Balanced 2016 Tour route still set to favour climbers (Reuters)

By Julien Pretot PARIS (Reuters) – The Tour de France looks set to be dominated by the climbers once more in 2016 but cycling’s most prestigious stage race should get off to a calmer start than this year after organisers revealed a balanced course on Tuesday. The Tour de France is a stressful race,” warned defending champion Chris Froome of Britain. “It will, however, be a week for the strong,” said competition director Thierry Gouvenou, who designs the course along with Tour director Christian Prudhomme.