The 2008 Tour de France will have five mountain stages - including three in the Alps - and no time bonuses.
A year after the Tour opened in London, the prologue has been scrapped and the first stage returns to its roots with three days in Brittany.
And for the first time since 1967, the Tour will not start with a time trial. Instead, there will be a full road stage from Brest to Plumele.
A brutal climb up L'Alpe d'Huez follows ahead of the showpiece finish in Paris.
Changes to the Tour's opening are designed to give more riders rather than just time-trial experts the chance to compete for the leader's coveted yellow jersey from the very start.
We want the Tour to rediscover its romanticism
Tour de France director Jean-Francois Pescheux
Time bonuses being abandoned could lead to a tighter and more dramatic Tour, especially in the high mountains where decisive gaps between riders are often built early on.
Competition director Jean-Francois Pescheux said: "The first week will not necessarily be the exclusive property of the sprinters.
"The end of the first stage, for example, is a two-kilometre slope. So a great finisher can win but also a sprinter or a rider who broke away earlier in the stage.
"We want the Tour to rediscover its romanticism. It means the plot will not be obvious."
The competitors will also scale Europe's highest mountain pass; the 2,802-metre Col de la Bonette-Restefond.
It was last climbed by the Tour in 1993 and is one of 19 major mountain passes that riders will clamber over - two less than in 2007.
The Tour begins on 5 July and will cover 3,550 kilometres (2,200 miles), with 21 stages and two rest days.
The two time trials will be on day four and the penultimate day, to establish the finishing order before the race concludes with its habitual processional ride to the Champs-Elysees on 27 July.
The overhaul is an effort to restore the Tour's battered image following the drugs scandals that marred last year's race.
No rider will be allowed to start next year without agreeing to take part in a series of tests that will allow drug-testers to build a blood profile for each athlete.
If follow-up tests show significant changes to that profile - which could be caused by drug use - riders may be barred from racing.
Prudhomme called the measures "real progress in the fight against doping".
Teams are also no longer guaranteed entry, even if they are in possession of a ProTour license.
BBC Radio 5 Live's Peter Slater commented: "That could cause problems for the Astana squad, who left in disgrace last summer after their star rider Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive."
Astana have signed 2007 winner Alberto Contador.
Jean-Francois Pescheux, another senior Tour official, added: "We're setting off with good hope. We have to, because otherwise cycling is heading for catastrophe.
"If the 2008 season is a repeat of 2007 and 2006, it's the end of cycling and I think everyone is aware of that."
2008 Tour de France schedule:
5 July: stage 1 - Brest - Plumelec, 195 km
6 July: stage 2 - Auray - Saint-Brieuc, 165 km
7 July: stage 3 - Saint-Malo - Nantes, 165 km
8 July: stage 4 - Cholet - Cholet, 29 km (individual time trial)
9 July: stage 5 - Cholet - Chateauroux, 230 km
10 July: stage 6 - Aigurande - Super-Besse, 195 km
11 July: stage 7 - Brioude - Aurillac, 158 km
12 July: stage 8 - Figeac - Toulouse, 174 km
13 July: stage 9 - Toulouse - Bagneres-de-Bigorre, 222 km
14 July: stage 10 - Pau - Hautacam, 154 km
15 July: rest day
16 July: stage 11 - Lannemezan - Foix, 166 km
17 July: stage 12 - Lavelanet - Narbonne, 168 km
18 July: stage 13 - Narbonne - Nimes, 182 km
19 July: stage 14 - Nimes - Digne-les-Bains, 182 km
20 July: stage 15 - Digne-les-Bains - Prato Nevoso (Italy), 216 km
21 July: rest day
22 July: stage 16 - Cuneo - Jausiers, 157 km
23 July: stage 17 - Embrun - L'Alpe-d'Huez, 210 km
24 July: stage 18 - Bourg-d'Oisans - Saint-Etienne, 197 km
25 July: stage 19 - Roanne - Montlucon, 183 km
26 July: stage 20 - Cerilly - Saint-Amand-Montrond, 53 km (individual time trial)
27 July: stage 21 - Etampes - Paris Champs-Elysees, 143 km
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What are these?
SEE ALSO
Cyclists face rise in drugs tests
22 Oct 07 | Cycling
Pereiro handed 2006 yellow jersey
15 Oct 07 | Cycling
Contador insists he is drug-free
10 Aug 07 | Cycling
London starts Tour return talks
31 Jul 07 | Cycling
Cycling must take action - Millar
30 Jul 07 | Cycling
Contador wins tainted 2007 Tour
29 Jul 07 | Cycling
A year after the Tour opened in London, the prologue has been scrapped and the first stage returns to its roots with three days in Brittany.
