Honestly if there is one year in which I wouldn't mind skipping the Pyrenees (apart from stage 3 crossing the border) is next year.
I think something like this is not that far fetched:
Week 1
Catalonia stages
Flat-Hilly stages in Southern France
Massif Central (2 stages in second weekend)
Week 2
"Long"TT + flat stages in South-east France
Alps (I like the AdH and Solaison rumours but hopefully no MTT)
Week 3
Jura and one flat stage
Vosges (2 stages, La Planche will be back!)
Montmartre circuit
Yea, they could skip the Pyrenees, but they would need to then get lucky on what sites in the Massif Central and Vosges were paying to host, and then go ham with what they do with those sites. There are certain limitations and it's hard to get a true queen stage unless you count Mont Ventoux and double up on it, but you could get some pretty solid stages out of the area:
(this one requires a couple of caveats. Firstly, the side of Minier being climbed here would need a bit of work; secondly, that given it includes the Col de la Lusette and the stage doesn't finish on the steepest climb of the day, they need to ban Sepp Kuss, or at least ban anybody with a microphone from going near him, to save the universe from me throwing more salt than Terutsuyoshi managed in his entire career).
There's also possibilities to use known or common hosts or well-known climbs with some innovation:
www.cyclingnews.com
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