Giving riders a more "level" field

The 2008 Tour de France will have five mountain stages - including three in the Alps - and no time bonuses.

 
A year after the Tour opened in London, the prologue has been scrapped and the first stage returns to its roots with three days in Brittany.

 
And for the first time since 1967, the Tour will not start with a time trial. Instead, there will be a full road stage from Brest to Plumele.

 
A brutal climb up L'Alpe d'Huez follows ahead of the showpiece finish in Paris.

 
Changes to the Tour's opening are designed to give more riders rather than just time-trial experts the chance to compete for the leader's coveted yellow jersey from the very start.

 
     
Time bonuses being abandoned could lead to a tighter and more dramatic Tour, especially in the high mountains where decisive gaps between riders are often built early on.

 
Competition director Jean-Francois Pescheux said: "The first week will not necessarily be the exclusive property of the sprinters.

 
"The end of the first stage, for example, is a two-kilometre slope. So a great finisher can win but also a sprinter or a rider who broke away earlier in the stage.

 
"We want the Tour to rediscover its romanticism. It means the plot will not be obvious."