As the article says the Dauphine is close and it is one of the final tour preparation races, who is lagging behing, who has peaked to early and who will tame Alpe d'huez
Prologue: 6.8km with a small lump in it
Stage 1: Cat 3 close to the finish and a profile that drops off a cliff in the final 2k very steep downhill finish
Stage 2: Sprinters stage with 2 cat' 2s in the middle
Stage 3: TT of 49km with a flat finish but cat 3 early, reminds me of Annecy at the tour last year
Stage 4: First summit finnish on a cat 1 at rissoul (12.8km at 7%) will look very easy when compared to the Giro! (predict a breakaway of climbers who lost a lot early)
Stage 5: HC climb 31 km from the finish (17.5km at 7.5%) will be selective not sure how hard descent is (i guess another breakaway day)
Stage 6: WOW queen stage finishing on Alpe d'huez that puts the tour to shame,
•Km 13.0 - Côte des Fontaines - 2.5 km climb to 6.2 % - Category 3
•Km 49.0 - Col du Grand Cucheron - 18.5 km climb to 4.4 % - Category 2
•Km 99.0 - Col du Glandon - 19.5 km climb to 7.2 % - Category H
•Km 151.0 - ALPE-D'HUEZ - 13.8 km climb to 7.9 % - Category H
really want to see how close Contador can get to the record, i think he will only have the form to go sub 40 though...
Stage 7: Classics finish to the race, will leave victory undecided till the final day, taylor made for Phillipe Gilbert for me....
Dont have a start list im afraid but its a nice parcours for sure, i know Evans, Basso, Nibali, obviously Valv Piti!, the shlecks and Armstrong are giving it a miss, have no idea who is doing it so will go with Contador for the win as i know he will be there!
Prologue: 6.8km with a small lump in it
Stage 1: Cat 3 close to the finish and a profile that drops off a cliff in the final 2k very steep downhill finish
Stage 2: Sprinters stage with 2 cat' 2s in the middle
Stage 3: TT of 49km with a flat finish but cat 3 early, reminds me of Annecy at the tour last year
Stage 4: First summit finnish on a cat 1 at rissoul (12.8km at 7%) will look very easy when compared to the Giro! (predict a breakaway of climbers who lost a lot early)
Stage 5: HC climb 31 km from the finish (17.5km at 7.5%) will be selective not sure how hard descent is (i guess another breakaway day)
Stage 6: WOW queen stage finishing on Alpe d'huez that puts the tour to shame,
•Km 13.0 - Côte des Fontaines - 2.5 km climb to 6.2 % - Category 3
•Km 49.0 - Col du Grand Cucheron - 18.5 km climb to 4.4 % - Category 2
•Km 99.0 - Col du Glandon - 19.5 km climb to 7.2 % - Category H
•Km 151.0 - ALPE-D'HUEZ - 13.8 km climb to 7.9 % - Category H
really want to see how close Contador can get to the record, i think he will only have the form to go sub 40 though...
Stage 7: Classics finish to the race, will leave victory undecided till the final day, taylor made for Phillipe Gilbert for me....
Dont have a start list im afraid but its a nice parcours for sure, i know Evans, Basso, Nibali, obviously Valv Piti!, the shlecks and Armstrong are giving it a miss, have no idea who is doing it so will go with Contador for the win as i know he will be there!