Giro 2012: Route Rumours / Our wishes

[McLovin]

I made the route scheme of next year based on rumours...

and Alpe d'Huez?

 

[Eshnar]

and Alpe d'Huez?

The alpe d'huez idea has been dropped a while ago

 

[McLovin]

I did not know.

 

[Eshnar]

I did not know.

Vegni simply said the transfer fromdanmark is huge so they won't go abroad twice in the same race

 

[Eshnar]

Rumours say the TTT will be in Verona, and it'll be raced in the evening (like Vuelta did this year, I guess)
Someone says that the Stelvio stage could end on the Tonale... that would mean climb Stelvio (from the hardest side), Gavia (from the easier, 2010 side) and Tonale (same finish as 2010). I don't really know if the source is reliable anyway.

 

[Lupetto]

I don't think that they put Stelvio und Gavia in one stage, they never did. Even Zomegnan never did that. That would mean, that the Stelvio isn't televised.
I assume, that the Stelvio will be a MTF, penultimate climb of the stage or before a finish in Bormio. But they will put the pass into television.

 

[Eshnar]

I don't think that they put Stelvio und Gavia in one stage, they never did. Even Zomegnan never did that. That would mean, that the Stelvio isn't televised.
I assume, that the Stelvio will be a MTF, penultimate climb of the stage or before a finish in Bormio. But they will put the pass into television.

They definitely can televise the Stelvio even if it's before Gavia... The only thing that doesn't make me trust this rumour is that this stage cannot happen in stage 15... unless it's 300 kms long. So they should do that in stage 16, which will be on tuesday and I really doubt they will.

 

[airstream]

Its terrible. Zomegnan wouldn't be afraid of going abroad twice. This stage was planned like 50th anniversary of Coppi's victory, yes? That was an unique occasion. How could they remove it??? I'm very disappointed.

 

[Eshnar]

Its terrible. Zomegnan wouldn't be afraid of going abroad twice. This stage was planned like 50th anniversary of Coppi's victory, yes? That was an unique occasion. How could they remove it??? I'm very disappointed.

Personally I'm happy with that.
L'Alpe D'Huez doesn't mean anything in the Giro. It's not hard, it has no history and probly it won't have crowds (why should French people fill the climb for the Giro? There won't be many tourists in may, neither)
L'Alpe D'Huez is an icon, but it's so only in the Tour. It can stay there.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Also, for the Giro it would kind of entail arriving at it from Italy, which would mean Lautaret - can't really do a stage like 2008 as a Giro stage. Alpe isn't hard enough for a big Giro stage on its own; the Tour tends to throw in some big climbs before it too. And if it's not going to be a big marquee stage, what's the point in going to the Alpe at all?

 

[RedheadDane]

Here's my wish for the Giro next year:

That is if only just briefly will make it through Århus!

Or at least gets close enough to be easily accessable. Preferably by bike but train'll be fine as well.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I wouldn't call a sprint stage a waste of a day. It's as much a part of road cycling as the TT or climbing/descending. With the start being in Denmark, you're pretty much guaranteed we'll have more than this year.

That's why there's a question mark with the TTT. Not really a huge fan (at least not the Armstrong era length).

Queen stage starting in Bormio, climbing Gavia from Valfurva, then Mortirolo from Monno side, up to Aprica and Ponte di Legno, Gavia from that side and finish on top of Stelvio in a snow storm. Drooling_)

sprintingstages have never been a part of cycling until cipo came a long with his train and perfected it all. it's something you should not have too often in a race and especially not in a gt. and if you would like sprint stages then just make them 30 k long and do an extra afternoon stage that is not gonna be a sprint. if you want to be a sprinter go to track

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I made the route scheme of next year based on rumours...

Stage 1-3 We all know these
REST
Stage 4: TTT somewhere in Friuli
Stage 5: flat along the coast
Stage 6: flat along the coast
Stage 7: mixed stage TA style
Stage 8: MTF to Campitello Matese
Stage 9: flat or mixed stage heading north
Stage 10: Strade Bianche stage with finish (almost official) in Siena (the actual finish of MSB itself)
Stage 11: Mountain stage with San Pellegrino In Alpe and Abetone (this stage was strongly rumoured a month ago and nobody denied it nor rumoured another possible stage in Tuscany, so I still rate it as likely)
Stage 12: Finish in Rapallo, in memory of WW
Stage 13: Finish somewhere in Piemonte, flat or almost flat.
Stage 14: MTF to Cervinia (seems official), likely after Saint Pantaleon
Stage 15: This is tricky. Someone say it's the day of Stelvio, but it's strange because it would mean a pretty long transfer between two mountain stages (100+ kms at least, probly 150+). If it isn't so, then is likely a medium mountain stage on the GDL routes.
REST
Stage 16: Mortirolo/Aprica/Santa Cristina. Or Stelvio if it's not in stage 15.
Stage 17: sprinter's stage going south
Stage 18: ITT (flat or mixed, dunno)
Stage 19: Treviso - Tre Cime Di Lavaredo with Duran, Forcella Staulanza, Giau, Tre Croci.
Stage 20: MTF To L'Alpe Di Pampeago. The route is not clear (they could approach it via Passo Manghen or via Lavazé)
Stage 21: Flat stage to Milan

This is my interpretation of the rumours.

then the course is realling going to suck. let's hope it isn;t true

 

[Eshnar]

then the course is realling going to suck. let's hope it isn;t true

What is that you don't like, exactly?
To me it seems a good route.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

What is that you don't like, exactly?
To me it seems a good route.

WAY too many flat stages. A TTT. Ridiculously backloaded. Not a lot of ITT mileage. Finishing with a pointless flat stage instead of the much more interesting shortish ITT of recent years.

