Yea they could easily have a stage through the very southern Alps, probably an intermediate stage, stay in Nice or Menton, then have a stage heading north over climbs like Cayolle, Couillole, Bonette, Allos, Champs, and finishing with either Super-Sauze or Pra-Loup or a descent finish in Jausiers or Barcelonnette. Even within the well-known areas of the Alps there are plenty of either unused or little-used climbs, even if some of them aren't especially hard. Ski Station les Orres, for example, Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette which could come straight off the steep Col du Parquetout, several on the massifs around Grenoble, such as Col de Pre-Long, Prapoutel, Collet d'Allevard which was seen in the Dauphiné in 2011 and averages over 8%, the Col du Coq, and there's the very difficult Pipay-les-Sept-Laux and its easier cousin around the corner, the long but uncomplicated Pleyner-les-Sept-Laux. Near St-Jean-de-Maurienne you have the nice climb to Ski Station les Karellis, which could easily be linked to Galibier S, Madeleine N, or Croix de Fer or Mollard. Valmeinier 1800 as an alternative descending off Galibier S would be quite cool, as a short summit off the end of a much tougher climb - could induce earlier tough racing. Les Arcs haven't been used in a while, and neither has Notre-Dame du Pré, which could lead into a BSM finish, La Plagne or Les Arcs. Les Trois Vallées don't get used much - Val Thorens isn't steep but is ungodly long and underused, we haven't seen Courchevel for a while, and Méribel has only been used once, in 1973, and then they only went as far as Les Allues, when there's a whole further world of climbing to Méribel-Mottaret to add on to that. There's also Valmorel which could host the Tour but isn't the toughest climb, and Grand-Naves opposite it however the descent from there may be too narrow to cope with the Tour caravan if they are unhappy about the French-Basque climbs. There's also the Col des Cyclotouristes, and the shoulder of Mont-Bisanne that links up to the Col des Saisies but is a far tougher climb. The Col de l'Arpettaz isn't far from that, and there's the very difficult Col de la Pierre Carrée, although that would need to finish after a short descent in Flaine as there's nothing at the summit. Opposite that Plateau des Saix is just waiting for use. It's been a long time since Mont Revard was used, Mont du Chat is legendary with just one visit, plus there's always the Aostatal in Italy seldom used in the Giro with Pila-Ciel-Bleu, Tze Core, Joux, and the super brutal 10% climb of the Colle San Carlo which could descend to finish in La Thuile like the 2006 Giro.
Indurain won and put 6 minutes into the Top Ten.
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