Summer is back and so is the most prestigious bike race, The Tour de France.
Running from Saturday July 4th to Sunday July 26th 2009, the 96th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres.
These 21 stages have the following profiles:
* 10 flat stages,
* 7 mountain stages,
* 1 medium mountain stage,
* 2 individual time-trial stages,
* 1 team time-trial stage.
Distinctive aspects of the race
* 3 mountain finishes,
* 2 rest days,
* 55 kilometres of individual time-trials,
* 20 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed.
Mont Ventoux on the day before the Champs-Élysées. Never in the history of the event has a mountain been on the programme the day before the finish in Paris. This will be the case this year with the Ventoux mountain finish on the 20th stage.
YouTube Tour de France route video.
