The 2011 Tour de France, which runs from July 2-24, will feature 22 teams made up of nine riders all vying to cross the finishing line on the Champs Elysees clad in the famous yellow jersey.

But first those riders will have to endure 21 stages of cycling through the towns and mountains of France, completing 3,741km over the three weeks with just 2 days rest along the way. Amongst those Tour de France stages, which begin in the Passage du Gois and end in Creteil, are six mountain stages and four which finish on the summit with the riders twice having to tackle the 2,645 metre tall Col du Galibier, with the finish there becoming the highest in Tour de France history beating the Col du Granon which was scaled 25 years ago.

This year’s event sees the introduction of four professional continental teams (FDJ, Cofidis, Europcar and Saur-Sojasan) who join the last year’s 18 strong line up which includes British based outfit Team Sky who have three time Gold medal winning Bradley Wiggins amongst their riders. 2010 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador lines up for Saxobank Sun-Gard this year as he aims to win his fourth Tour de France in five years and his third with a different team having been victorious in 2007 with the Discovery Channel team and winning in 2009 and 2010 with Astana.

Tour de France Stages

STAGE	DATE	COURSE	DISTANCE	TYPE
TOUR DE FRANCE STAGES
Stage 1	2 July	Passage du Gois - Mont des Alouettes	180km	Flat Stage
Stage 2	3 July	Les Essarts - Les Essarts	23km	Team Time Trial
Stage 3	4 July	Olonne-sur-Mer - Redon	198km	Flat Stage
Stage 4	5 July	Lorient - Mur-de-Bretagne	172km	Flat Stage
Stage 5	6 July	Carhaix - Cap Frehel	158km	Flat Stage
Stage 6	7 July	Dinan - Lisieux	226km	Flat Stage
Stage 7	8 July	Le Mans - Chateauroux	215km	Flat Stage
Stage 8	9 July	Aigurande - Super-Besse	190km	Medium Mountain Stage
Stage 9	10 July	Issoire - Saint-Flour	208km	Medium Mountain Stage
Stage 10	12 July	Aurillac - Carmaux	161km	Flat Stage
Stage 11	13 July	Blaye-les-Mines - Lavaur	168km	Flat Stage
Stage 12	14 July	Cugnaux - Luz-Ardiden	209km	Mountain Stage
Stage 13	15 July	Pau - Lourdes	156km	Mountain Stage
Stage 14	16 July	Saint-Gaudens - Plateau de Beille	168km	Mountain Stage
Stage 15	17 July	Limoux - Montpellier	187km	Flat Stage
Stage 16	19 July	Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux - Gap	163km	Medium Mountain Stage
Stage 17	20 July	Gap - Pinerolo	179km	Mountain Stage
Stage 18	21 July	Pinerolo - Col du Galibier/Serre Chevalier	189km	Mountain Stage
Stage 19	22 July	Modane - L'Alpe d'Huez	109km	Mountain Stage
Stage 20	23 July	Grenoble - Grenoble	41km	Individual Time Trial
Stage 21	24 July	Creteil - Paris (Champs-Elysees)	160km	Flat Stage