Blog - Tour de France 2016

The Tour de France doesn't visit the whole of France? In fact it does, over time! - the historical map with the Tour de France parcours

Every time the route of the Tour de France is presented, the same comments are made in France, especially by residents of areas ignored by the upcoming edition: "The Tour never goes this way or that way."


But that's not quite true: even if there are areas that the Tour de France visits less often than others, all regions of France, and even all departements, have featured on the route of the Grande Boucle over the years.

Of course, this is easy to say but more difficult to verify, which is why velowire has created a map of the Tour de France routes over the last 16 years (2008-2023) on Open Street Maps. Every year, the complete route of the new edition of the Grande Boucle ...

Tomorrow the Tour de France 2016, 103rd edition of the Grande Boucle, will start at the foot of the Mont-Saint-Michel, in the Manche department which organises the Grand Départ this year.

198 riders will be at the start of the race and in this article you'll find all of them, with their bib numbers so you can identify them in the race.

Here's the list of participating riders for the Tour de France 2016, from Chris Froome to Florian Vachon, from the youngest rider of the Tour (the Norwegian Sondre Holst Enger, 22 years old) up to Matteo Tossato, who, at 42 years old, will participate in a Grand Tour for the 34th time, via the 32 riders who will participate, just like Sondre Holst Enger, in the Tour de France f ...

The Tour de France 2016 race route on Google Maps/Google Earth, profiles and time- and route schedules

As usual, velowire.com allows you to discover in detail the race route of this 103rd edition of the Grande Boucle, with maps on Google Maps/Google Earth. The first maps were available on the French version of the website 3 weeks before the start of the Tour de France 2016 already and these have been progressively completed since. All stages are now online, with the English translation.

With the informations in this article you'll get to know all tiny details, all cities and villages which will be visited by the Tour and you'll thus be able to prepare your visit of the Tour if you plan to go there, or simply better understand the race if you're staying home!

Some preliminary information ...

A 23rd team in the Tour de France 2016: the GIGN

In March, the 22 teams selected for participation in the Tour de France have been announced by Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.), the organisor of the Tour.

This list was not surprising at that time because we found exactly the same teams as last year. Today, it has been announced that a 23rd team will be added to this selection ...

The terrorist threat: the Interior Ministry takes exceptional measures

The teams selection for the Tour de France 2016: like last year

The 22 teams selected to participate in the Tour de France 2016 have been announced this morning. In addition to the 18 UCI WorldTeams, 4 wildcards have been awarded ... to the same teams as last year!

The 18 UCI WorldTeams

The Tour de France 2016 race route: difficult from start till finish!

article updated on 27 October 2015 with the videos of the official presentation!

This Tuesday, the race route of the Tour de France 2016, 103rd edition of the Grande Boucle, has been officially presented at the Palais des Congrès by Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.). A race route of 21 stages including 2 individual time trials of which one uphill, which will require the riders who want to be on the top step of the podium to show a good performance during almost the whole Tour!

A nice race route, with quite a lot of new things, that's what A.S.O. offers us for 2016. Let's now discover it in detail!

Christian Prudhomme: "quite a few changes into perspective"!

Tour de France 2016: the rumours about the race route and the stage cities!

Tour de France 2016: after the Manche department, down to Andorra!

While the Tour de France 2015 is only about to start in 170 days and the official presentation of the Tour de France 2016 race route is only planned for 20 October 2015, Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.) already announced that the 103rd edition of the Tour de France will visit Andorra!

The Tour de France in Andorra during 3 days!

The race route of the first Tour de France 2016 stages in Google Maps/Google Earth

Last week, Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.) and the Manche department, officially announced (at the Mont-Saint-Michel ) the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2016 in the Manche and more precisely at the Mont-Saint-Michel!

As usual, since velowire is always trying to provide you all the details, you can now discover the precise race route of the first two stages and the start of the third stage on Google Maps/Google Earth and maybe even get a first idea of the finish city of the 3rd stage?!

The race route of the first two stages of the Tour de France 2016 on Google Maps

The Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2016 officially announced: 3 days in the Manche department

It's been quite a while since it was first rumoured and it had been confirmed by the organisor on 25 November already, the Tour de France 2016 will have its Grand Départ in the Manche departement.

Rapidly after that official announcement it became clear that the first stage will start at the foot of the Mont-Saint-Michel, well known touristical spot in the department, and today all the other details fo the Grand Départ have been announced.

The details of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2016