The extra rest day was decided upon to answer critics who say that the race is too hard and leads to drug abuse. The 86th Tour de France will start on July 3 in Puy-de-Fou amd will finish on July 25 in Paris. It will venture outside of France only once - to the Italian Alpine finish at Sestrière on July 13. A day later, Bastille Day, the tour will climb Alpe d'Huez. This year the race did not go up l'Alpe d'Huez.
The prologue will be in the neighbourhood of Europe's greatest open-air theatre in Le Puy du Fou, which was also the starting city in 1993. The detailed route is as follows:
July 3 - Prologue, Le Puy-du-Fou, 8 kms July 4 - Stage 1, Montaigu - Challans, 209 kms July 5 - Stage 2, Challans - Saint-Nazaire, 202 kms July 6 - Stage 3, Nantes - Laval, 194 kms July 7 - Stage 4, Laval - Blois, 191 kms July 8 - Stage 5, Bonneval - Amiens, 228 kms July 9 - Stage 6, Amiens - Maubeuge, 169 kms July 10 - Stage 7, Avesnes-sur-Helpe - Thionville, 223 kms July 11 - Stage 8, Metz, Individual Time Trial 56 kms July 12 - Rest Day July 13 - Stage 9, Le Grand Bornand - Sestriere, 215 kms July 14 - Stage 10, Sestriere - L'Alpe d'Huez, 218 kms July 15 - Stage 11, Bourg d'Oisan - Saint-Etienne, 199 kms July 16 - Stage 12, Saint-Galmier - Saint-Flour, 197 kms July 17 - Stage 13, Saint-Flour - Albi, 237 kms July 18 - Stage 14, Castres - Saint-Gaudens, 189 kms July 19 - Rest Day July 20 - Stage 15, Saint-Gaudens - Piau-Engaly, 174 kms July 21 - Stage 16, Lannemezan - Pau, 192 kms July 22 - Stage 17, Mourenx - Bordeaux, 184 kms July 23 - Stage 18, Jonzac - Futuroscope, 182 kms July 24 - Stage 19, Futuroscope, Individual Time Trial 54.5 kms July 25 - Stage 20, Arpajon - Champs-Elysees, 160 kms
The Tour director, Jean-Marie Leblanc said at the announcement ceremony for next year's Tour de France that the organisers was not noticably shorter than previous races - covering 3,680 stages over 20 stages - the average of 1990 events. The big difference was the second rest day.
He denied that there was any relationship between distance and drug use. He told the press: "It's not up to the Tour de France to make new efforts. Since the Second World War, the time and length of the Tour de France has continually dropped. It has passed from 26 days and more than 4,500 kmss to an average 22 days and less than 4,000 kms. The calendar never stops getting heavier and it's in this direction that we must work. There's no reason to believe that if there's doping it's because the Tour is too long. There's no link between the two."
He elaborated and said he thought there should be less one-day events and that they should be shorter.
Analysing next year's route, the race goes clockwise and hits the Alps prior to the Pyrennees. There are only four Haute Categorie mountain stages, 3 mountain top finishes, and 23 classified climbs in all.
The format now includes a rest day before each plunge in the high mountain stages and 2 less teams than last year (20 from 22).
The French Prime Minister said in response to the request that there was separation of powers in France and the judiciary were completely independent.
Priem, is under house arrest and has to report to police on a daily basis. He has been placed under investigation which in French law is one step away from being formally charged. The Dutch are now claiming that the detention is part of a French action to reflect their disdain for the liberal drugs laws in the Netherlands. The French PM however was not at all impressed by the claim. He told the press after his meeting with Wim Kok (which was held at the Dutch PM's state house in the Hague) that: "I can tell you one thing. We are involved in a struggle against doping in sport. I am sure everyone agrees with the necessity of eradicating doping from sport."