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2023 Tour de France route rumors

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I was going to properly analyze this map until I realized that it didn‘t even have the right stage start and finish on stage 2 and 3, even though stage 2 and the start of stage 3 have already been revealed.


Race design challenge on Le Gruppetto.
Over there they even have a thread where they mock People who take one of their design for real...
 
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Having thought about it a little bit, not only does it make geographical sense to do an early Pyrenees in the 2023 TDF but also it will be a good test for 2024 if the start is in Italy and they go through the Alps early on (seeing what kind of difficulties you can get away with to make the race exciting without putting someone several minutes ahead of other GC contenders.)
 
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I don't get why they never finish with mid mountain stages, I know its more difficult than in Italy and France because the lack of major population centres nearby the good climbs but you can easily do something like this (I combined climbs of Le Lioran 2016 with climbs of Puy Mary in 2020):
mont-dore-to-le-lioran.png
 
You can do some awesome mid-mountain stuff in the Vosges, but that would require ASO realizing there are other places to finish than Planche des Belles Filles.

I have a stage with this finale in an unfinished Tour design: La Mauselaine > Grosse Pierre > the steep ramp next to Grosse Pierre they climbed (and called Grosse Pierre) in 2014 > Brabant > descend back to La Bresse via Route des Bouchaux > La Vierge > descend through Bramont > uphill drag to La Bresse-Hohneck ski station (the largest in the Vosges) and finish there.

Route link

Definitely one to file under things that will never happen, of course.

And yes, that Lioran stage would be really good with a different peloton than the 2016 Tour's, especially a little later in the race.
 
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It's a great finish to contrast with all the mountain stages before that.

2 flat road stages in the final 3 days - 2 days without GC action - is simply too much for my liking, especially if the ITT is flat, too. Flat ITTs usually have fairly predictable outcomes in the third week. 2022 is case in point. 2021 is another case in point.

PdBF was cool. I liked that course from the start. I've always liked that ___/ ITT profile.

The more recent third week ITTs were fine in isolation - good designs, both of them - but were boring to watch for the most part. As I assumed they would be.
 
I hate TTTs and believe they have no place in Grand Tours---completely defeats one of the major purpose of the ITTs. With that said, if they have two solid length ITTs, that makes it a little more fair. I think the TTT is going to really expose UAE. How much time will TP lose to Jumbo? I'd put the over-under at a minute, given something in the neighborhood of a 20 -30 K TTT. But really UAE has nobody to blame but themselves given how much they've loaded up on pure climbers.
 
I hate TTTs and believe they have no place in Grand Tours---completely defeats one of the major purpose of the ITTs. With that said, if they have two solid length ITTs, that makes it a little more fair. I think the TTT is going to really expose UAE. How much time will TP lose to Jumbo? I'd put the over-under at a minute, given something in the neighborhood of a 20 -30 K TTT. But really UAE has nobody to blame but themselves given how much they've loaded up on pure climbers.
Yes, so you get punished for constructing a bad team. That seems fair to me.

(And yes, I know many teams don't really have the opportunity to do so).
 
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If the rumours regarding the Tour visiting the Voges in the last week are true, I hope they have a similar finish at Le Markstein to the one they had in the Tour de Femmes. They could easily have 4 or 5 sizeable climbs before the ascent up to Le Markstein including the close proximity of the Col du Petit Ballon. Could make for an epic mountain stage.
 
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If the rumours regarding the Tour visiting the Voges in the last week are true, I hope they have a similar finish at Le Markstein to the one they had in the Tour de Femmes. They could easily have 4 or 5 sizeable climbs before the ascent up to Le Markstein including the close proximity of the Col du Petit Ballon. Could make for an epic mountain stage.

I made this just today, though a finish like TDFF is obviously preferred. I think it's highly likely they will climb Col du Haag.
mulhouse-to-geradmer.png
 
I made this just today, though a finish like TDFF is obviously preferred. I think it's highly likely they will climb Col du Haag.
mulhouse-to-geradmer.png

That would be a phenomenal stage, especially late in the race with some heavy GC legs. That stage also has a full strength UAE and Pogačar written all over it. That Haag climb is tough and the Petit Ballon definitely seems to be biting. An ideal 3rd week, non Alpine climb,

The next two Tours have the potential to be just wildly entertaining GC races. This one has 3 tough stages at the start. Then a potential early stop in the Pyrenees. An epic stage up to Puy Mary. Some great Northern Alpine stages and then finish in the Voges, Throw in hopefully 2 longish ITTs and you have yourself a relentless, brutal and entertaining Tour. The year after with the Italian start and southern Tour might be just as tough if not more challenging. Love it. I don't miss the 8 sprint stages in the first 10 days we used to get.

I do love this part of our sport. You just don't get this in just about any other sport. The team sports all get played in stadiums that are more or less the same. The Olympics change spots but it's every 4 years. Course design and the sport's biggest event are just so unique in this sport. In some ways this month feels like the build up to Christmas as a kid.
 
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