CHAMBERY — As cycling fans on the roadside and watching at home on television marvel at the stunning scenery on view at the Tour de France, organisers ASO are already planning the next editions of the Grande Boucle.

Work on each year’s Tour route begins three years ahead of time, when Tour director Christian Prudhomme settles on the city that will host the Grand Depart for that edition.

After that, he decides which direction the race will set off in, and starts to pick the departure and arrival towns for each of the 21 stages from a list of 300 candidates—including 50 foreign ones.

Several factors go into that decision-making process.

“If we only took sporting issues into consideration, every year we would be there,” Prudhomme told AFP in his office before the Tour, pointing to the southern half of a map of France pinned to his wall.

“Because that is where you can do anything you want: flat, medium mountains, very tough (mountains).

“But then you also have Brittany, the land of cyclists; the north, who gave us an incredible reception last year; Normandy, where every time there is a crazy number of fans.

“Over a period of four or five years, we go just about everywhere.”

Beautiful scenery is a key consideration because “people also watch the Tour for the beauty of its landscapes”.

Special attention is also paid to weekend stages and the one on Bastille Day—France’s national holiday—as those attract the largest television audiences.

And then there are the non-negotiables.

“You could put 50 mountains but if there isn’t the Tourmalet, Galibier, Ventoux or Alpe d’Huez, people will say that there were no mountains,” said Prudhomme.