Dauphine route

[Valv.Piti]

Apropos race routes, it annoys me that Catalunya and in particular Pais Vasco are so horrible when it comes to releasing their profiles.... I mean, if they have any at this point.

 

[johnymax]

I like the route. Maybe I'd like to see 10km more of ITT.

 

[hazaran]

Route is great, problem is sometimes the startlist.. it's usually just Dawg slowpedaling around van Garderen then pulling away when he gets bored.

 

[fauniera]

Re:

I like the route. Quite a bit actually.

Yep, same here.

 

[Netserk]

It's a bit sad when this stage is the one that will take the longest to complete:

 

[railxmig]

I really like the idea to climb to Alpe d'Huez via Sarenne. Mont du Chat in this course is a love/hate thing. It will be in the Tour, so why here too? Just that Sky can study the climb and suck the life out of it at Le Tour? Still it is great to have the finish after the descent, which is a crazy one. Last stage is of course brutal, nice itt too.

Still I like the old Dauphinés before ASO a lot more. They often had longer itt's and used a lot more smaller roads and unknown climbs. It was a more local race without that Paris centered ASO vibe. Just my feeling.

Very good point about Mont du Chat. Agree with this post mostly, except the unknown climbs part. Solaison is not a known climb. Also Meribel stage last year was good. Also in previous years some new MTFs were used, like Valmorel, Col du Beal, Finhaut Emosson, Le Bettex (though it was used in 1990, but not from the side via Amerands.)

@Max Rockatansky, even without this stage Sky would study the climb to bits. Mont du Chat is a serious climb, one of the harder if not hardest in France from both sides and Sky knows that. Also, the finish line in Tour should be further than in Dauphine because Tour is the Tour. I'm still worried these 10km of flat will ruin everything.

@Forever The Best, it depends on where are you looking. In this forum Solaison is very well known. Maybe not as strong as Mont du Chat or Bisanne (for some reason), but still quite recognizeable. I also don't know how new it's for ASO, as it was used before in l'Avnir and i guess ASO has some involvement with that race.

why they don't put this brutal climb in the TDF ?

If it's in Dauphine, then there are chances it may be in Tour in foreseeable future.

Seems like a km at 11.%3 is a huge lot steeper than a km at 11.1%

Does anyone still take ASO's profiles and climb categorisations at face value?

I think there's even an entire thread in this forum on how screwed up are ASO with categorisations. There are some examples like Arcalis or Glandon/Croix-de-Fer south getting HC for no reason while the likes of Menté south, Courchevel 2000, Cormet de Roselend or Col de la Forclaz (last year) getting only cat. 1.

Wednesday, 7 June. Stage 4: La Tour-du-Pin - Bourgoin-Jallieu (23.5 TT)

Between both cities it's roughly 14km. I wonder if some of the hills north and south of Bourgoin-Jallieu will be used as it's a fine playground to play with. There are the likes of Rue de Montauban, Rue de la Rivoire north and Montée du Nid, La Ransinière south which are short but steep (~8-10%).

 

[LaFlorecita]

Wednesday, 7 June. Stage 4: La Tour-du-Pin - Bourgoin-Jallieu (23.5 TT)

Between both cities it's roughly 14km. I wonder if some of the hills north and south of Bourgoin-Jallieu will be used as it's a fine playground to play with. There are the likes of Rue de Montauban, Rue de la Rivoire north and Montée du Nid, La Ransinière south which are short but steep (~8-10%).

 

[OlavEH]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2017-critrium-du-dauphin-route-features-novel-ascent-of-alpe-dhuez/

Friday, 9 June. Stage 6: Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes - La Motte-Servolex (145.5 km)
Saturday, 10 June. Stage 7: Aosta - Alpe d'Huez (167.5 km)
Sunday, 11 June. Stage 8: Albertville - Plateau de Solaison (115 km)

Nice, these three stages are great! Should wish that ASO could display some of the same creativity when it comes to design of TDF stages.

 

[Arredondo]

Re:

Apropos race routes, it annoys me that Catalunya and in particular Pais Vasco are so horrible when it comes to releasing their profiles.... I mean, if they have any at this point.

Catalunya this year are rather quick with their profiles actually.

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/_Volta_Ciclista_a_Catalunya_2017_Preview