2015 Tour de France Route

[Matt92]

http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2014/09/25/1959008-depart-de-tarbes-le-14-juillet.html

According to this article, the Pyrenees should look more or less like this:
July 14th: Tarbes > Arette-Pierre-Saint-Martin
July 15th: Pau > Cauterets
July 16th: Lannemezan > Plateau de Beille

 

[MikeTichondrius]

http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2014/09/25/1959008-depart-de-tarbes-le-14-juillet.html

According to this article, the Pyrenees should look more or less like this:
July 14th: Tarbes > Arette-Pierre-Saint-Martin
July 15th: Pau > Cauterets
July 16th: Lannemezan > Plateau de Beille

Hmm..First one seems good enough, if a bit cliché. Starting in Tarbes should see the peloton go through Aubisque and Marie Blanque before climbing Soudet towards Pierre Saint-Martin. Sure won't see me complaining!

The second one looks worse. Given how close it is to Cauterets I'm afraid we're going to see the Tourmalet again, and at most we might have Aspin/Hourquette D'Ancizan before that unless ASO goes full Zomegnan on us.

Last one is much harder to call. ASO can either go flat until Foix and do Peguére (wrong side) or something or they can go crazy with climbs inside the Pyrenees (Menté, Core, Agnés, Lers, Port, lots of options really). Long stage in any case, curious to see how this one pans out.

 

[Poursuivant]

How many KM's of Time Trial are we expecting?

 

[Red Rick]

Wait so we're gonna get like 3MTF's in the pyrenees, 3MTF's in the Alps, with Mende, Mur de Bretagne and maybe Mur de Huy inbetween?

That's a lot, they'll need two decent tt's at least then.

 

[rghysens]

Wait so we're gonna get like 3MTF's in the pyrenees, 3MTF's in the Alps, with Mende, Mur de Bretagne and maybe Mur de Huy inbetween?

That's a lot, they'll need two decent tt's at least then.

Not very likely with already a short TT as a start.
Rumours are opening TT, TTT and a long(er) TT towards the end (earliest during the second intermediate weekend).

 

[ILovecycling]

Wait so we're gonna get like 3MTF's in the pyrenees, 3MTF's in the Alps, with Mende, Mur de Bretagne and maybe Mur de Huy inbetween?

That's a lot, they'll need two decent tt's at least then.

you should have your expectations lower

 

[jens_attacks]

http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2014/09/25/1959008-depart-de-tarbes-le-14-juillet.html

According to this article, the Pyrenees should look more or less like this:
July 14th: Tarbes > Arette-Pierre-Saint-Martin
July 15th: Pau > Cauterets
July 16th: Lannemezan > Plateau de Beille

i think cauterets is a given. next year, it's 20 years since fabio casartelli died on the stage to cauterets. so probably it will include portet d'aspet and the race will stop there to remember him.

anyway if it will be just like in that edition: mente-peyresourde-aspin-tourmalet-cauterets, i think it's a super hard stage. yes with classic, used so often climbs but hard. plus riis made quite the show on tourmalet back then. i think pinot will attack hard on la mongie

these 3 stages look amazing anyway

 

[Red Rick]

you should have your expectations lower

I am, I'm expecting the rest of the mountain stages to be 100% crap

I'm thinking they might be going a little Unipublic on us, but that would require them to go to that little castle in Grenoble with 30% gradients

 

[Netserk]

i think cauterets is a given. next year, it's 20 years since fabio casartelli died on the stage to cauterets. so probably it will include portet d'aspet and the race will stop there to remember him.

anyway if it will be just like in that edition: mente-peyresourde-aspin-tourmalet-cauterets, i think it's a super hard stage. yes with classic, used so often climbs but hard. plus riis made quite the show on tourmalet back then. i think pinot will attack hard on la mongie

these 3 stages look amazing anyway

Surely that's too much for the first mountain range. Lourdes more likely imho. Could actually see some action if they do Aubisque-Spandelles and then directly to Lourdes.

They will do Aspet the next day on the way to PdB.

 

[roundabout]

Pau - Cauterets via Mente etc would be like 300km long.

And now I have ruined the joke

 

[Netserk]

Pau - Cauterets via Mente etc would be like 300km long.

And now I have ruined the joke

Lulz, I should go back to bed... -.-'

 

[icefire]

Wait so we're gonna get like 3MTF's in the pyrenees, 3MTF's in the Alps, with Mende, Mur de Bretagne and maybe Mur de Huy inbetween?

That's a lot, they'll need two decent tt's at least then.

Just when we thought that ASO had taken control of Unipublic it looks like it's the other way around.

 

[Arnout]

Wait so we're gonna get like 3MTF's in the pyrenees, 3MTF's in the Alps, with Mende, Mur de Bretagne and maybe Mur de Huy inbetween?

