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[cyclist]

July 2 Stage 1: Passage du Gois to Mont des Alouettes, 191.5km (119 miles)
 
With the time-consuming protocol out of the way, the peloton will be keen to get on with the racing. This is one of the flattest stages of the Tour, so expect speeds to be high despite likely crosswinds off the ocean. The sprinters’ teams will be eager to keep the peloton together until the uphill straightaway at Avrillé (87km, 54 miles) for the very first, new-format intermediate sprint.
 

The Passage du Gois
 
This daily mid-race sprint, with a hefty allocation of points for the best-sprinter’s green jersey competition, is an experiment that should yield spectacular results, especially on a stage like this one when the pure sprinters are disadvantaged by an uphill finish at the end of the day. Expect breakaways to form on the hillier second half of this stage but the field is likely to come together in the final hour after the fast downhill run into Les Herbiers. Here, the riders have to negotiate eight roundabouts on the town’s ring road prior to what should be an exciting finale.
 
The last 4km is all uphill, shallow at first before hitting a steady 5-percent grade on wide roads where the wind could scupper the chances of a solo attacker. The finish line is at the top of the Mont des Alouettes (”Mount of the Larks”) 748 feet (228 meters) above sea level, not far from the highest point in the Vendée. The strongest sprinters (rather than the fastest) will likely contest the stage win — and the Tour’s first yellow jersey.
 
THE SCOOP: GC contenders will have to be wary of getting caught out by splits in the peloton caused by (1) the quick succession of roundabouts in the last 6km, (2) the high speed of the climb to the finish and/or (3) the likely crosswinds.
 OVERALL RATING: **
 

[cyclist]

July 3 Stage 2: Les Essarts team time trial, 23km (14.3 miles)
 
The team time trial (TTT) is a stage in which each of the 22 teams starts separately at seven-minute intervals, with the fastest time taking the win. Most importantly, the team time (measured on its fifth man across the line) counts on the individual GC, so the yellow jersey is almost certain to go to the first rider across the line in the day’s fastest team. The course is a flat 23km team time trial on a straightforward, triangular course at the town of Les Essarts, population 5,000. Riding fast in strong winds will be each team’s goal, with the short distance designed to keep the time gaps small (probably less than 10 seconds between the top three teams and maybe 90 seconds to the slowest one) and ensure that the first week’s GC is not locked up by the TTT-winning formation.
 
THE SCOOP: All the GC contenders hope that their team is strong enough to take a top-five or at least a top-10 finish; otherwise, if they finish more than a minute back, their Tour-winning chances will be greatly reduced.
 OVERALL RATING: ***
 

[cyclist]

July 4 Stage 3: Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon, 198km (123 miles)
 
This is a stage that should end up favoring the sprinters, like the Manxman Mark Cavendish, American Tyler Farrar or Italian Alessandro Petacchi. The course is the flattest of the Tour, heading north from the Vendée region into Brittany, paralleling the Atlantic coast before crossing the Loire River estuary on the 216-foot high St. Nazaire Bridge — which is the day’s only climb, given the lowest, category 4 designation. If there are strong crosswinds the race could break up in the remaining 55km (34 miles) that the peloton will probably cover in one hour. The race passes through the town of Pontchâteau on its way to a flat finish in Redon.
 
THE SCOOP: Everyone will need to be wary of two tricky turns, a right uphill 270-degree loop from a highway with 6km to go and a sharp right just outside 3km; if there is a crash on either turn riders could lose a bunch of time because time lost from crashes or mechanical problems are only cancelled out for incidents inside the final 3km.
 OVERALL RATING: *
 

[cyclist]

July 5 Stage 4: Lorient to Mûr-de-Bretagne, 172.5km (107 miles)
 
This stage is definitely not one for the sprinters. The start in Lorient is only 70km from the finish at Mûr-de-Bretagne, but the route of this fourth stage travels an extra 100km on a loop that takes in lot of short climbs through central Brittany before finishing atop the infamous hill at Mûr-de-Bretagne that the locals call Brittany’s L’Alpe d’Huez because so many fans line its slopes on race day. This finishing climb opens with a straight kilometer at a 10-percent grade, including two 15-percent pitches, and eases to 5.5 percent, then 2.4 percent for the final 500 meters.
 
