The 2012 Tour de France has many new features.
It will have three time trials and several new mountain stages. Some of the new climbs are steep.
Christian Prudhomme, race director, has said it should be possible for a rider to attack on a climb early in a stage and still win.
The 11th stage is 140-km to La Toussuire. There will be gruelling climbs on the Col de la Madeleine, Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Mollard and the final climb to La Toussuire with just 15 km of flat road near the start.
The seventh stage finishes at the top of the Planche des Belles Filles, a 5.9 km climb at an average gradient of 8.5 per cent.
The Col du Grand Colombier, one of France’s toughest ascents (17.4 km at 7.1 per cent with parts over 12 per cent), will be on stage 10, and has never been climbed in the Tour.
Another new climb will be the Mur de Peguere, with gradients sometimes reaching 18 per cent, a rarity in Tour de France history.
There are more time trials but less summit finishes and that’s expected to make it difficult to predict who will win. Some of the climbs are not the “grand cols” (big mountains) but there is more climbing with lots of steep sections.
Some are saying it suits Contador, provided he can clear the doping scandal and be there to race.
