2x Alpe d'Huez?

[sublimit]

On one way I like it, nice climax to the tour, and certainly provides an exciting finish on the mountain for the fans who can get there and the gc contenders, and climbers.

But the tours not just about them, the tour is about the domestiques, the sprinters, the young riders, the ones who just dream of completing the tour, and Paris is something special. Every rider who goes up the Champs Elysees is cheared on by the crowd.. The lap of honour is a chance for them to celebrate, great their fans, say hello to family and freinds along the route, take in the atmosphere of how ever many hundreds of thousands of fans are on the roadside, have their photos taken.. and to meet their family and loved ones.. where the hell are they going to put all the riders wives and girlfreinds on Alpe D'Huez.

Where will they do that on Alpe d'huez.. how the hell can they have a lap of honour..

Ive been to Paris eight or nine times, and everytime its special. We dont go for the racing, the stage as a spectacle is crap, but we go to support the riders, cheering on the lantern rouge, handing a beer to Dave Millar, or the wife getting a kiss from Pettachi.. its all part of that final celebration. And not just the riders, the mechanics, the ds's.

For the majority of the peloton, instead of being a celebration it will just be pain, hurt and misery.

I also like the idea of a final day time trial.. again, its a chance to cheer on every single one of the riders who has managed to finish the tour.

This is it, I was trying to get this message through myself but some people here think its ultra endurance running, ironman or whatever.. Most of the suffering is done by the domestiques and they will go through it bigstyle on such a stage.

PS I owe you an apology for a dumb comment a week ago. (Yes another one) sorry about that.

 

[Thomsena]

stupid idea.but yes the final stage to champs d'elysees should be erased from the face of the earth.

What a stupid comment. Totally lack of knowledge in cycling history.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

After the descent there's a fairly long flat run towards Bourg d'Oisans. I'm not sure if this will inspire great racing. In short: I don't like it.

 

[jens_attacks]

What a stupid comment. Totally tack of knowledge in cycling history.

whatever turns you on...
no one will jump from the windows if they will change it for the centenary at least

 

[Mellow Velo]

Very left field.
Such a "gimmick" is either a sign of inspiration, or desperation.

Except for the fact that it's their same old, same old climb, this
is the sort of thing Zomegnan might have dreamed up for the Giro, had he remained at the wheel.
I wonder why the ASO feel the need for such a novelty?

Suck it and see, I suppose and hope it works, but I expect we will
have to pay some price or other.
Probably no serious mountain stage until the penultimate weekend.

 

[williamp78]

Presumably there's no chance that this could be the penultimate stage followed by the procession in paris the next day? If it is the last stage i suspect that a very large number of riders will simply not finish the last stage.

And out of interest has the tour ever had the grand depart in paris? Start on the champs rather than end?

 

[avanti]

..............
Hold the final ITT on the last day. Finishing on the Champs-Élysées.
..................................

I like that option.
However holding the TTT on the last day that includes a couple of laps of the Champs-Élysées could could shorten the time between finishers plus also minimize effects of changing weather.

 

[roundabout]

Presumably there's no chance that this could be the penultimate stage followed by the procession in paris the next day? If it is the last stage i suspect that a very large number of riders will simply not finish the last stage.

And out of interest has the tour ever had the grand depart in paris? Start on the champs rather than end?

2003 was the last start in Paris. It also started in Paris in the very early years.

 

[hfer07]

climb it twice-even three times if ASO likes-but no the same damn day

 

[The Hitch]

I think one advantage of having the final up Alpe is that it might help cycling on the news.

My point is that, at least here in the UK the only news of cycling all year round is a 30 second bullitin that comes on the main news after some football gossip and F1.

They usually say the name and nationality of the guy who won overall, show the final 2 seconds of the sprint of the Champs Elysee stage, and announce that Cav won it.

It makes the Tour seem like a boring event that isn't even worth showing, as the only images come from the parade.

However if the Tour were to, in 2013 finish on Alpe, and the gc situation was to be decided there, then the images on the news would come from Alpe d huez, and the news readers might be tempted to briefly describe what had happened ,show the winning attack, show the closeness of it all the passion.

It would be better yet if they got to see the yellow jersey changing hands.

Viewers would also perhaps see the thousands upon thousands of fans that line the route, and since news readers like to exaggerate attendance figures, they might even claim there were 600 000 people on the route or some such.

Suddenly the common view, that the TDF is boring, might be slightly challenged, all in a 30 second wrap up, all thanks to the Tour, finishing on Lalpe.

Its worth a try.

