Paris — A time trial in the Alps, cobblestone roads, changes to the scoring system. The 2004 Tour de France will feature new wrinkles as Lance Armstrong bids for a record sixth title.
The race has been revamped to "make sure the favorites never feel settled and keep the suspense going until the very end," tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said Thursday in unveiling the route.
The 3,334-kilometre race will start July 3 in Liege, Belgium, and finish in Paris on July 25.
Leblanc said that although the mountain climbs will not be as high as in 2003, they will be "full of difficulty and danger." There will be six mountain stages, one fewer than this year, but a climbing time trial is being added.
Typically, time trials are raced on mostly flat routes. But on July 21, with riders feeling the strain after nearly three weeks in the saddle, there will be a 14.8-kilometre uphill race against the clock up to the legendary Alpe d'Huez.
"How could we make the 2004 Tour unconventional?" Leblanc said. "By having a time trial in the mountains to mess up established tactics and game plans and provide more uncertainty."
Also, the July 7 team time trial will be weighted so that no team can gain more than 2 minutes, 30 seconds, so as not to "give good riders in weaker teams too much disadvantage," Leblanc said.
