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2023 Tour de France route rumors

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I know it won't happen, but I wouldn't even mind having a 2012 route. That would probably incline Remco to start, we'll win some time in the TT's ony for Vingo and Pog to attack like crazy in the (soft) mountains.
I know it's a cliche, but the riders make the race. And with the current crop of riders/favorites, we don't need to be so much worried about the route/balance.
The Giro is much more dependable on it's route IMHO.
Have you lost your mind? The mountain stages were downright atrocious. Please, please no!
 
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I also doubt it would matter a lot, since nobody would go hard on the early climbs because the final one is so steep.


more interresting I think would be to know, if they come from the west/ southwest/ south and only climb the last steep 5 km, which would make it a kind of Vuelta specialty or that they climb it from Clermond Ferrand, which makes it a proper HC climb. I mean, it's still only about the last 4 / 5k, but the peloton will be much smaller when starting those last 4k and differences could be bigger.
 
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more interresting I think would be to know, if they come from the west/ southwest/ south and only climb the last steep 5 km, which would make it a kind of Vuelta specialty or that they climb it from Clermond Ferrand, which makes it a proper HC climb. I mean, it's still only about the last 4 / 5k, but the peloton will be much smaller when starting those last 4k and differences could be bigger.
Yeah, that would make a difference.
 
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I asume nobody would attack before Puy de Dome, but some descent cat 2 climbs around Clermond-Ferrand beforehand would burn some calories and would give some teams the option to pull with a strong pace at the front. If the riders are fresh before the final climb, they will most likely all make it. But if the legs are close to the red area, a HC finish can create gaps of some minutes. Also it would allow to tactically operate with satellite riders who continue the pull on the foot of the final climb if a GC captain has good legs.
 
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I asume nobody would attack before Puy de Dome, but some descent cat 2 climbs around Clermond-Ferrand beforehand would burn some calories and would give some teams the option to pull with a strong pace at the front. If the riders are fresh before the final climb, they will most likely all make it. But if the legs are close to the red area, a HC finish can create gaps of some minutes. Also it would allow to tactically operate with satellite riders who continue the pull on the foot of the final climb if a GC captain has good legs.
Like this? 3 cat 2 climbs before Puy de Dome and no flat road in the last 75 km: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41121211
 
I know it won't happen, but I wouldn't even mind having a 2012 route. That would probably incline Remco to start, we'll win some time in the TT's ony for Vingo and Pog to attack like crazy in the (soft) mountains.
I know it's a cliche, but the riders make the race. And with the current crop of riders/favorites, we don't need to be so much worried about the route/balance.
2012 was the worst route in ages. So hell no!
 
2012 was the worst route in ages. So hell no!


the funny thing is, that actually in theory some of the route ideas were not to bad. What went wrong:

-extremely dominant team with the 2 strongest riders in the race as well as the best domestics
-a time trial tour, however, the were no climbers strong enough to challenge the bonus sky got in the time trails
-there were some nice new introductions in the race, and some stages designed to make a hard race and atack from far. But most of them were just to not hard enough

some observations:
-Ardennes stage without using the ardennes proberly
-Finish in Mont, but not using Flemish Ardennes or Cobble stones from Roubaix, another missed oppertunity
-nice hilly stage around Boulogne sur Mer
-sprint stage to Rouen, with a hill in the final to let the sprinters work
-some more boring flat stages
-introdcution of planche des belles-filles (which was at that point a nice introduction, a serious mountain top finish outside the alpes of pyrenees)
-one of the best medium mountain desinged from ASO to suisse
-old fashioned 40 k time trail
-introduction of the Grand Columbier, with a hard moutain - soft mountain design. However, to early in the race for such a stage, to soft design in the first 120k, and the next day the hardest stages of the whole tour
-decent queen stage, that was one of the few stages worth watching that tour
-missed oppertunity around Annonay to spice up the final
-good flat stage desing aroud cap dágde and mont saint claire (wind and steep murito)
-introduciton of mur de Peguere. A good opportunity to attack. However, stage design to soft.
-hilly stage around Pau, not adding really something in this phase of the race
-classic Aubisque - Tourmalet stage, didn't bring what they hoped for
-not to bad hard mountain - softer mountain combi with Port de Bales (at this stage not overused) and peyresourdre
-2 stages without any relevance (too much)
-last time we saw a real time trial??

so, some ideas were not to awful, however, to missed some oppertunities (especially in the first week), to spice things up. And the stages to atack from further away, were in theory not bad, but just to soft or at the wrong moment (before a harder stage)
 
One thing worth mentioned which I've seen referenced elsewhere is that the 2023 (and for that matter the 2024) route both seem very TV friendly. The volcano stage, some novel mountains, attractive terrain. The 2021 ratings were phenomenal. Both in France and elsewhere in places like Germany. Maybe the Germans get rewarded with a finish later in the race which is possible given the route. So the 2023 Tour will likely look very odd on the map but I have to think TV is starting to drive this thing more so than which towns and regions most want it.
 
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