2011 Tour de France start

[Frosty]

If stage 7 is not an itt then i will have to conclude that the Tour directors are slowly trying to eliminate the itt from the Tour all together. They used to have 80k tts. This has slowly been coming down. This year the general consensus was that is surprising to have only 2 itts a prologue and a proper one. If they were to lower this to just 1 i guess the next step would be no tts.

The one mentioned is a mountain tt as well rather than a flat tt.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/2001/tour01/stages/stage_11.shtml

 

[CheeseHead]

Chamrousse? That would imply a mountain-tt? a hellish last week after a first half for sprinters and puncheurs, topped with a TT up to a ski-resort. The finish in Pinarelo with the duo of Sestriere and Pra-Martino sat also in the Giro of 2009 (Di Luca won time on this steep little basterd).

Interesting route, breaking with recent tradition of Pyrenees and Alpes on the weekends in the middle.

 

[Ferminal]

Wow, looks awful unless the first week is packed with surprises.

 

[craig1985]

I was thinking about this today, why not take in parts of the Tro-Bro Léon race?

 

[DAOTEC]

Tour 2011 cliffhanger

Tour will return next year to, " Plateau de Beille "

Friday, September 24, 2010 at 11:15 am
It will take two weeks before the route of the Tour 2011 will be revealed, but before October 12 the mountain top finishing stages are being revealed one by one. Plateau de Beille after absence of 4 years will be on the menu.

The city of Saint-Gaudens, according to the French newspaper La Depeche is a starting place in next Tour de France. On several blogs already been speculation about the fourteenth stage on July 16, from the city Saint-Gaudens up to the Pyreneeëncol. That hotel owners in Saint-Gaudens were asked for rooms on the evening of July 15 Fri by account, seems to be enough evidence.

The Plateau de Beille is 15.8 km long with an average elevation of 7.9%. In 2007, Alberto Contador, Michael Rasmussen, sprinted out on top. When the Danish rider wore the yellow jersey, which a few days later changed in a bizar and dramatic way.

History " Plateau de Beille ": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plateau_de_Beille

 

[Ruxen1989]

Personally, I think Prudhomme should do something outrageous and have an ITT from Bedion to the Ventoux summit as the opening stage. It's time to spice up the tour. The harder, the better!

I wonder what the riders would say if they made an ITT with cobblestones? They would HATE it

 

[ttrider]

Plateau de Beille is good, not sure its better than los Ardiden though, hope there more than 1 stage in the pyrenees.
Alpes look nice but they should at least have classics style 2k uphill finishes for the first week, hope there is a ttt and 2 tts

Pra Martino has a good profile for attacks thats for sure
Sestrierre in? how about Finestre as well!!

 

[craig1985]

Plateau de Beille, the place I met Bottle's father. A huge Dubya fan as well.

Fail.

 

[flicker]

Plateau de Beille, the place I met Bottle's father. A huge Dubya fan as well.

Fail.

hey anyone want some grand fondo tickets. I think I ate some bad fish arggh

 

[Sophistic]

The preview doesnt look so bad, if the gaps are filled in correctly.
Two short climbs in the first week, 1 TTT, 1 flat ITT(?), 1 uphill ITT, 4(5 incl.ITT) tough days in the alps in a row + a tough one in the pyrenees.
As stage 17 finishes in Pinerolo, they will most likely attack the Pra-Martino from the "easier" side but the steeps ramps in it + very difficult descent could still provide some action.

 

[roundabout]

Somehow i doubt that there will be 5 stages in the Alps. Who do they think they are, the Giro?

 

[craig1985]

Somehow i doubt that there will be 5 stages in the Alps. Who do they think they are, the Giro?

Haha. It would be great if they did, but they never will.

 

[The Hitch]

Haha. It would be great if they did, but they never will.

Bare in mind that in such a scenario at least 2 stages would feature the last climb 70 k from the finish and 1 of the stages would only be in the alps if you count a Lyon sprint finish as being in the alps)

 

[simoni]

Stages 9-13 look a bit odd as well. Thats a lot of time spent to-ing a and fro-ing in one of the least populous parts of France. The money isn't there - I just don't see that happening.

