Cobbles and Col du Tourmalet to star in Tour

Published on Wednesday 14 October 2009 22:49

ALBERTO Contador must contend with treacherous cobblestones and blustery North Sea winds before sinking his teeth into the Tour de France mountain stages after the route for next year's race was unveiled yesterday.

But the Spaniard, Tour champion in 2007 and 2009 and arguably the best climber in the world, can look forward to stretching his rivals in the Pyrenees, which will be the highlight of cycling's showcase event in 2010.

Four stages, including a gruelling 16th stage with four daunting climbs, will be held in the mountains that form the border between France and Spain.

One hundred years after first featuring on the Tour map, the Pyrenees could be the scene of a classic battle between Contador and seven times champion Lance Armstrong. "The route is better than last year's because there are more mountains," said Contador. "Finishing with the Tourmalet is great for me," he added, referring to the last mountain stage which ends at the top of the 2,115-metre high Col du Tourmalet.

The objective of this year's route was to create an unpredictable race. "It is going to be a big fight," said Tour director Christian Prudhomme. "We wanted to make sure anything could happen anywhere."

The three-week race over almost 3,600km will start with an 8km prologue in Rotterdam before heading into the heartland of cycling – Belgium. The first stage will take the riders along the North Sea, with 12km and 6km sections on an embankment, with crossing winds likely to split the peloton. "With these two sections on an embankment, with the strong winds blowing, there could be some trouble," said Prudhomme.

The opening stage to Brussels will also go through Antwerp and Meise, the home town of five times winner Eddy Merckx. A tribute will be paid to the classics, with the second stage going through roads used on Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and leaders will have to be extremely cautious in the third stage, which features treacherous cobbled sections used for Paris-Roubaix, the Queen of the Classics. "There will be 11km of cobblestones in the last 30km. There will be some damage," said Prudhomme.

"Cobblestones are nice on TV, but not on the bike," said Contador, who has never taken part in the Paris-Roubaix race.