THE SCOOP: Expect to see the GC riders’ teammates pulling their leaders toward the head of the bunch in the final kilometers before reaching a short hill into the town of Mûr-de-Bretagne 4km from the line. Vital seconds will be lost by those not starting the final climb in good position.
 OVERALL RATING: ***
 

[cyclist]

July 6 Stage 5: Carhaix to Cap de Fréhel, 164.5km (102 miles)
 
The main features of this medium-distance stage are the 45 communities it passes through (increasing the likelihood of crashes) and the winds that almost always blow across the exposed coast of northern Brittany. The finish near Cap Fréhel, a rocky headland jutting into the English Channel (the French call it La Manche), is where Bjarne Riis’s CSC team split the race apart in crosswinds on a stage to St. Brieuc in 2004. This year’s route is in the opposite direction, with the race passing through St. Brieuc 50km from the end, but expect similar tactics from Riis (who now directs Contador’s Saxo Bank team).
 
THE SCOOP: A short, sharp hill 3km from the finish followed by a fast downhill and a slightly uphill final kilometer with frequent turns could favor a late attack and catch out the sprinters (and a few GC contenders).
 OVERALL RATING: *
 

[cyclist]

July 7 Stage 6: Dinan to Lisieux, 226.5km (140.7 miles)
 
This longest stage of the 2011 Tour is also likely to be one of the fastest because it heads east with the prevailing winds out of Brittany along the Channel coast and across the rolling hills of Normandy. The finish at Lisieux features a significant climb past its massive Ste. Thérèse basilica, 2km from the finish, featuring a 10-percent pitch midway up the 1.3km, 6.3-percent grade.
 
THE SCOOP: The sprinters’ teams are likely to let a breakaway form after the intermediate sprint at Vassy, some 100km from the finish. Given the length of the stage, the break should stay away; but GC contenders will still need to be wary of losing time when the peloton splits on the climb to the finish.
 OVERALL RATING: **
 

[cyclist]

July 8 Stage 7: Le Mans to Châteauroux, 218km (135.5 miles)
 
This is another long stage, but much flatter, heading south from the Loire valley to a flat finish in Châteauroux — where Mark Cavendish won his very first Tour stage three years ago. There are some sharp turns and a roundabout in the final 5km, but the lead-out trains set up by the teams of the leading sprinters should prevent any late attacks from succeeding.
 
THE SCOOP: This stage will almost certainly provide the last (and best!) mass sprint finish of the Tour’s opening week, though the overall contenders will again have to avoid crashes (on two sharp turns and the roundabout) before reaching the 3km-to-go marker.
 OVERALL RATING: *

[cyclist]

July 9 Stage 8: Aigurande to Super-Besse, 189km (117.5 miles)
 
As it did in 2008, this year’s Tour will head into the hilly terrain of the Massif Central with an almost identical stage from Aigurande to a summit finish at Super-Besse. This is where Riccardo Riccò (later disqualified for doping) sprinted home ahead of Alejandro Valverde (who is suspended this year for another doping offense) and Cadel Evans. One difference is that the finale is preceded by a much harder climb, the Cat. 2 Col de la Croix St. Robert (6.2km at a 6.2-percent average grade), followed by 19km of winding back roads before the last climb begins in the town of Besse.
 
THE SCOOP: The climb to the finish is in two parts: a 2.5km haul out of Besse town at almost 7-percent grade and, after a downhill section, a 1.5km kicker to the line at almost 8 percent. It’ll suit a mixture or GC contenders and those seeking stage wins at hilltop finishes.
 OVERALL RATING: ***
 

[cyclist]

July 10 Stage 9: Issoire to St. Flour, 208km (129 miles)
 
This is the first day of serious climbing, with almost 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) of elevation gain in a 208km stage that will mean almost six hours in the saddle. It’s similar to a stage in 2004 that also crossed a slew of long climbs through the same mountain range when Frenchman Richard Virenque finished solo in medieval St. Flour five minutes ahead of a 70-strong peloton. This year, the group will be much smaller due to the quick succession of the Cat. 2 Puy Mary, Perthus and Prat de Bouc climbs within a 40km stretch that comes only 54km from the uphill finish.
 
THE SCOOP: All the GC favorites’ teams will need to be ready to respond to dangerous breakaways, especially on the narrow, undulating back roads in the last 20km of this long (and perhaps very hot) day.
 OVERALL RATING: ***

[cyclist]

July 11 Rest day at Le Lioran Cantal
 
The 22 teams are staying for two nights at 20 separate hotels in 14 different towns scattered around the Cantal region of the Massif Central. The athletes will have plenty of hills to discover on their traditional two-hour rest-day rides to keep their legs turning.