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The Tour of Utah unveiled its routes and stages for this year's race on Monday.

The Aug. 1-7 Tour will commence just outside Zion National Park and conclude, as always, in Park City a week later, with 704 miles and 52,951 vertical feet of elevation gain in between.

"The Tour of Utah has established itself as one of the most awe-inspiring, rolling postcards in North America for a professional sporting event. From the iconic red rock scenery and lush national forests, Utah's spectacular and diverse scenery will shine on the world stage with the sport's best riders, many of them coming from the Tour de France. The opportunity to bring high-caliber racing to our fans and partners here in the United States is tremendous," Tour of Utah executive director Jenn Andrs said in a statement.

Heading farther south than the Tour has ever been, the race will get underway with the 16 teams proceeding from Zion Canyon Village to the park's east entrance in a neutral ride, then starting the race just past there — a compromise forged between the Tour and the National Park Service after complaints from Springville residents about impacts the race would have on the town and travel through the park.

That will mark the start of an 84-mile ride that will conclude with a 20-mile descent down Cedar Canyon and end in Cedar City. Day 2 will showcase more redrock scenery with a return to the Escalante-to-Torrey route, followed by a Richfield to Payson stage on Day 3.

The fourth stage will take the riders from Lehi to Kearns, followed by Antelope Island to Bountiful for Stage 5.

The last two legs will return to the mountains, for a grueling Snowbasin-to-Snowbird stage on Day 6 that will include over 11,000 feet of eleveation gain, and the Park City finale that will take riders on a loop that also takes in Kamas and Midway.

The tour course will feature more than 700 miles of racing for the third time in its 12-year history. A 2.HC-rated stage race sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the Tour of Utah will give prominence to a total of 13 Utah Office of Tourism King of the Mountain climbs and 14 Utah Sports Commission Sprint lines. Detailed maps and videos for race week are now available at the official web site, http://www.tourofutah.com.

Returning to the Tour for the first time since 2013 is the Stage 3 summit of Mount Nebo, the highest mountain in the Wasatch Range at 11,928 feet. Two of the historically toughest climbs of the Tour are back, classified as hors category (HC, or beyond classification) — the six-mile ascent of Little Cottonwood Canyon on the Stage 6 "Queen" Stage and the epic seven-mile incline to Empire Pass, with pitches reaching more than 20 percent. —

Tour of Utah 2016

Stage Date Begin/end Miles (elevation gain)

Stage 1 Aug. 1 Zion Canyon Village to Cedar City 84 (6,679)

Stage 2 Aug. 2 Escalante to Torrey 99 (9,435)

Stage 3 Aug. 3 Richfield to Payson 119 (6,371)

Stage 4 Aug. 4 Lehi to Kearns 96 (4,504)

Stage 5 Aug. 5 Antelope Island to Bountiful 114 (6,448)

Stage 6 Aug. 6 Snowbasin to Snowbird 114 (11,135)

Stage 7 Aug. 7 Park City to Park City 78 (7,883)