The route of the 2012 Tour de France was mistakenly disclosed today on the race's official website, www.letour.fr. For only a few minutes, a link was activated, revealing the complete listing of next year's Tour stages. Details weren't supposed to be released until October 18.
The first website to catch the big fish was Velopeloton.com and the news spread quickly. Cyclingnews contacted officials at race owner Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), who would neither deny nor confirm the authenticity of the information.
"I can't tell you anything about this. We're fixing it now internally. The only person who could comment on it would be [race director] Christian Prudhomme himself," Claude Rasch told Cyclingnews.
If the information is correct, then it would be the first time in many years that ASO haven't been able to keep the secret over the race route until the official presentation. Unofficial leaks have always existed in the days prior to the event held in Paris's Palais des Congrès but this sort of large-scale error has no precedent.
2012 Tour de France stages:
- Prologue: Sat 30 June Liège > Liège 6.1km
- 1 ( Road stage): Sun 1 July, Liège > Seraing, 198km
- 2 (Road stage): Mon 2 July, Visé > Tournai, 207km
- 3 (Road stage): Tues 3 July, Orchies > Boulogne-sur-Mer, 197km
- 4 (Road stage): Weds 4 July, Abbeville > Rouen, 214km
- 5 (Road stage): Thurs 5 July, Rouen > Saint-Quentin,197km
- 6 (Road stage): Fri 6 July, Épernay > Metz, 210km
- 7 (Road stage): Sat 7 July, Tomblaine > La Planche des Belles Filles,199km
- 8 (Road stage): Sun 8 July, Belfort > Porrentruy, 154km
- 9 (Time trial): Mon 9 July, Arc-et-Senans > Besançon, 38km
- 10 (Road stage): Weds 11 July, Mâcon > Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, 194km
- 11 (Mountains): Thurs 12 July, Albertville > La Toussuire - Les Sybelles, 140km
- 12 ( Mountains): Fri 13 July, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Annonay, 220km
- 13 (Road stage): Sat 14 July, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux > Le Cap d’Agde, 215km
- 14 (Road stage): Sun 15 July, Limoux > Foix, 192km
- 15 (Road stage): Mon 16 July, Samatan > Pau, 160km
- 16 (Mountains): Weds 18 July, Pau > Bagnères-de-Luchon, 197km
- 17 (Mountains): Thurs 19 July, Bagnères-de-Luchon > Peyragudes, 144km
- 18 (Road stage): Fri 20 July, Blagnac > Brive-la-Gaillarde, 215km
- 19 (Time trial): Sat 21 July, Bonneval > Chartres, 52km
- 20 (Road stage): Sun 22 July, Rambouillet > Paris Champs-Élysées, 130km
This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com.