Alberto Contador will have to contend with treacherous cobblestones and blustery North Sea winds before sinking his teeth into next year's Tour de France mountain stages after the route was unveiled yesterday.
But the Spaniard, Tour champion in 2007 and 2009 and arguably the best climber in the world, can look forward to stretching his rivals in the Pyrenees, which will be the highlight of cycling's showcase event in 2010.
Four stages, including a gruelling 16th stage with four daunting climbs, will be held in the mountains that form the border between France and Spain.
One hundred years after first featuring on the Tour map, the Pyrenees could be the scene of a classic battle between Contador and seven times champion Lance Armstrong.
"The route is better than last year's because there are more mountains," Contador told reporters.
"Finishing with the Tourmalet is great for me," he added, referring to the last mountain stage which ends at the top of the 2,115-metre high Col du Tourmalet.
"Well it's not your traditional Tour," the 38-year-old Armstrong, who was third this year, told reporters.
"(But) I was never one to say I like this Tour, I dislike this Tour. It's the Tour.
"The best man always wins and you always do the Alps and the Pyrenees and you always have some demanding time trials."
The objective of this year's route was to create an unpredictable race, Tour director Christian Prudhomme told reporters yesterday when he unveiled the route.
"It is going to be a big fight," he said.
"We wanted to make sure anything could happen anywhere."
The three-week race over almost 3,600km will start with an 8km prologue in Rotterdam before heading into the heartland of cycling - Belgium.
The first stage will take the riders along the North Sea, with 12km and 6km sections on an embankment, with crossing winds likely to split the peloton.
The opening stage to Brussels will also go through Antwerp and Meise, the home town of five times winner Eddy Merckx. A tribute will be paid to the classics, with the second stage going through roads used on Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Leaders will have to be extremely cautious in the third stage, which features treacherous cobbled sections used for Paris-Roubaix, the Queen of the Classics.
Although the Alpine stages will not prove too arduous, a one-stage detour in the Jura mountains is expected to prove tricky, with 56km of climbs over the last 120km in the seventh stage to Station des Rousses.
Those who survive the Pyrenees will then head to Bordeaux after the last rest day on July 21 before a final individual, 51km time trial to Pauillac .