The Pyrenees will be judges of the 2010 Tour

Enlarge fotoAlberto Contador, Lance Armstrong and Andy Schleck map pose with the Tour de France 2010

Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong and Andy Schleck pose with the Tour de France map 2010EFE

* The race will start in Rotterdam (Netherlands) on 3 July
* It will have four stages in the Pyrenees, with the Tourmalet to three days of the end
* It celebrates the centenary of the first passage through the Pyrenees

EFE PARIS 14/10/2009 - 12:30 Reichs 2010 Tour de France will be played in the Pyrenees, the Massif to concentrate the greatest difficulty for an edition that will celebrate the centenary of the first step on their roads and will have the Tourmalet as judge of the race , that amount twice.

The route, unveiled today by the organizers, will start in Rotterdam on July 3, will have more mountain than in the previous edition and fewer miles time trial, a discipline in which no team will be timed.

In total, the riders must complete 3596 miles divided into 20 stages and two rest days before arrival at the Champs Elysees on July 25.

With the rise of 23 ports, compared to 20 last year, of which five will finish, the mountain will be the highlight of the issue.

"It's harder than last year, but we are on the average of recent years," said event director Christian Prudhomme said.

The pattern of the Tour denied that the tour has wanted to favor the winner of last edition, Alberto Contador, compared to their expected main rival, American Lance Armstrong.

"If there are fewer time trial is to break the script from the previous years," said competition director Jean-Francois Pecheux.

The organizers wanted to make a nod to the Pyrenees to celebrate the centenary of its first step, so that solid, which will be addressed in the final week of racing, the main difficulty concentrating.

Four stages in the Pyrenees, with two arrivals up, will the general ready for final certification.

Just three days before the arrival in Paris the peloton reach the summit of the Tourmalet, which has been done only once, in the '70s and that marked the climax of the 2010 Tour. This will be a myth, with the rise of the Marie-Blanque and Soulor, in an edition in which the organizers have decided to climb all the peaks that were reached in 1910.

The only trial will live long on the eve of the final 51 kilometers between the vineyards bordolese. It will be the only exercise timed along with the eight-kilometer prologue edition launched in the town of Rotterdam Holland.

The first week will be marked by cobblestone paths on which the organizers have borrowed the classic spring from the Paris-Roubaix to the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, through the Tour of Flanders.

With the danger posed by "shield" the Tour hopes to give spice to the first week, which also border on the North Sea, which opens the door to the fans.

Below is the massif of Jura face before heading to the Alps but not before facing the Massif Central, a prelude to the Pyrenees.