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It would have to be said that the happiest man in the room at the Tour de France route unveiling in Paris was definitely Chris Froome.
Aside from the fact he is the defending champion, which is cause to be happy anyway, Froome witnessed the unveiling of a very friendly Tour de France route which suits his skill set.
Four summit finishes pepper the 2016 route, one that takes in Switzerland and Andorra as well as France. Mont Ventoux will be the Queen, the race climbs it on Bastille Day.
Froome won the last stage up the Ventoux on Bastille Day on his way to winning the race in 2013, a fact that was not lost on the Brit.
Most of the climbs in the race are newer additions, there will be no foray up Alpe d’Huez next year, but there’s plenty for the likes of Nairo Quintana and Thibaut Pinot to work with. Quintana and his fellow climbers will be heartened by the fact that one of the two time trials is hilly, and the other an outright mountain climb on stage eighteen.
Though there is no foreign grand depart on this year’s Tour – the race starts in the department of Manche for the first time in its history – there will be visits to both Andorra and Switzerland.
Andorra’s moment in the sun comes on stage nine when the Tour comes visiting for a mountain stage, and the race will stay in the tiny state for the rest day. Switzerland also gets the race for a stage finish and a rest day. Stage sixteen finishes in the capital Bern, no doubt celebrating Fabian Cancellara, and the signing of the Fribourg Treaty in 1516.
Mark Cavendish picked out around six stages that the sprinters would be able to contest, though this is subject to seeing the profiles of the finish which come out in the weeks leading up to the race.
But overall Chris Froome – and teammate turned rival Richie Porte for that matter – will be pleased there are no cobbles, and more time trials this year as he attempts to add Tour de France number three to his palmares.
There is one good thing about this Tour de France that we can all agree on however: there’s no prologue!
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