 

[Danie(L)]

I found two rumours about 2011 TdF route:

From http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/

1- Sam 2/ Noirmoutiers - Mont des Alouettes
2- Dim 3/ C.L.M. aux Essarts
3- Lun 4/ Olonnes - Redon
4- Mar 5/ Lorient - Chateaulin
5- Mer 6/ L'Aber Vrach' - Saint-Brieuc
6- Jeu 7/ Dinan - Lisieux
7- Ven 8/ Alençon - Tours
8- Sam 9/ Tours - Limoges
9- Dim 10/ C.L.M. au lac de Vassivière
10- Lun 11/ Limoges - Saint Flour avec Néronne (2C), Pas de Peyrol (1C),
Perthus (2C), Lioran (3C), Prat de Bouc (2C)
Mar 12/ repos au Lioran
11- Mer 13/ Aurillac - Lavaur
12- Jeu 14/ Toulouse - Luz-Ardiden avec Aspin (1C), Tourmalet (HC),
Luz-Ardiden (HC)
13- Ven 15/ St Gaudens - Limoux avec Larrieu (3C), Port (2C), Montségur (2C),
Saint-Benoit (3C)
14- Sam 16/ Carcassonne - Nimes
15- Dim 17/ Nimes - Dignes
Lun 18/ repos
16- Mar 19/ Dignes - Risoul avec Allos (1C), Vars (1C), Risoul (1C)
17- Mer 20/ Embrun - Pinerollo avec Izoard (HC), Montgenèvre (2C), Sestrière (1C),
PraMartino (2C)
18- Jeu 21/ Pinerollo - Col du Lautaret avec Mont-Cenis (HC),
Télégraphe (1C), Galibier (HC)
19- Ven 22/ Bourg d'Oisans - L'Alpe d'Huez avec Grand Cucheron (2C), Glandon (HC),
L'Alpe d'Huez (HC)
20- Sam 23/ C.L.M. Grenoble - Chamrousse (HC)
21- Dim 24/ Provins – Paris

and from http://paris.thover.com/article/341/en/tour-de-france-2011--rumours-on-the-race-route-and-the-stages-.html

# date start finish comments
1 Sa. 2 July 2011 Passage du Gois Mont des Alouettes official, 180 km
2 Su. 3 July 2011 Les Essarts Les Essarts Team Time Trial
official, 23 km
3 Mo. 4 July 2011 Olonne-sur-Mer Redon start is official
4 Tu. 5 July 2011 Lorient Mûr-de-Bretagne
5 We. 6 July 2011 Carhaix-Plouguer Cap Fréhel
6 Th. 7 July 2011 Dinan Lisieux
7 Fr. 8 July 2011 Le Mans Châteauroux
8 Sa. 9 July 2011 Aigurande Super Besse
9 Su. 10 July 2011 Issoire Saint-Flour
R1 Mo. 11 July 2011 Lioran
10 Tu. 12 July 2011 Aurillac Lavaur
11 We. 13 July 2011 ??? ???
12 Th. 14 July 2011 ??? ???
13 Fr. 15 July 2011 ??? Lourdes
14 Sa. 16 July 2011 Saint-Gaudens Plateau de Beille
15 Su. 17 July 2011 Limoux Montpellier
R2 lu. 18 July 2011 transfer
16 Tu. 19 July 2011 Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux Gap
17 We. 20 July 2011 Embrun or Gap Pinerolo (IT)
18 Th. 21 July 2011 Turin (IT) Galibier - Serre Chevalier
19 Fr. 22 July 2011 Modane L'Alpe d'Huez
20 Sa. 23 July 2011 Grenoble Chamrousse ITT
21 Su. 24 July 2011 Provins Paris Champs-Elysées

 

[craig1985]

Any takers for my Tro-Bro Léon idea?

 

[LugHugger]

Given the success of this type of stage in the Giro and Tour this year, I should think that there's every chance ASO are considering a stage using roads similar to TBL. Brittany is littered with similar farms roads and tracks which could be chosen. The only reason that I can think that they would not go for this would be that the weather in Brittany is notoriously temperate and we know that many of the GT riders don't have the technical handling skills to ride muddy/slippery farm roads/cobbles en bloc

 

[auscyclefan94]

Any takers for my Tro-Bro Léon idea?

Seems interesting. Is there any strade bianche in france like in italy? The dirt doesn't look as bad in the Tro Bro Leon.

 

[craig1985]

Seems interesting. Is there any strade bianche in france?

I think that's pretty much it. Go back to page 3 (I'm on the standard posts per page default option), and I posted a few pictures of the race, one in the dry and one in the wet.

