AG2R La Mondiale leader Romain Bardet is already looking forward to returning to the Tour de France next year, following the announcement of the 2020 Tour de France route in Paris on Tuesday.

"Once again, the Tour de France organizers have created a very beautiful route. With so many mountain stages, we have a chance to put on a good show."

"This presentation gave us a clearer view of what we will be facing and provided us with new elements to finish outlining the 2020 season," he added.

Bardet is expected to run a very different race program in 2020 than he did in 2019, hoping to give a boost to his mostly disappointing season. He flirted with the idea of competing in the Giro d'Italia this year, but ultimately decided against it.

However, Bardet was unable to begin his GC challenge at the 2019 Tour, falling out of contention as early as the climb of La Planche des Belles Fils on stage 6 and eventually settling for 15th overall and the "mountains" jersey, next season, at the Tour Down Under in January The 2020 Giro, which starts in Adelaide, Australia, may be included in his race program.

"It's very different from the Tour de France course and has a lot of new features," Bardet said. There are a number of new climbs that could make the race unpredictable."

Team manager Vincent Lavenu added, "This is undeniably a Tour for climbers and therefore a Tour that matches the strengths of AG2R La Mondiale."

"The course passes not far from our headquarters [in Chambéry], which is especially motivating, and we will try again in 2020 to arrive at the start with the team that can have the most impact on the race."