Been just watching the Tour 1999 and 2000 on Youtube, gotta say we are lucky with those modern routes. Watching the race from 1999, it feels like it was 50 years ago rather than 20. There we had a prolog, then like 6,7 absolutely flat stages, no doubt about it mass sprints. First long ITT. Then 2 high mountain stages in the Pyrenees. Like 3 (kind of) hilly stages, but the kind where no contender could try anything due to the flat finals, so again no doubt about how those would finish. Then 2 high mountain stages in the Alps, the 2nd with the last climb around 50km away from the finish. After that the 2nd long ITT. Finish in Paris. The only stage which was maybe a bit unpredictable was the 2nd Stages in the Alps, the rest was already predetermined. Baffles me that nobody could come up with a more exciting route back then, it's not THAT long ago right?