But mostly that first week. Ugh, hideous. Almost Tour level bad.

 

[Eshnar]

WAY too many flat stages. A TTT. Ridiculously backloaded. Not a lot of ITT mileage. Finishing with a pointless flat stage instead of the much more interesting shortish ITT of recent years.

But mostly that first week. Ugh, hideous. Almost Tour level bad.

flat stages... 5-6... more than last year but they don't seem too much. We still have to see if they are actually pan flat.
TTT... well, there's one every year.
backloaded... the third week has 3 mountain stages and an ITT, while the second could have... 3 mountain stages and the strade bianche. This is backloaded?
The first week seems weak, this is true.
As for the ITT mileage... we don't know anything, so how could you say that?
The pointless flat stage is pointless, ok. But if it were a short ITT instead it was pointless the same (at least to me).

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm seeing stages 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, probably 12, 13, 17 and 21 as flat stages.

That's 8, probably 9. That's too many.

I'm saying there's not enough ITT mileage because there's only one ITT and a prologue, so unless it's a 65km ITT as tough as Sestri Levante in '09 it's not enough - and even then you had the 15km ITT in Rome at the end! Also there should be no TTT, because the TTT has no business existing anywhere off the track. That should be a 25km or so ITT instead, like the Cholet one in the 2008 Tour.

Otherwise, the entire first week is a complete waste of everybody's time and effort and it looks like it's going to be a two week race. Admittedly, that's better than the pathetic 2011 Tour, but still disappointing.

 

[Eshnar]

I'm seeing stages 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, probably 12, 13, 17 and 21 as flat stages.

That's 8, probably 9. That's too many.

I'm saying there's not enough ITT mileage because there's only one ITT and a prologue, so unless it's a 65km ITT as tough as Sestri Levante in '09 it's not enough - and even then you had the 15km ITT in Rome at the end! Also there should be no TTT, because the TTT has no business existing anywhere off the track. That should be a 25km or so ITT instead, like the Cholet one in the 2008 Tour.

Otherwise, the entire first week is a complete waste of everybody's time and effort and it looks like it's going to be a two week race. Admittedly, that's better than the pathetic 2011 Tour, but still disappointing.

Stage 3 I read somewhere was not flat, at least the finish.
Stage 6 could have bumps in the end, considering the region it'll be in.
Stage 9 is completely guessed by me, so it could be everything
Stage 12, if really finishes in Rapallo, 90% chance it will be a medium mountain stage.

So they are 5-6.
Again, these are just guesses, since the rumours about flat stages are always rare (since noone rate them high). It's too early to complain about something we know very little. Anyway, if they are really 5-6, it's fine for me.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If they've found somewhere around Horsens that doesn't make the finish totally flat I'll be amazed. Are you sure you're not thinking of when we were discussing what they could possibly do with 3 stages in Denmark and somebody posted pictures of Kiddesvej in Vejle (otherwise known as "literally the only thing of any interest in the Post Danmark Rundt"?):

 

[Eshnar]

If they've found somewhere around Horsens that doesn't make the finish totally flat I'll be amazed. Are you sure you're not thinking of when we were discussing what they could possibly do with 3 stages in Denmark and somebody posted pictures of Kiddesvej in Vejle (otherwise known as "literally the only thing of any interest in the Post Danmark Rundt"?):

No, I'm pretty sure I read on Gazzetta that the finish of stage 3 will be something like 5-6% uphill... it's not a wall, but neither flat.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

What is that you don't like, exactly?
To me it seems a good route.

nowhere near enough hard mountainstages and way too many sprintstages.

 

[Eshnar]

nowhere near enough hard mountainstages

If you mean there aren't super HC as MTF, this is good. The important is there are super HC before the final climb... San Pellegrino In Alpe + Abetone is a great mountain stage, for example (perhaps too good to be so early in the race), St.Pantaleon + Cervinia the same. If the Stelvio is a penultimate climb the last one won't matter too much (and if it's easy the riders will be forced to attack on the Stelvio). It all comes down to the route of the dolomitic stages, especially the last one, which has a lot of alternatives. If the Tre Cime are really preceeded by Duran + Staulanza + Giau, I really don't see what you could expect more.

 

[Eshnar]

Now there's a strong rumour saying that the Mortirolo will be climbed from a completely new side (recently resurfaced): The Tovo side
12 kms at 10.7%, with 800m of slightly descending sterrato (all the rest is tarmac).
A local newspaper says stage 20 will be Tonale+Aprica+Trivigno+Mortirolo(Tovo)+Stelvio(from Bormio but all the way up to almost 3000m).
This would be a great stage, but between Mortirolo and Stelvio there are 20 kms of false flat... so I don't know what to expect from it.

 

[Eshnar]

The third week seems a bit different now...
Updating route... (taken from an italian forum who took my first route scheme)

1-3 Danmark
REST
4: TTT in Verona
5: flat to Rimini or Cervia
6: flat (?) to Pescara
7: MTF to Campitello Matese or mixed stage to Campobasso
8: mixed (?) stage to Barletta or San Giovanni Rotondo
9: Foggia - somewhere in Lazio
10: Strade Bianche (Viterbo? - Siena)
11: San Pellegrino in Alpe
12: Rapallo
13: Somewhere in Piemonte (flat?)
14: Cervinia
15: mixed stage (?) in Lombardia or again in Piemonte
REST
16: ITT? in Lecco
17: flat to Vedelago
18: Treviso - Tre Cime Di Lavaredo
19: MTF to L'Alpe di Pamepago
20: Cavalese? - Passo dello Stelvio (and above )
21: Milan (flat or maybe ITT)

So Stelvio should be on stage 20. This is good. Less chance of snow and it will decide the race.

 

[jens_attacks]

what is wrong with two itt's in a grand tour?