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That would likely put at least two days in the Voges. Perhaps we will see the return of Ballon d'Alsace as a summit Finish.Épinal is sold out of all hotels July19th which puts stage 17 there.
It's a soft HC, which means that if they make it HC they're probably gimmicking it up, going all for that novelty factor and thus making it the MTF
It's also possible that the stage after Grand Ballon starts from Épinal, in which case they could also be heading away from the Vosges that day. The big question is - where? It seems that stage 20 won't be in the Vosges if they indeed are in Épinal that early, surely they aren't heading back south, so that means they aren't ending with a mountain stage. That leaves us with two options - Épinal is indeed the start of a second Vosges stage, then we have a flat day and a TT (in which case I wouldn't mind the first Vosges stage finishing on Grand Ballon), or (less probably) they're pulling the biggest surprise of all and heading towards Roubaix (or alternatively the Ardennes) for the final weekend. In any case, as long as the potential other Vosges stage isn't SPBF, this could be a really interesting final week concept.
Hilly(ish) stage into Limoges on stage 8, Puy de Dôme MTF on stage 9.The mountain stages seems to be shaping up to be good but I am curious to the stages that we will have in the 2nd weekend? TT, hilly stages in Bretagne/Loire are, Massif Central?
Hilly(ish) stage into Limoges on stage 8, Puy de Dôme MTF on stage 9.
Hard disagreement.I do think I approach this a differently than some of you. I don't think anyone who wants an epic, final mountain stage on stage 19 or 20 is going to be happy with anything in the Vosges .
They could also balance it like they did in 2017.This would be good route with all 5 mountain ranges to have 2 60km flat ITTs
would give the race proper balance
This would be good route with all 5 mountain ranges to have 2 60km flat ITTs
would give the race proper balance
Something like 70-80 km in total would be more than enough. You really don't need that insane amount.This would be good route with all 5 mountain ranges to have 2 60km flat ITTs
would give the race proper balance
Something like 70-80 km in total would be more than enough. You really don't need that insane amount.
80 km is as I said more than enough. The rumoured route is far from needing 120 km of ITT to be balanced.120km of itt is not an insane amount. 2007, a tour with nearly that amount, was still a tour for the pure climbers. The mountain stages were simply quite hard. That is how you balance a route. Not by reducing the TT km
Épinal is sold out of all hotels July19th which puts stage 17 there.
You don't believe that 13 is going to ever going to happen right?If Epinal has
the start of stage 17, the stages could be like this:
1-3: Grand Depart, Basque country
4: TT
5-6: Pyrenees
7: Flat
8-9: Massif Central
10: TT (Hopefully)
11: Grand Colombier: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41113136
12: Loze: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41113193
13: Morzine: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41113089
14: Jura (Switzerland?): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41113408
15: Vosges: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41114333
16: Vosges (Le Grand Ballon): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41114198
17: Start Epinal towards north
18-19: Ardennes
20: Cobbles
21: Champ-Élysées