**Russian rider Oleg Kozlitine, who rode for Le Groupement until its demise, has been signed by Lotto, apparently at the request of Andrei Tchmil.
**Castorama rider Benoit Salmon has signed with the Belgian Collstrop team.
**Cedico rider Erwan Mentheour has signed for Aki.
**Festina rider Francisque Tessier is to ride for Aubervilliers in 1996.
**Jacky Durand, who is still recovering from a scaphoid injury after an accident at home is still wthout a team for 1996. "THer ahve been a couple of approaches," he said, "but nothing concrete."
STAGE 7 Chambery--Les Arcs SUMMIT finish Col de la Madeleine 2000m (20km at 7.8%) Cormet de Roselend 1968m (20km at 6%) Les Arcs 1700m (14.7km at 5.8%) This stage could provide some early excitement like we had this year from Alex Zulle. The first climb, the Madeleine is an unrelenting 8% for almost 12 miles, luckily there is a long descent and then 18 miles of slightly uphill terrain to the stair-stepped Corment de Roselend. Not much is known about Les Arcs, the Tour has never finished here, but it is long enough and steep enough to make a selection. +===+===+ STAGE 8 (individual time trial) Bourg-Saint Maurice--Val d'Isere Val d'Isere 1810 (14.8km at 5.9%) SUMMIT finish The course is a straight road on relatively good pavement through a number of snow shed tunnels that climbs 3300' in 9 miles. Look for the power climbers like Indurain and Zulle to be in the hunt versus the real mountain goats like Pantani who find their best form at grades of over 8-9%. +===+===+ STAGE 9 Val d'Isere--Sestrieres Col de l'Iseran 2270m (15.5km at 5.8%) Col du Galibier 2640m (34.7km at 5.4%) Col de Montgenevre 1870m (8.1km at 6%) Sestrieres 2030m (10.8km at 6.1%) SUMMIT finish The climb from Val d'Isere to the summit of the l'Iseran is moderately steep but on pretty bumpy pavement. My guess is that the attack won't begin until the riders reach the slopes of the Telegraphe/Galibier where Rominger upped the tempo in 1993. The Galibier is a 2 stage climb, the lower 2700' as the Telegraphe with a short descent to Valoire before the final 4000' climb to the highest point of the 1996 Tour at about 8700'. The descent to Briancon is a screamer on wide open roads with a relatively short climb over the Montgenevre before the final slog to Sestriere where the Tour last passed in 1992. This is the stage that the real mountain goats, like Pantani or Virenque, would like to win as did Chiapucci in 1992. Unfortunately, in all probability, the rider wearing the yellow jersey will not have a large enough margin to let any major attack stick so look for all the contenders to be together on the final climb to Sestriere. +===+===+ STAGE 10 Turin--Gap Col de Montgenevre 1890m (42.4km at 3.1%) Col de la Sentinelle 981m (5.3km at 5%) Not a particularily noteworthy stage on paper especially with the omission of the traditional Izoard and Vars passes. More of a transfer stage though sometimes strange things happen when they are least expected. +===+===+ STAGE 13 Le Puy-en-Velay--Superbesse-Sancy SUMMIT finish Col des Fourches 970m (9.9km at 4.3%) Col de Toutee 996m (5.5km at 4.8%) Superbesse 1275m (2.1km at 5.5%) The Massif Central serves up its best with a rolling stage that could prove difficult for a team to control as the roads are constantly up and down and not very wide. I really don't know what to make of a stage like this except that it will be crucial for the leaders to be at the front during the entire stage. +===+===+ STAGE 16 Agen--Lourdes (Hautacam) SUMMIT finish Hautacam 1516m (13.4km at 7.8%) As in 1994, the only climb of the day comes at the end of the stage. Indurain was raging here primarily because Rominger was in trouble. Look for a climber like Pantani to chase down a long breakaway and take the victory. +===+===+ STAGE 17 Argeles-Gazost--Pamplona Col d'Aubisque 1704m (28.4km at 4.2%) Col de Marie-Blanque 1100m (8.7km at 7.1%) Col de Soudet 1540m (15.8km at 6.8%) Port de Larrau 1600m (14.8km at 7.9%) Cote de Remendia 1040m (2.7km at 3.7%) This stage is very similar to the first mountain stage of the 1991 Tour de France. From the east, the Souloir/Aubisque is long but not especially difficult. Same for the Marie-Blanque. However, the Soudet and the Larrau come at the perfect distance in the stage and are long and steep enough to see a major attack by the contenders for the yellow jersey. If a Spaniard does not win this stage it will be an amazing upset. +===+===+ STAGE 18 Pamplona--Hendaye Alto de Erro 800m (5,5km at 4.4%) Cote d'Irouleguy 250m (2.6km at 2.9%) Col d'Ispeguy 672m (8.2km at 6.4%) Puerto Otxondo 602m (6.7km at 5.4%) Col de Saint-Ignace 185m (2.9km at 4%) Minor climbs in moderately hilly terrain of the western Pyrenees have, in recent years, proved to be unspectacular in terms of the overall classification. In 1992, Pascal Lino took over the yellow jersey on some of these same roads, don't look for a major GC shakeup to happen here in 1996.