Mountains and more mountains, but fewer chances for the sprinters characterise the men’s and women’s 2023 Tour de France routes that were announced in the Palais des Congrès on Thursday.

The three-week men’s race, which traces a 3,400km diagonal route from the Basque country to the German border, includes stages in the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Jura, the Alps and the Vosges.

There is one time trial of 22km and, while the organisers cite eight “flat” stages, there are likely to be slim pickings once again for sprinters such as Mark Cavendish, whose hopes of beating Eddy Merckx’s record number of stage wins with a 35th victory appear to be receding.

The men’s route for the Tour’s 110th edition ignores north-west and south-east France, while the week-long women’s race starts on the final Sunday of the men’s race in Clermont-Ferrand. It then zigzags south towards a showpiece mountain stage in the Pyrenees and a final time trial in Pau.

Among ascents such as the dreaded Col de Joux Plane and the mighty Col de la Loze, the men’s Tour also includes the Puy de Dôme, the winding road to the volcanic peak last used 35 years ago, overlooking Clermont-Ferrand. With it long thought to be out of bounds because of environmental concerns, the return there of the race caravan may provoke further debate about the Tour’s carbon footprint.

The women’s Tour looks more thoughtfully structured than last July’s relaunched and very successful race, won by Annemiek van Vleuten with a spectacular display of climbing on the final weekend.

With a start far from Paris, it also looks more confident in its own identity and far less of a bolt-on to the structure of the men’s event. Eight stages, including a summit finish on the Col du Tourmalet and a race against the clock in Pau, will offer greater tactical opportunities for the women’s peloton.

The men’s defending champion, Jonas Vingegaard, who has seemed reclusive since being hugely feted in Denmark after his victory in July, was not in Paris for the route launch but has, albeit hesitantly, committed to defending his title.

Vingegaard said he had needed to withdraw for a while after his debut Tour win. “There was no explosion, no mind bomb. I just needed a break,” he told cyclingnews.com this week.

“I just rested up and enjoyed some quality time with family and friends. I enjoyed a barbecue, a glass of wine or a beer. I don’t need much to be happy, even if I’ve won the Tour de France.”

The Dane won the two most prestigious summit finishes on the route of the 2022 race, outclimbing the double champion Tadej Pogacar. With four summit finishes featuring next July, he will again hope to master the Slovenian.

Pogacar was in Paris and, after ending his 2022 season with victory in the Italian Classic Il Lombardia, will have repaired any dents to his confidence. “I really like the route,” the 24‑year‑old said.

But the peloton’s champions are getting even younger and the meteoric rise of Remco Evenepoel, the 22-year-old winner of this year’s Vuelta a España and men’s World Road Race title, has created a new dynamic.

For now it is uncertain whether Evenepoel will start the Tour or opt for the less mountainous and much more time trial-oriented Giro d’Italia. Evenepoel has already been hailed as the new Merckx, a mantle that may yet weigh him down when it comes to the unrelenting hothouse of the Tour.