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Tour de France 2016: Where is the starting line?

By Liz O'Connell

(From L) Colombia's Nairo Quintana, wearing the best young's white jersey, Great Britain's Christopher Froome, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, Slovakia's Peter Sagan, wearing the best sprinter's green jersey and France's Romain Bardet, wearing the best climber's polka dot jersey wait for the start of the 110,5 km twentieth stage of the 102nd edition of the Tour de France cycling race on July 25, 2015, between Modane Valfrejus and Alpe d'Huez, French Alps. AFP PHOTO / LIONEL BONAVENTURE (Photo credit should read LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images)
(From L) Colombia's Nairo Quintana, wearing the best young's white jersey, Great Britain's Christopher Froome, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, Slovakia's Peter Sagan, wearing the best sprinter's green jersey and France's Romain Bardet, wearing the best climber's polka dot jersey wait for the start of the 110,5 km twentieth stage of the 102nd edition of the Tour de France cycling race on July 25, 2015, between Modane Valfrejus and Alpe d'Huez, French Alps. AFP PHOTO / LIONEL BONAVENTURE (Photo credit should read LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Where does the Tour de France 2016 begin?

The Tour de France 2016 begins on July 2 at Mont St, Michel on the shore of the English Channel and finishes on July 24 at the the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This year is the 103rd edition of the Tour.

Twenty-two teams will start at Mont. St. Michel, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Overall 219 riders, comprising 22 teams, are expected to start, with ages ranging from 22 to 42.

This is the first time the Tour de France has started in the Manche at the westernmost tip of Normandy. The site of Mont St. Michel dates back to 709 when the first small chapel was consecrated on the small off-shore island that was accessible by foot only during low tide. Over hundreds of years of expansion resulted in Romanesque and Gothic churches and ancillary buildings, that on occasion have served as a prison as well as refuges of religious devotion and worship.

The first day, also known as the first stage, of the Tour de France crosses the Cotentin Peninsula and ends at Utah Beach. The U.S. Army fought over and took Utah Beach as part of the Normandy landings in the Allied invasion of German-occupied France on June 6, 1944.

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