That's a lot, they'll need two decent tt's at least then.

If this is true, the downhill finish is officially dead

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

If this is true, the downhill finish is officially dead

That "downhill finish" would have probably been Lourdes. Let's hope they changed that one to Cauterets. Not great, but at least some GC action is possible there.

And there still is the rumored valley finish in the Alps, which is not dead from what (little) we know.

 

[Dr. Juice]

That "downhill finish" would have probably been Lourdes. Let's hope they changed that one to Cauterets. Not great, but at least some GC action is possible there.

And there still is the rumored valley finish in the Alps, which is not dead from what (little) we know.

Maybe Morzine via Joux Plane? Always great.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

http://www.dhnet.be/sports/tourdefr...is-jours-en-belgique-542af522357030e610439121

This seems to suggest that there will be another finish in Belgium (and one stage less in northern France, I'm guessing). Money talks.

Apparently Antwerp didn't want to host a TTT, so we're left with a sprinters stage instead.

The Mur de Huy stage will move to Tuesday, if this info is correct. No further info on any other climbs.

1. Utrecht (ITT)
2. Utrecht - Zeeland (flat, exposed finish)
3. (Antwerp?) - Antwerp (flat)
4. Antwerp - Mur de Huy (flat + hilly finale / uphill finish)
5. Seraing - (France)

 

[Linkinito]

http://www.dhnet.be/sports/tourdefr...is-jours-en-belgique-542af522357030e610439121

This seems to suggest that there will be another finish in Belgium (and one stage less in northern France, I'm guessing). Money talks.

Apparently Antwerp didn't want to host a TTT, so we're left with a sprinters stage instead.

The Mur de Huy stage will move to Tuesday, if this info is correct. No further info on any other climbs.

1. Utrecht (ITT)
2. Utrecht - Zeeland (flat, exposed finish)
3. (Antwerp?) - Antwerp (flat)
4. Antwerp - Mur de Huy (flat + hilly finale / uphill finish)
5. Seraing - (France)

Nope. Otherwise ASO would have announced it and it wouldn't fit with every hotel booking done in the north-east for the entire first week. Also I just don't believe in 4 1/2 stages outside of France.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Nope. Otherwise ASO would have announced it and it wouldn't fit with every hotel booking done in the north-east for the entire first week. Also I just don't believe in 4 1/2 stages outside of France.

Yes, it looks like shoddy journalism, I guess. I don't hope it's the case regardless.

What I hope for is that stage 4 will have cobble stone sectors. Velowire mentioned that as a possibility.

 

[Linkinito]

ASO posted 3 images on the social networks (Twitter, Facebook).

A road in Brittany, supposedly in the stage between Rennes and Mûr de Bretagne.

A road at the south of Rodez.

Plateau de Beille, 2 km before finish.

 

[Netserk]

Any rumour about an ITT (other than stage 1)?

 

[Linkinito]

Any rumour about an ITT (other than stage 1)?

Some local newspapers talked about a TTT between Vannes and Plumelec after Mûr de Bretagne on July 12. However that's strictly impossible due to the UCI rules. So it might be turned into an ITT.

Also, a tweet by Stéphane Boury (stage finish manager for the Tour) says that a new route in Paris for the final stage was validated by the police authorities.
Tweet 1

#TDF2015, a never-seen-before route in Paris, magnificent, validated by the police authorities this afternoon... Discover it on Oct 22 Porte Maillot....

Tweet 2

#TDF2015, the route will come next to the most beautiful monuments of Paris.... See it on Oct 22!!!!!

So it might either be the inclusion of the Butte Montmartre (maybe some people at ASO thought this april fools' joke was a good idea after all) or... It could be an ITT for the final stage in Paris. Because it's rumoured that there won't be any ITT between stage 9 and stage 20... Remember that the last ITT in Paris (which was also the first) was in 1989, with the ill-fated "8 seconds".

 

[Netserk]

I hope that means an ITT in Paris (or even better both of them). Would be weird if there weren't any TTs in the last two weeks (though I guess a Toussuire MTT is still a possibility).

 

[Amsterdam]

I hope they make it as good as the 2014 route. Nice hilly stages etc.

 

[Lupetto]

So it might either be the inclusion of the Butte Montmartre (maybe some people at ASO thought this april fools' joke was a good idea after all) or... It could be an ITT for the final stage in Paris. Because it's rumoured that there won't be any ITT between stage 9 and stage 20... Remember that the last ITT in Paris (which was also the first) was in 1989, with the ill-fated "8 seconds".

http://vimeo.com/92541091

Would be the perfect route.

 

[BeagRigh]

http://vimeo.com/92541091

Would be the perfect route.

That would be awesome!