Big news for France, and for racing fans, and for anyone following the Lance Armstrong scandal: Officials at the Tour de France have announced the course for the 100th anniversary of the event, which will remain exclusively on French soil.
Taking place from June 29–July 21 2013, the event will be a key staging post as the sport of cycling attempts to fight back from Armstrong's doping scandal.
After a start in Corsica, the Champs-Elysees will welcome riders to the finish in Paris on July 21. The route takes in 3,360 kilometers of French terrain, with hundreds of thousands of spectators expected to line the route.
Bradley Wiggins took the overall title last year, but the British rider seems to have a harder task on his hands in 2013, with a more mountainous course potentially favoring climbers such as Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck. Early favorite Contador won the Tour in 2007 and 2009 will return in 2013, after the Spaniard missed the 2012 edition as he was serving a two-year doping ban. Luxembourg’s Schleck - crowned champion in 2010 after Contador was stripped of his title - missed out through injury.