Profile, climbs and points
For the first time since 1967, the opening stage of the Tour de France is not a time-trial style prologue, but instead a road stage. Today’s 197.5 km route is also notable for it’s rolling profile and uphill finish. The four category 4 climbs include:

at 29.5 km : Côte de Ty-Jopic (3.7 km long, with average grade 3.3 %)
at 48.5 km: Côte de Kerivarc’h (1.5 km long, with average grade 3.2 %)
at 85.5 km : Col de Toullaëron (1.8 km long, with average grade 5.6 %)
at 146.5 km : Côte de Guenervé (2.1 km long, with average grade 3.3 %)

Riders will be competing for sprint points - and not time bonuses - at the two intermediate sprint lines at Plonevez-du-Faou (62 km) and Remungol (157 km) and also the finish. Tour organizers decided this year that the GC would be based only on real time finishes and have dispensed completely with time bonuses, which should prove interesting.

meteo stage 1Weather
The weather forecast for the stage is for rain mixed with sun and temps around 18C/64F with winds from the southwest at 40KPH/25MPH, which will results in a slight cross/head wind for the southeast bound riders.

Team Garmin-Chipotle in first position
Normally the order of the team cars for stage 1 is determined by the prologue results. However since there is no prologue, the team car order was determined by draw. With a little beginner’s luck, Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O won the draw and was given lead position. Perhaps a sign of good things to come….Stay tuned!