The speculation is over. Some of it was right, much of it was wrong. Either way, the organizers of the Tour de France on Thursday unveiled the route of the 2006 race, officially kicking off the post-Armstrong era at France's national tour.

It will be the first Tour since 1999 not to feature seven-time winner Lance Armstrong, who is now retired, but the American was nonetheless a hot topic despite the presence of several of his potential successors.

Ivan Basso, of the CSC team, was present and was largely favorable to a race route which will feature the two traditional individual time trials, at the end of the first week and on the penultimate day.

Organizers however have removed the team time trial event - so coveted by Armstrong and his Discovery Channel teammates – from this Tour, which will begin in Strasbourg in Alsace and move counter-clockwise around the country before finishing in Paris.

Early stages will be held in the north east of France, with forays into the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany.

As the race heads south toward Bordeaux in the south west of the country, only two stages will be held in the Pyrénées, with the second of those two stages finishing in Spain for the first time since 1996. the two.

The likes of Basso of Italy, who finished runner-up to Armstrong last year, Spain's Alejandro Valverde and other yellow jersey contenders such as Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov or Jan Ullrich of Germany will find the bulk of the challenge lies in the Alps, where three days of difficult climbing await.

The summit finish at Alpe d'Huez, which last featured as an individual time trial in 2004 after which Armstrong finally held off German rival Ullrich in what was an epic race, returns as part of the 187km long 15th stage from Gap.

The following day is a 182km epic over two legendary Cols (passes) - the Col du Galibier, the Col de la Croix-Fer, then the Col du Mollard before finishing on the La Toussuire summit.

The final of three days in the Alps is the 199km 17th stage, in which four Cols and one medium-sized climb will be negotiated before the peloton races down towards Morzine - where the now-retired Richard Virenque won after an epic stage in 2003.

The final test for any of the main contenders will come on the 19th stage, a 56km individual time trial from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines.

The final 20th stage is from Antony to the south of Paris to the traditional finish on the Champs Élysées.

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Notes on the `06 Tour:9 flat stages4 moderate mountain stages5 mountain stages2 individual time-trials3 mountain-top finishes2 rest days116 kilometers of individual time-trials (including the prologue)A total of 22 Category 1, Category 2 and

Major Mountain StagesStage 10 (Pau)Col du Soudet, 1540 mCol de Marie-Blanque, 1035 mStage 11 (Pla-de-Beret)Col du Tourmalet, 2115 mCol d'Aspin, 1489 mCol de Peyresourde, 1569 mCol du Portillon, 1320 mPla-de-Beret, 1830 mStage 15 (L'Alpe-d'Huez)Col d'Izoard, 2360 mCol du Lautaret, 2058 mL'Alpe-d'Huez, 1860 mStage 16 (La Toussuire)Col du Galibier, 2645 mCol du Glandon, 1924 mCol du Mollard, 1638 mLa Toussuire, 1690 mStage 17 (Morzine)Col des Saisies, 1650 mCol des Aravis, 1498 mCol de la Colombiere, 1618 mCol de Joux-Plane, 1700 m

DATE	STAGE	ROUTE	DISTANCE
July 1	Prologue	Strasbourg	7km
July 2	1	Strasbourg - Strasbourg	183km
July 3	2	Obernai - Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg)	223km
July 4	3	Esch-sur-Alzette - Valkenburg (Netherlands)	216km
July 5	4	Huy (Belgium) - Saint-Quentin	215km
July 6	5	Beauvais - Caen	219km
July 7	6	Lisieux - Vitré	184km
July 8	7	Saint-Grégoire-Rennes (ITT)	52km
July 9	8	Saint-Méen-le-Grand - Lorient	177km
July 10	Rest Day	Bordeaux	-
July 11	9	Bordeaux - Dax	170km
July 12	10	Cambo-les-Bains - Pau	193km
July 13	11	Tarbes - Val d'Aran/Pla-de-Beret (Spain)	208km
July 14	12	Luchon - Carcassonne	211km
July 15	13	Béziers - Montélimar	231km
July 16	14	Montélimar - Gap	181km
July 17	Rest Day	Gap	-
July 18	15	Gap - L'Alpe-d'Huez	187km
July 19	16	Le Bourg-d'Oisans - La Toussuire	182km
July 20	17	Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne - Morzine	199km
July 21	18	Morzine - Macon	193km
July 22	19	Le Creusot - Montceau-les-Mines (ITT)	56km
July 23	20	Antony (Parc de Sceaux) - Paris Champs-Elysées	152km