Riders react to the 2017 Tour de France route announcement

The route for the 2017 Tour de France was revealed on Tuesday morning in Paris and most of the riders seem pretty happy about the variety on offer.

For the sprinters there are possibly nine stage that could end in a bunch finish, while there are mountain finishes in all three weeks for the climbers.

And there's even a few stages for the Classics specialists, with a couple of uphill finishes on lumpy stages. Here is what some of the riders had to say about the 21 stages next July.

1. Dan Martin, who finished ninth overall in his first season for Etixx-Quick Step, seems to be keen on the possibilities for attacking cycling next year.

2. Richie Porte will be swatting up on the route over the winter break.

3. Louis Meintjes finished eighth overall last year and was runner-up to Adam Yates in the youth classification and is motivated to improve on that next year.

4. Meintjes's former manager at Dimension Data, Doug Ryder, will be happy at the number of sprint stages available for Mark Cavendish next year.

5. Julian Alaphilippe could take his first Tour stage win next year, with the third stage to Longwy seemingly suiting his love for short uphill finishes.

6. Even if you don't speak French you can probably understand what Tony Gallopin thinks of the route.

7. Bauke Mollema likes the route, although his chances of leading Trek-Segafredo with Alberto Contador joining the team look quite slim.

8. And Dan Lloyd gets his bets down early...