2020 Tour de France route rumors

[Swifty's Cakes]

mountains in the first 2 stages around Nice. 1500m of height gain in stage 1 and over 3000 in stage 2

I'm absolutely gobsmacked

 

[Red Rick]

1 is like 90% reduced bunch sprint.

2 is, well, interesting.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

1 is like 90% reduced bunch sprint.

2 is, well, interesting.

Stage 2 is super interesting considering how early it is.

Also, the Tour 2020 will start very early. For some reason I like that better.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

1 is like 90% reduced bunch sprint.

2 is, well, interesting.

Stage 2 is super interesting considering how early it is.

Also, the Tour 2020 will start very early. For some reason I like that better.

Olympics.

Interesting stages, for sure.
Maybe the mountain couple of the second stage could've been shifted right, towards the other half of the parcourse, but it's going to soften some legs before the closing hilly couple, anyway.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

1 is like 90% reduced bunch sprint.

2 is, well, interesting.

Stage 2 is super interesting considering how early it is.

Also, the Tour 2020 will start very early. For some reason I like that better.

It really depends on if it replaces a flattish stage or if it replaces a mountain stage later in the race. If it's the latter, it's actually bad.

It's the kind of stage that would be far more interesting late in a race, although Turini is perhaps not hard enough to be a real place to go insane, but here I think it's gonna be super controlled

 

[Red Rick]

Random question.

Do they have the same finish for both stages?

 

[Leinster]

Re:

1 is like 90% reduced bunch sprint.

2 is, well, interesting.

1 is unfancied classics specialist wins from small break as the GC contenders watch each other and are happy for Alaf/GvA/Random Astana Dane to have yellow for a few days.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Re: Grand Depart 2020

Well, I don't see how you could complain about that. Something unique after all. The last time the first stages looked something like that was in 1992.
The fact that the Tour is finally hitting the southern Alps is also a very pleasant Thing. God knows why they have avvoided those so often i the past.

 

[sir fly]

Awesome climbs in Alpes Maritimes, yet the ASO's avoiding them.
Turini is more like an exception, than the hint of a trend change.
But, who knows... maybe this year's heights encourage them to visit the range.
And it's not only about the race organizers. The local governments have a say, as well... no real need for publicity and promotion there.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

1 is like 90% reduced bunch sprint.

2 is, well, interesting.

1 is unfancied classics specialist wins from small break as the GC contenders watch each other and are happy for Alaf/GvA/Random Astana Dane to have yellow for a few days.

Aspremont is just not hard enough to drop all sprinters and it's too far from the finish to get any attackers to get a decent chance.

 

[KZD]

Nice to see mountains of the first days for a change. Now let's see if they put proper mountains and TT km's in the rest of the route

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Grand Depart 2020

That ist... brilliant
Stage 1 isn't that hard but with yellow at stake I expect some really interesting racing and Stage two ist obviously great. Don't expect gc relevant stuff but it's definitely gonna be exciting

 

[search]

Re:

Random question.

Do they have the same finish for both stages?

not exactly in the same place, but just a bit further down the road, if those profiles on la-flamme-rouge are correct:

https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/263443
https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/263447

The 2020 Giro was rumored to start a week later than usual by the way, do avoid the overlapping with California. Does anyone know if that is still on the cards? It would probably make it very unlikely for anyone to be competitive in both the Giro as well as the Tour.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Re:

Awesome climbs in Alpes Maritimes, yet the ASO's avoiding them.
Turini is more like an exception, than the hint of a trend change.
But, who knows... maybe this year's heights encourage them to visit the range.
And it's not only about the race organizers. The local governments have a say, as well... no real need for publicity and promotion there.

In July hotels and roads in the Côte d'Azur region are notoriously overcrowded. Fitting in the Tour would lead to total collapse of the whole region.

The earlier start in 2020 may be the reason it finally worked out to visit this part of France again.

 

[skidmark]

Re: Re:

1 is like 90% reduced bunch sprint.

2 is, well, interesting.

1 is unfancied classics specialist wins from small break as the GC contenders watch each other and are happy for Alaf/GvA/Random Astana Dane to have yellow for a few days.

Maybe if it was stage 17 or something. It's stage 1 of the Tour with yellow at stake, there is no way any break goes up the road. Plus the climbs are ~500m in height and the last one is 50km from the end. I don't think a straight up bunch sprint is out of the question.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

1 is like 90% reduced bunch sprint.

2 is, well, interesting.

1 is unfancied classics specialist wins from small break as the GC contenders watch each other and are happy for Alaf/GvA/Random Astana Dane to have yellow for a few days.

