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2011 Tour of Switzerland

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M

Moondance

Jul 2, 2009
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Four mountaintop finishes in 2011 Tour de Suisse

All I can say is bravo. Four MTFs is about as much as we could hope for in the Tour even. They might not be the toughest climbs ever (although the Malbun is hard enough to cause some reasonable splits) but at least it'll be fun. The Grimsel, Grosse Scheidegg (very nasty), Grindelwald stage should be great fun. Two TTs as well for the people who like that kind of thing.

ToS used to probably be the most significant non-GT stage race out there, but unfortunately it seems to have fallen behind in recent years with respect to Paris-Nice, the Dauphine and Basque Country. I'm not saying this will put them back on top, but at least it should move them back nto consideration.

Sadly the flip side of this will probably be that serious Tour contenders will not be interested in competing FTW there, since winning a race with 4 MTFs and 2 TTs should be too sapping for the Tour :(
 
craig1985

craig1985

May 6, 2009
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I guess they don't want another Cance victory.

The climb up Malbun:

Malbun_Triesen_profile.jpg
 
M

Moondance

Jul 2, 2009
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The Hitch said:
Good to hear. This year though i preffered the other tour of switzerland. Anyone know what that will look like next year?
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Romandie? Seriously? Granted, this year's was indeed pretty solid, but it was an absolute snoozefest for a few years.

Either way, Romandie went seriously downhill when the stopped having the prologue in the old city of Geneva. Was probably the best 3.5km prologue ever. So many fantastic memories of going to that stage year in, year out.... And then they take it away. Romandie will never be the same for me again.
 
Christian

Christian

Mar 13, 2009
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Suisse has always been one of my favourite races and this looks really NICE ... it'll be a pleasure to watch!
 
auscyclefan94

auscyclefan94

Jun 16, 2009
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But will riders want a race that has 4 mountain top finishes in a race that is not that far from the tour? If gesink has the form he had in 2010 for next years tds then he should kill them on the climbs. His win on the mtf (which I can't remember what it is called) was very impressive.

Dekker T, you must remember that if Cuddles goes to suisse then TGBM will be crushed. He will have to be the bridesmaid!
 
S

skidmark

Mar 13, 2009
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auscyclefan94 said:
But will riders want a race that has 4 mountain top finishes in a race that is not that far from the tour? If gesink has the form he had in 2010 for next years tds then he should kill them on the climbs. His win on the mtf (which I can't remember what it is called) was very impressive.

Dekker T, you must remember that if Cuddles goes to suisse then TGBM will be crushed. He will have to be the bridesmaid!
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I'd say they would. I mean, it's preparation for the Tour, right? That's the whole point is that it's hard. If they don't want to go too deep, they can just sit on wheels like Contador in the Dauphine or do absolutely nothing like Andy Schleck every year in the TdS.

(also wasn't Gesink's win on a stage with a downhill after the finish? I seem to remember him dropping people on the climb and then holding on after. Either way, very impressive yes)
 
craig1985

craig1985

May 6, 2009
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
If he participates, TGBM is assured of 4 stage victories already
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Will Peter Sagan win the rest? **** it, nobody else may as well not to bother turning up. Just like the 2009 Tour of Switzerland where HTC and Saxo Bank won all the stages.
 
roundabout

roundabout

Jun 7, 2010
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Interesting route.

Airolo is right at the bottom of St Gotthard. Stage 2 can either go over St Gotthard and Furka or go over Nufunen. Still there's a lot of distance between these climbs and Crans Montana. Also will be interesting to see if they take the easier or the harder road up Crans Montana

Interesting to see Grindelwald named as a MTF. I have no idea how they will do it (maybe MTB up to Kleine Scheidegg ;)) Very scenic finish nonetheless.

Also it doesn't look like stages to Malbun and Serfaus will be particularly mountainous (Malbun is tough enough by itself and there will probably be only Arlberg before Serfaus which everyone can remember from 2009 with a 15 man group sprinting for the win :eek: )

Better than 2009 and 2010 but likely will be easier than it first seems (short mountain stages).
 
N

nomendil

May 24, 2010
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roundabout said:
Interesting to see Grindelwald named as a MTF. I have no idea how they will do it (maybe MTB up to Kleine Scheidegg ;)) Very scenic finish nonetheless.
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That was my question as well - especially if they are to come across Grosse Scheidegg first.
 
roundabout

roundabout

Jun 7, 2010
19,196
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roundabout said:
Interesting route.

Airolo is right at the bottom of St Gotthard. Stage 2 can either go over St Gotthard and Furka or go over Nufunen. Still there's a lot of distance between these climbs and Crans Montana. Also will be interesting to see if they take the easier or the harder road up Crans Montana

Interesting to see Grindelwald named as a MTF. I have no idea how they will do it (maybe MTB up to Kleine Scheidegg ;)) Very scenic finish nonetheless.

Also it doesn't look like stages to Malbun and Serfaus will be particularly mountainous (Malbun is tough enough by itself and there will probably be only Arlberg before Serfaus which everyone can remember from 2009 with a 15 man group sprinting for the win :eek: )

Better than 2009 and 2010 but likely will be easier than it first seems (short mountain stages).
Click to expand...

Route out today.

http://www.tds.ch/tourdesuisse/generated/strecken/strecken_2011.html
 
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