 

[roundabout]

Even though ideally the GC should be decided on the last stage it should not be engineered that way.

This idea reminds me of the 2009 Tour with Ventoux on the last day and to a lesser extent the 2010 Vuelta.

Both races with horrible routes.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

If they desperately want the stage to be decisive for GC then only climbing the Alpe twice may not cut it if the stage doesn't feature any other climbs - which seems to be the case.

 

[orangerider]

I like the idea of the tour ending elsewhere, and move Paris to somewhere earlier, in between perhaps, and in fact maybe make an additional sprinter race somewhere else in Paris so it's a dual Saturday/Sunday Parisian race which will rake in huge promotional money for the Tour. This should satisfy sprinters, to whom have fresher legs earlier in the race anyway.

 

[roundabout]

If they desperately want the stage to be decisive for GC then only climbing the Alpe twice may not cut it if the stage doesn't feature any other climbs - which seems to be the case.

Yikes, how long would a stage be with only the Alpe (starting in Bourg-d'Oisans that is)? 60km? 65?

 

[Polish]

After watching Pierre Rolland win this year's Alpe d'Huez stage and also the White Jersey for best young rider, maybe the ASO have visions of a French Winner for the 100th Anniversary.

I understand Rolland is a "Rock Star".

 

[Altitude]

Dumb idea. They use Alpe d'huez too much as it is.

 

[Dancing On The Pedals]

There are a good elements in this plan, but quite a lot that I don't like as well. I like the idea of doing a climb twice, and it shows that ASO are starting to look outside the box a little bit. However, as was said earlier in the thread, it's the same old climb they've done loads of times before. There are lots of different climbs they could use - both in the Alps and the Pyrenees that they could use instead of Tourmalet or the Alpe.

As for it being on the last day, again, good that they are thinking about mixing up the last day snooze fest, but as TSF said, reaching Paris is the goal for many young riders and domestiques. I just don't see the finish on the Alpe being the same. If you want to spice up the final day, have a ITT into Paris like in 1989. Knowing Prudhomme, he will have produced a route designed specifically to engineer a close finish that goes down to the last relevant stage. I personally think there is more scope for exciting drama and tension if you have the TTer chasing down a better climbing GC rider through the streets of Paris as opposed to the potential of the maillot jaune marking whoever he needs to up the Alpe...

 

[SirLes]

If I was a rider, would I prefer to finish (and therefore the post race party) in a pretty sh1tty 1970s ski resort or in the centre of one of the world's most glamorous Capital cities?

Similarly if I was VIP?

It's the Tour de France and therefore should finish in Paris IMO.

As a fan the experience of watching them go up and down the Champs multiple times is pretty cool and then watch them do a lap of honour afterwards.

Lap of honour down and up Alp d'huez anyone?

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Yikes, how long would a stage be with only the Alpe (starting in Bourg-d'Oisans that is)? 60km? 65?

Now that you mention it... that's exactly what they have in mind if the article is correct. It would certainly be different, I'll give them that.

 

[Anonymous]

I like that option.
However holding the TTT on the last day that includes a couple of laps of the Champs-Élysées could could shorten the time between finishers plus also minimize effects of changing weather.

wouldnt work.. what happens with the teams that only have 1 or 2 riders in paris because the rest gave up on the second ascent of alpe d'huez two days earlier. This is why ttt's are held in the first few days of grand tours.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Dumb idea. They use Alpe d'huez too much as it is.

I disagree with the dumb idea part. I like thinking outside the box and ways to make the race a bit different and intriguing. I would not do it every year. Like routes with cobbles. But it would not hurt to skip the Alpe once in a while either. So I don't disagree that the Alpe is used too much, even as much as I like it.

 

[The Hitch]

Another point is that if it was the last stage of the 100dth edition then the heads of state would want to win it.

If you look at say Ventoux 2009, Finnestre this year in the Giro, the top guys dont always go for the final mountain stage.

Even Alpe this year, while GC was close the remaining contenders just marked each-other.

But such a stage, especially with nothing left to save for, I think everyone would have a go.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Good point, HITCH, about the final stage. A small detail I'd overlooked.

 

[will10]

Just doesn't seem right to me for the last stage of the Tour to be completed by ~1/2 the bunch finishing in a big gruppetto at 40 minutes behind the stage winner.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Just doesn't seem right to me for the last stage of the Tour to be completed by ~1/2 the bunch finishing in a big gruppetto at 40 minutes behind the stage winner.

Okay. But isn't that just about how a finish on the Champs works out, with less than half the bunch really in the hunt for a win?