PARIS: The Tour de France will pass through the scene of some of the worst fighting of World War One next year, organisers revealed yesterday, as they unveiled a route likely to challenge champion Chris Froome.
One hundred years after the start of the Great War, cycling’s most famous race will pay tribute to the millions killed in one of history’s bloodiest conflicts, visiting towns and countryside devastated by four years of fighting.
Stage five starts in Ypres, in the Flanders region of western Belgium, which was the scene of sustained and intensive fighting between German and Allied forces.
Stages six and seven visit Arras, the Chemin des Dames, Verdun and Douaumont -- all sites of key battles and home to memorials to the fallen -- and a finish in Reims, in Champagne country, where French kings were once crowned. The cycling tribute comes amid commemorations across France, Europe and the rest of the world to the conflict that helped shape the violent history of the 20th century.
The 101st edition of the Tour de France overall includes six mountain stages with five summit finishes and a stage tackling the cobblestones that are the hallmark of the Paris-Roubaix classic.
There is also just one time-trial for the first time since the 1950s, all of which will provide defending champion Chris Froome with a tough test in a race likely to favour climbers. Kenya-born Briton Froome, who rides for Team Sky, revealed recently that he was not looking forward to reports of a cobbled stage and was hoping for a maximum amount of time-trials to favour him over more adept, smaller, lighter climbers.
Froome retained the title for Britain in the Tour’s 100th edition last year after compatriot Bradley Wiggins became the country’s first-ever winner in 2012.
British cycling fans will be hoping for a third, straight win for the nation, particularly as the race starts on July 5 in the northern English city of Leeds and includes two opening stages in the county of Yorkshire.
REUTERS
