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2020 Tour de France route rumors

Page 12 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Pyrenees according to La Depeche:

Cazères - Loudenvielle: Menté (1), Balès (HC), Peyresourde (1)

Pau - Laruns: Soudet (HC), Ichère (2) Marie-Blanque (1)



Looks like Portet d'Aspet was scrapped(?)



edit: Ichère is included, as well. Interesting.
 
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The opening stages are showing the 2020 concept.
Massif Central and Jura will have a couple of uphill finishes each, with none in the Pyrenees.
There's that pair of isles and other doubled or nullified features.
Following that line, the Alpine Olympic homage might prefer downhills too, looking after domestic affairs.
... If rumours are right.
 
normally the full set of profiles only are giving some 3 weeks before the tour itself.

I'm quite curious for the presentation tomorrow. It looks like it's going to be quite mountainous. Interesting to see where ASO is going to use full potential of the route and where not.

Some quotes from Gouvenou in an interview from the ouest-france:

https://www.ouest-france.fr/tour-de...-la-montagne-annonce-thierry-gouvenou-6564062

« En termes de difficulté générale, ce sera quasiment identique. En dénivelé total, on sera même au-dessus. » . (comparison with 2019, 2018 apparently had less altitude meters)

« En 2020, on va accumuler beaucoup de dénivelé sur des étapes qui ne sont pas des parcours de haute montagne ».

Est-ce de nature à décourager les sprinteurs ? « Non, même s’il y a très peu de véritables étapes de plaine », répond le directeur de course. « Il y en aura d’autres où les sprinteurs pourront aller jusqu’au bout et jouer la gagne. Mais ce ne sera jamais facile ».

« Ce n’est pas une tendance lourde. » « 2019 et 2020 sont clairement deux années qui sortent de l’ordinaire, avec deux Tours très au sud, dit-il. L’an prochain, on va passer à une nouvelle séquence. On sait très bien qu’on va retourner sur des parcours plus classiques, dans la plaine et sur des terrains moyennement vallonnés ».

start and finish cities as on velowire and grupetto:


27/06 E1 - Nice > Nice -170km - (probably sprint of a reduced peloton)
28/06 E2 - Nice > Nice - 190km - (Colmaine, Turini, col d'Eze, 1/2 col d'Eze)
29/06 E3 - Nice > Sisteron - (sprint)
30/06 E4 - Sisteron > Orcières-Merlette (col de manse??) (more than this would surprise me, I cannot imagine that moissiere and serre eyraud will be in)
01/07 E5 - Gap > Privas (most likely sprint/ or hilly/ or sprint uphill)
02/07 E6 - Le Teil > Mont Aigoual (lusette, what to expect more? some 3/2 category climbs??)
03/07 E7 - Millau > Lavaur (sprint)
04/07 E8 - Cazeres > Loudenvielle (Menté,Balès,Peyresourde)
05/07 E9 - Pau > Laruns (Soudet, Ichere, Marie-Blanque)
06/07 - Repos
07/07 E10 - Île d'Oléron > Île de Ré (sprint/ echelons)
08/07 E11 - Châtelaillon > Poitiers (sprint)
09/07 E12 - Chauvigny > Sarran (hilly)
10/07 E13 - Châtel-Guyon > Puy Mary (medium mountain hill top finish, last 2km 13%)
11/07 E14 - Clermont-Ferrand > Lyon (sprint or hilly??)
12/07 E15 - Lyon > Grand Colombier (from the steep side (Virieu) I guess)
13/07 - Repos
14/07 E16 - La Tour du Pin > Villars-de-Lans (mont noire?? villard de lans??)
15/07 E17 - Grenoble > Méribel - Col de la Loze (grand chucheron or champ laurent,Madeleine,montee des frasses)
16/07 E18 - Moutiers ou brigde-les-bains > La Roche-sur-Foron (cormet de roseland,bisanne or saisses, aravis,Plateau des Glières, fleuris) or (l'epine, (plan bois), croix fry, plateau des Glieres, fleuris) or (crest-voland, aravis, plateau des glieres, fleuris)
17/07 E19 - Bellegarde our bourg en bresse > Champagnole (sprint/ hilly/ medium mountain (unlikely))
18/07 E20 - Lure > La Planche des Belles Filles - CLM
19/07 E21 - Versailles > Paris Champs-Elysées
 
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This side I guess:


instead of the traditional side:
MadeleineS.gif


not much of a difference overall. It has some steeper part, but on average it is even less steep
 
I love Champagnole, but only see a final Syam (2.5km at 9-10% - top with 13km to go), Crans, Sirod, Lent (2.5km at 7-8% - top with 7km to go) to make it entertaining and not get too many riders to the finish at the same time in a small town with narrow streets.
 
they could make the start of the start dificult (les rousses, ect.), before the nice final you described, but I doubt it. After 4 mountain stages, I guess they will make it as easy (completely flat is impossible) as possible. At least thats what I expect.
 
they could make the start of the start dificult (les rousses, ect.), before the nice final you described, but I doubt it. After 4 mountain stages, I guess they will make it as easy (completely flat is impossible) as possible. At least thats what I expect.
I see your point, but that's wasting a good opportunity to link 3-4 cat climbs and make a real, great medium mountain stage. And Champagnole is a small town, the finish is very narrow on what I assume would be rue Clemenceau ( finish probably by the supermarket). With a roundabout at 500m to go, railway crossing at 250m to go (fingers crossed).
 