And for the first time since 1967, the Tour will not start with a time trial. Instead, there will be a full road stage from Brest to Plumele.
A brutal climb up L'Alpe d'Huez follows ahead of the showpiece finish in Paris.
Changes to the Tour's opening are designed to give more riders rather than just time-trial experts the chance to compete for the leader's coveted yellow jersey from the very start.
We want the Tour to rediscover its romanticism
Tour de France director Jean-Francois Pescheux
Time bonuses being abandoned could lead to a tighter and more dramatic Tour, especially in the high mountains where decisive gaps between riders are often built early on.
Competition director Jean-Francois Pescheux said: "The first week will not necessarily be the exclusive property of the sprinters.
"The end of the first stage, for example, is a two-kilometre slope. So a great finisher can win but also a sprinter or a rider who broke away earlier in the stage.
"We want the Tour to rediscover its romanticism. It means the plot will not be obvious."
The competitors will also scale Europe's highest mountain pass; the 2,802-metre Col de la Bonette-Restefond.
It was last climbed by the Tour in 1993 and is one of 19 major mountain passes that riders will clamber over - two less than in 2007.
The Tour begins on 5 July and will cover 3,550 kilometres (2,200 miles), with 21 stages and two rest days.
The two time trials will be on day four and the penultimate day, to establish the finishing order before the race concludes with its habitual processional ride to the Champs-Elysees on 27 July.
The overhaul is an effort to restore the Tour's battered image following the drugs scandals that marred last year's race.
No rider will be allowed to start next year without agreeing to take part in a series of tests that will allow drug-testers to build a blood profile for each athlete.
If follow-up tests show significant changes to that profile - which could be caused by drug use - riders may be barred from racing.
Prudhomme called the measures "real progress in the fight against doping".
Teams are also no longer guaranteed entry, even if they are in possession of a ProTour license.
BBC Radio 5 Live's Peter Slater commented: "That could cause problems for the Astana squad, who left in disgrace last summer after their star rider Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive."
Astana have signed 2007 winner Alberto Contador.
Jean-Francois Pescheux, another senior Tour official, added: "We're setting off with good hope. We have to, because otherwise cycling is heading for catastrophe.
"If the 2008 season is a repeat of 2007 and 2006, it's the end of cycling and I think everyone is aware of that."
2008 Tour de France schedule:
5 July: stage 1 - Brest - Plumelec, 195 km
6 July: stage 2 - Auray - Saint-Brieuc, 165 km
7 July: stage 3 - Saint-Malo - Nantes, 165 km
8 July: stage 4 - Cholet - Cholet, 29 km (individual time trial)
9 July: stage 5 - Cholet - Chateauroux, 230 km
10 July: stage 6 - Aigurande - Super-Besse, 195 km
11 July: stage 7 - Brioude - Aurillac, 158 km
12 July: stage 8 - Figeac - Toulouse, 174 km
13 July: stage 9 - Toulouse - Bagneres-de-Bigorre, 222 km
14 July: stage 10 - Pau - Hautacam, 154 km
15 July: rest day
16 July: stage 11 - Lannemezan - Foix, 166 km
17 July: stage 12 - Lavelanet - Narbonne, 168 km
18 July: stage 13 - Narbonne - Nimes, 182 km
19 July: stage 14 - Nimes - Digne-les-Bains, 182 km
20 July: stage 15 - Digne-les-Bains - Prato Nevoso (Italy), 216 km
21 July: rest day
22 July: stage 16 - Cuneo - Jausiers, 157 km
23 July: stage 17 - Embrun - L'Alpe-d'Huez, 210 km
24 July: stage 18 - Bourg-d'Oisans - Saint-Etienne, 197 km
25 July: stage 19 - Roanne - Montlucon, 183 km
26 July: stage 20 - Cerilly - Saint-Amand-Montrond, 53 km (individual time trial)
27 July: stage 21 - Etampes - Paris Champs-Elysees, 143 km
Bookmark with:
Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
What are these?
SEE ALSO
Cyclists face rise in drugs tests
22 Oct 07 | Cycling
Pereiro handed 2006 yellow jersey
15 Oct 07 | Cycling
Contador insists he is drug-free
10 Aug 07 | Cycling
London starts Tour return talks
31 Jul 07 | Cycling
Cycling must take action - Millar
30 Jul 07 | Cycling
Contador wins tainted 2007 Tour
29 Jul 07 | Cycling
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