 

[The Hitch]

I found two rumours about 2011 TdF route:

From http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france/

1- Sam 2/ Noirmoutiers - Mont des Alouettes
2- Dim 3/ C.L.M. aux Essarts
3- Lun 4/ Olonnes - Redon
4- Mar 5/ Lorient - Chateaulin
5- Mer 6/ L'Aber Vrach' - Saint-Brieuc
6- Jeu 7/ Dinan - Lisieux
7- Ven 8/ Alençon - Tours
8- Sam 9/ Tours - Limoges
9- Dim 10/ C.L.M. au lac de Vassivière
10- Lun 11/ Limoges - Saint Flour avec Néronne (2C), Pas de Peyrol (1C),
Perthus (2C), Lioran (3C), Prat de Bouc (2C)
Mar 12/ repos au Lioran
11- Mer 13/ Aurillac - Lavaur
12- Jeu 14/ Toulouse - Luz-Ardiden avec Aspin (1C), Tourmalet (HC),
Luz-Ardiden (HC)
13- Ven 15/ St Gaudens - Limoux avec Larrieu (3C), Port (2C), Montségur (2C),
Saint-Benoit (3C)
14- Sam 16/ Carcassonne - Nimes
15- Dim 17/ Nimes - Dignes
Lun 18/ repos
16- Mar 19/ Dignes - Risoul avec Allos (1C), Vars (1C), Risoul (1C)
17- Mer 20/ Embrun - Pinerollo avec Izoard (HC), Montgenèvre (2C), Sestrière (1C),
PraMartino (2C)
18- Jeu 21/ Pinerollo - Col du Lautaret avec Mont-Cenis (HC),
Télégraphe (1C), Galibier (HC)
19- Ven 22/ Bourg d'Oisans - L'Alpe d'Huez avec Grand Cucheron (2C), Glandon (HC),
L'Alpe d'Huez (HC)
20- Sam 23/ C.L.M. Grenoble - Chamrousse (HC)
21- Dim 24/ Provins – Paris

and from http://paris.thover.com/article/341/en/tour-de-france-2011--rumours-on-the-race-route-and-the-stages-.html

# date start finish comments
1 Sa. 2 July 2011 Passage du Gois Mont des Alouettes official, 180 km
2 Su. 3 July 2011 Les Essarts Les Essarts Team Time Trial
official, 23 km
3 Mo. 4 July 2011 Olonne-sur-Mer Redon start is official
4 Tu. 5 July 2011 Lorient Mûr-de-Bretagne
5 We. 6 July 2011 Carhaix-Plouguer Cap Fréhel
6 Th. 7 July 2011 Dinan Lisieux
7 Fr. 8 July 2011 Le Mans Châteauroux
8 Sa. 9 July 2011 Aigurande Super Besse
9 Su. 10 July 2011 Issoire Saint-Flour
R1 Mo. 11 July 2011 Lioran
10 Tu. 12 July 2011 Aurillac Lavaur
11 We. 13 July 2011 ??? ???
12 Th. 14 July 2011 ??? ???
13 Fr. 15 July 2011 ??? Lourdes
14 Sa. 16 July 2011 Saint-Gaudens Plateau de Beille
15 Su. 17 July 2011 Limoux Montpellier
R2 lu. 18 July 2011 transfer
16 Tu. 19 July 2011 Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux Gap
17 We. 20 July 2011 Embrun or Gap Pinerolo (IT)
18 Th. 21 July 2011 Turin (IT) Galibier - Serre Chevalier
19 Fr. 22 July 2011 Modane L'Alpe d'Huez
20 Sa. 23 July 2011 Grenoble Chamrousse ITT
21 Su. 24 July 2011 Provins Paris Champs-Elysées

Option 1 is the one i heard of, though i thought they were going to do Galibier mtf followed bu Alpe mtf the next day.

And stahe 12 on option 1 looks good. Lets be honest, the most we can ever expect from the week 2 mountains is 1 decent stage with a hc, and there it delivers.

You heard it here first : stage 13 to be the most boring. A break to win by 15 minutes as gc soft pedals after tourmalet.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I think that's pretty much it. Go back to page 3 (I'm on the standard posts per page default option), and I posted a few pictures of the race, one in the dry and one in the wet.

I know. I edited my original post because it obviously didn''t make sense.

 

[Christian]

Is anything known about the course of Paris-Nice 2011 yet? I looked online but couldn't find anything

 

[Christian]

6 Th. 7 July 2011 Dinan Lisieux

13 Fr. 15 July 2011 ??? Lourdes

Wow it's gonna be quite the pilgrimage!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Graham Watson seems to have some very good knowledge of what is on the route. he has said:

- Alpine stage with finish in Pinerolo
- Stage 2 TTT 20km
- Stage 4: Uphill finish in the Mur de bretagne
- 6 days in brittany
- massif Central is included

More rumours to come

 

[theyoungest]

Graham Watson seems to have some very good knowledge of what is on the route. he has said:

- Alpine stage with finish in Pinerolo
- Stage 2 TTT 20km
- Stage 4: Uphill finish in the Mur de bretagne
- 6 days in brittany
- massif Central is included

More rumours to come

He's just rehashing rumours? All of this information can already be found in this thread.