How do you get a 2.5k, 10% climb at Syam?

In any case, I'd be surprised to see a stage harder than a pure baroudeur stage, and I can't see them putting a railway crossing in the final kilometer. So I'd expect a finish on Rue Jaures, coming from Mont-sur-Monnet or, more probably, Loulle or Syam. And then put some decent climbs (2 of Berthiand, Croix de la Serra, Lajoux, Haut Crêt, and the like mid-stage, before Savine (6.4km @4.4%) from Morez and maybe a cat. 3/4 near Champagnole to prevent a bunch sprint.
 
I'd actually possibly settle for something like Côte du Faz instead of Mont-Noir in that stage. That way you bring some steeper gradients closer to the end, given it's probably a transitional stage for the break, Le Faz is partway to Mont-Noir by one of the tougher sides, descending the south side and backing straight into the ascents to Villard-de-Land, rather than having a longer descent before leading up to the finish.

Can't believe they've never used the Montgellafrey side of Madeleine. I have to be honest, when they started talking of "four never used before cols" I thought it meant they'd found some new sides of existing climbs, or they were going to have found some cols partway up known climbs, much like the Alt de la Rabassa before Naturlandia, Cuchu Puercu before La Cobertoria, Pasil de Rozavientos before Lagunas de Neila, Passo Lanciano before Blockhaus, and similar. There are a few potential climbs like that in France to be fair - Gaberisse en route to Luz Ardiden, Côte de Longchamp 1650 linking the two La Chambre sides of Madeleine, Chalet-Reynard, the various smaller Courchevel climbs like in the Dauphiné the year Talansky won, and so on...
 
How do you get a 2.5k, 10% climb at Syam?

In any case, I'd be surprised to see a stage harder than a pure baroudeur stage, and I can't see them putting a railway crossing in the final kilometer. So I'd expect a finish on Rue Jaures, coming from Mont-sur-Monnet or, more probably, Loulle or Syam. And then put some decent climbs (2 of Berthiand, Croix de la Serra, Lajoux, Haut Crêt, and the like mid-stage, before Savine (6.4km @4.4%) from Morez and maybe a cat. 3/4 near Champagnole to prevent a bunch sprint.
From Syam to Crans, D279, that's 2.5km and an elevation gain of just about 200m, so maybe not 9-10% as I stated, but close (I had to check it after your post - I grew up and have family in Salins, I rode these roads back in the '80s-'90s). The rest of my family is in St. Claude. The route that you mention leave a big gap before the finish, on the plateau that goes from St. Laurent to Champagnole. To make it good you basically have to go west after St. Claude, hit the ridge...Morez to Champagnole is underwhelming.
 
This rumored tour would need about 200 flat ITTkm to even come close to balancing this.

I never thought we'd see the day where the tour goes Alps, Massif Central., Pyrenees, Massif Central, Jura, Alps, Jura, Vosges

It's good that all 5 mountain ranges are being used. However, the route does need to be balanced
I wonder how many hilly stages (like Epernay or Saint-Etienne this year) we are going to see. So far we have 10 mountainous stages, 1itt and 3 panflat stages. The remaining 7 stages all have Epernay or Saint-Etienne like potential, but I can imagine won't go that far.
 
From Syam to Crans, D279, that's 2.5km and an elevation gain of just about 200m, so maybe not 9-10% as I stated, but close (I had to check it after your post - I grew up and have family in Salins, I rode these roads back in the '80s-'90s). The rest of my family is in St. Claude. The route that you mention leave a big gap before the finish, on the plateau that goes from St. Laurent to Champagnole. To make it good you basically have to go west after St. Claude, hit the ridge...Morez to Champagnole is underwhelming.
I fully expect the stage to be underwhelming, given how tough the rest of week 3 is.
 
Looks like Col de la Hourcère is in. It makes the stage shorter, plus they can boast about a new climb, so not a big surprise. The full Soudet W ascent is probably harder, but as a stage this works at least as well, IMO.

Pau - Soudet via Hourcère - Ichère - Marie-Blanque - Laruns.

 
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