems to try to get up on its feet again after the mostly false informations from its previous article, the start of this stage would take place in Mourenx, of which the newspaper reminds that Tour has been there before, more precisely in 1969, 1970, 1999 and 2005, the latter one being for a stage start towards Pau. Interviewed by the newspaper, the mayor of Mourenx, Patrice Laurent, of course didn't confirm this information: "If it were the case, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. The question one should never ask to a mayor is whether he'll receive next year's Tour ! You're certain you won't get an answer, or an answer which isn't really one" and he added "All I can say is that Mourenx has declared itself a candidate in the past". We can however think it is indeed Mourenx which will organise the start of this fore-forelast stage of the Tour de France 2021.
20/ Saturday 17 July 2021 - Libourne > Saint-Émilion - individual time trial
The forelast stage of the Tour de France 2021 will - as usual - be an individual time trial and according to the Sud Ouest newspaper this will be between Libourne and Saint-Émilion in 2021. Will this stage be as decisive as the time trial on the Planche des Belles Filles this year? Let's first wait for the confirmation of this time trial on 29 October!21/ Sunday 18 July 2021 - Chatou > Paris
After a transfer from Bordeaux, the riders will come back together for the start of the last stage in a city of the Yvelines department. There is indeed a running contract between the department and A.S.O. which says that the start of the last stage will take place in the Yvelines until at least 2023. Maybe we'll know soon which city this will be in 2021? One thing is sure, the Tour de France 2021 will end on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, as usual!UPDATE 28 October at 12.11PM: so far, no informations leaked about the precise start city of the last stage in the Yvelines department. The local TV, TV78, la chaîne des Yvelines brings this information now in an "alerte info antenne", announcing that it would be Chatou, without any further precisions. Knowing that Chatou has seen the start of the first stage of Paris-Nice in 2018 (towards Meudon, see here), this thus indicates that A.S.O. knows the city and its capacities to organise a stage start of a WorldTour race and it is thus well possible that this information gets confirmed next Sunday. Will the start again take place on the Île des Impressionnistes (island) as for Paris-Nice 2018? That's probably something we'll get to know much later on ...The table of stages of the Tour de France 2021 based on the rumours
Hereunder you'll find the list of stages which could form the Tour de France 2021 race route according to all these rumours. As usual, it's useless to copy this table and reproduce it elsewhere because this is the only place where this tablea will regularly be updated immediately when new rumours turn up! Any copy of contents (even partially) in this article is by the way stricly forbidden.| # | date | start | finish | comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sa. 26 June 2021 | Brest | Landerneau | |
| 2 | Su. 27 June 2021 | Perros-Guirec | Mûr-de-Bretagne Guerlédan | |
| 3 | Mo. 28 June 2021 | Lorient | Pontivy | |
| 4 | Tu. 29 June 2021 | Redon | Fougères | |
| 5 | We. 30 June 2021 | Changé | Laval | individual time trial |
| 6 | Th. 1er July 2021 | Tours | Châteauroux | |
| 7 | Fr. 2 July 2021 | Vierzon | Le Creusot | |
| 8 | Sa. 3 July 2021 | Oyonnax | Le Grand Bornand | |
| 9 | Su. 4 July 2021 | Cluses | Tignes | |
| R1 | Mo. 5 July 2021 | rest day in Tignes | ||
| 10 | Tu. 6 July 2021 | Albertville | Valence | |
| 11 | We. 7 July 2021 | Sorgues | Malaucène | |
| 12 | Th. 8 July 2021 | ??? | Nîmes | |
| 13 | Fr. 9 July 2021 | Nîmes | Carcassonne | |
| 14 | Sa. 10 July 2021 | Carcassonne | Quillan | |
| 15 | Su. 11 July 2021 | Céret | Andorra la Vella (AND) | |
| R2 | Mo. 12 July 2021 | rest day in Andorra | ||
| 16 | Tu. 13 July 2021 | Escaldes-Engordany or El Pas de la Casa (AND) | Saint-Gaudens | |
| 17 | We. 14 July 2021 | Muret | Saint-Lary-Soulan | |
| 18 | Th. 15 July 2021 | Pau | Luz-Ardiden | |
| 19 | Fr. 16 July 2021 | Mourenx | Libourne | |
| 20 | Sa. 17 July 2021 | Libourne | Saint-Émilion | individual time trial |
| 21 | Su. 18 July 2021 | Chatou | Paris Champs-Elysées | |
The map of the Tour de France 2021 based on rumours
As usual, I created a map of the race route based on these rumours in order to make it easier to understand. Again, you shouldn't copy this map either and reproduce it elsewhere (this is strictly forbidden, as indicated on the copyright page) because only here this map will regularly be updated when new rumours arrive!(in order to zoom on the map, you can click on it when the magnifying glass shows up and you can then click on the arrows in the lower right corner to show it in real size)
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this publication is published in: Tour de France | Tour de France 2021
by COC62 over 
by John Janssen over
For this first stage we officially only know the start city, Brest, but not the finish city, and we don't officially know the start and finish cities of the following stages either, even those of the Grand Départ (the 4 first stages).