Maybe if it was stage 17 or something. It's stage 1 of the Tour with yellow at stake, there is no way any break goes up the road. Plus the climbs are ~500m in height and the last one is 50km from the end. I don't think a straight up bunch sprint is out of the question.

It’s 41km from the end, with 650m of climbing in 29 km before the final summit. It’s not for the pure climbers, but if there are spilts over those final 2 team tactics will come into play; if Sky or Movistar or Jumbo see a chance to damage a rival, those last 40km will be raced at record speed. If Sagan or Demare survive to the top, a sprint train will form. But if the heads of state are all together, and the sprinters miss the bus, nobody’s going to chase Tony Gallopin.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Awesome climbs in Alpes Maritimes, yet the ASO's avoiding them.
Turini is more like an exception, than the hint of a trend change.
But, who knows... maybe this year's heights encourage them to visit the range.
And it's not only about the race organizers. The local governments have a say, as well... no real need for publicity and promotion there.

In July hotels and roads in the Côte d'Azur region are notoriously overcrowded. Fitting in the Tour would lead to total collapse of the whole region.

The earlier start in 2020 may be the reason it finally worked out to visit this part of France again.

Yes, the holiday season there is well-known for a long time already. No rest for the Gendarmerie, though.
A stage norther towards Alpes-de-Haute-Provence was more on my mind.
Col d'Allos, Cayolle, Champs, Cime de la Bonette and nearby ascents may shape a killer loop, and I assume the regular tourists don't prefer these roads.
But, first of all, local authorities would have to find an interest to host the race, and I'm not sure they have it at all.

 

[roundabout]

an ITT would have been better than stage 1

a coherent medium mountain stage would have been better than stage 2

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

an ITT would have been better than stage 1

a coherent medium mountain stage would have been better than stage 2

Paris-Roubaix would have been better than an ITT.

The Rio Olympics course would have been better than a coherent medium mountain stage.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

an ITT would have been better than stage 1

a coherent medium mountain stage would have been better than stage 2

Paris-Roubaix would have been better than an ITT.

The Rio Olympics course would have been better than a coherent medium mountain stage.

Exactly, this is as good of a GD you can get. I think both stages will be good and worthwhile watching in its entirety contrary to 90% of all other Grand Departs.

 

[hayneplane]

Normally ASO go out of their way to go to regions with hugely promising terrain and then filter as much of it as possible out of the route or placing it in a point of the race that renders it irrelevant such as Mir de Huy halfway through a stage and the abomination of a flat finish in Ardennes classics territory.

Best early stage since Nibali won in Sheffield 2014 Stage 2.

One interesting aspect is that it will force riders to arrive very close to peak form rather than gambling on working their way in and peaking for the back end of week 3.

The best thing is climbing almost straight after the flag drop will give a strong start to the Mountains jersey battle and a chance for a very strong break to form.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re:

Normally ASO go out of their way to go to regions with hugely promising terrain and then filter as much of it as possible out of the route or placing it in a point of the race that renders it irrelevant such as Mir de Huy halfway through a stage and the abomination of a flat finish in Ardennes classics territory.

Best early stage since Nibali won in Sheffield 2014 Stage 2.

One interesting aspect is that it will force riders to arrive very close to peak form rather than gambling on working their way in and peaking for the back end of week 3.

The best thing is climbing almost straight after the flag drop will give a strong start to the Mountains jersey battle and a chance for a very strong break to form.

The GRAND Depart shall finally live up to its name!

Stage 1 could result in great racing. Any climbers who are not paying enough attention could find themselves in huge trouble, as I can see a number of sprinters teams pushing hard in the final 40 kms to distance other sprinters, and if there are any GC relevant riders who haven't made the split over the final climb, expect other teams to work in a 40-60 man group also.

Let's hope for no TTT in the following few stages, and instead a long ITT at the end of week 1, followed by another one late in the race. One can dream...

I just looked at the profiles more closely. Wow, they are actual MOUNTAINS on stage TWO.

Now I am convinced that there will be a TTT in stage three and that therefore stage two will be raced ultra conservatively

 

[Akuryo]

Stage 4 will obviously feature 100 kilometers of cobbled roads to make for the best start of a stage race in the history of the sport. Duh.

 

[Red Rick]

Edited thread title

https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1156603089442545664

Already saying they won't go as high as this year in the Tour next year.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I've already posted it in the General news Thread, but Aosta, Savoie, Haute-Savoi and Valais are making a bid to get 3 mountain stages.
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?p=2372194#p2372194