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Grand Depart 2017 in Germany?

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veji11

Apr 15, 2013
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Re: Re:

Max Rockatansky said:
McLovin said:
According to Le Dauphine we will have a stage with Grand Colombier and Mont du Chat at the end of first week.
Click to expand...

I already found a picture what most of this stage will look like...

POELS-Wouter001p.jpg
Click to expand...

Sadly, whatever route the organiser comes up with, this will remain the main issue : overstrong teams that just control the race and prevent movement are the bane of road cycling, they turn LBLs and Lombardias into a sprint up the last hill after 250ks of race and turn mountain stages in GTs into fast tiring processions preventing attacks up the last few kms of the last climb... Most of us really like the Tour's route this year in theory, yet it ended up being very effectively neutered by a very strong team Sky + a movistar team more interested in protecting an out of form Quintana's podium than trying to go for broke with very little chances of success.
 
E

escartin

May 31, 2011
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Le Blaireau_13 said:
By the way, according to velowire.com, Esch-sur-Alzette won't host a stage finish this year.
Click to expand...

Indeed they won't.
And they aren't very happy about it:

http://www.rtl.lu/sport/cyclissem/960172.html
http://www.lequotidien.lu/sports/esch-sur-alzette-privee-de-tour-de-france-2017/

ASO wanted a hilly finale to avoid a pure sprint finish so Esch provided them with alternatives including 3 climbs in the last 30km. ASO then suddenly changed their mind and wanted an uphill finish which they had never mentioned before and Esch can't provide one.

Apparently the 4th stage should still start in Mondorf and the hotels are booked so the stage will still finish quite close by. Longwy is mentioned in the Quotidien article as a possibility.
 
L

Le Blaireau_13

Mar 13, 2016
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Are we sure la Dauphine mentioned Mont du Chat instead of Col du Chat??? That would be a big difference, as the Col du Chat isn't nearly as hard as Mont du Chat. I've read the article in La Voix de l'Ain but can we trust it?
 
M

McLovin

Jun 18, 2009
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From le Dauphine via velowire:According to the Dauphiné, this stage would go towards the col de Bérentin and then go back down to the dam in Génissiat via Cuvéry, Ochiaz and Billiat before a short side-trip to the Haute-Savoie and the climb of the col de la Biche followed by the Grand Colombier, taken from Virieu-le-Petit! Which means the hardest of the four sides with a part going up to 22%! After the difficult climb of the Mont du Chat, the riders would immediately go on to the finish in Chambéry after the descent.

Can anyone make a profile? I am at work.
 
T

TromleTromle

Jun 11, 2014
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Re:

McLovin said:
From le Dauphine via velowire:According to the Dauphiné, this stage would go towards the col de Bérentin and then go back down to the dam in Génissiat via Cuvéry, Ochiaz and Billiat before a short side-trip to the Haute-Savoie and the climb of the col de la Biche followed by the Grand Colombier, taken from Virieu-le-Petit! Which means the hardest of the four sides with a part going up to 22%! After the difficult climb of the Mont du Chat, the riders would immediately go on to the finish in Chambéry after the descent.

Can anyone make a profile? I am at work.
Click to expand...

Waste of mountains...
As such biche & GC will be slowpedelled with the flat in mind before MC.
ASO is a disgrace.
They should do a biche-GC MTF and the next day use MC as a mortirolostyle climb with subsequent finish
 
Netserk

Netserk

Apr 30, 2011
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I liked my guess the other day better, but I was pretty close (other than the side of Chat).

uwBlaz9.png


The flat part after GC is going to be longer if they take the same descent as this year. There's about 11km of flat after Chat (though it depends on where the exact finish line will be)
 
L

Le Blaireau_13

Mar 13, 2016
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Off course, the inclusion of Biche, Grand Colombier and Mont du Chat could have been better (especially by adding l'Épine after Chat), but I think this is a pretty decent stage with three real hard climbs. And besides, it will always be difficult to use Biche, Grand Colombier and Chat in one stage without having much valley in between the climbs. Therefore, I would like the succesion of Biche, Grand Colombier and Mont Clergeon (http://cyclingcols.com/profiles/Clergeon.gif) with a downhill finish in Rumilly.

I think the route could be pretty awesome. However, everything depends on the Perigieux-Bergerac stage: will that be a 50km time trial??? It isn't confirmed yet, I think. When I read Velowire.com, it even seemed like it could be road stage... That would be a disaster.
 
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Svam

Sep 26, 2016
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Perigueux-Bergerac is a normal stage. It's pretty clear in the newspapers : the touristic aim of this stage is to go near Lascaux where there is a famous prehistoric site (same kind of Grotte Chauvet this year). IMO the second ITT will be around Marseille and probably a hilly one with the Gineste (a good pretext to have an orgy of views of the Calanques).

The Chambery stage will use rare and brilliant passes. The finish with Mont-du-Chat and 10-12km to the finish line is self-sufficient to have a good stage. It's nice to have Biche & GC by Virieu-side but it's too early in the race for someone to brave the 30km flat-section that comes after. But it could become an option for an Alpine finish in the next years (tp Belley, Rumilly, Aix-les-Bains).
 
sir fly

sir fly

Feb 24, 2014
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Next year's Tour will be the first broadcast in entirety... Every stage from start to finish.
Nothing less than a scenic route shouldn't be expected. The rumours, so far, are fitting in perfectly in the scenic concept.
It's going to be great for watching.
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

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Feb 20, 2012
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Re:

sir fly said:
Next year's Tour will be the first broadcast in entirety... Every stage from start to finish.
Nothing less than a scenic route shouldn't be expected. The rumours, so far, are fitting in perfectly in the scenic concept.
It's going to be great for watching.
Click to expand...
Knowing the Tour, that means they'll try to prevent anything from happening on the road
 
sir fly

sir fly

Feb 24, 2014
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Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
sir fly said:
Next year's Tour will be the first broadcast in entirety... Every stage from start to finish.
Nothing less than a scenic route shouldn't be expected. The rumours, so far, are fitting in perfectly in the scenic concept.
It's going to be great for watching.
Click to expand...
Knowing the Tour, that means they'll try to prevent anything from happening on the road
Click to expand...
I guess an appropriate reply should be: "Riders make the race. not route."
I really believe this is going to be a spectacular route.
And two visits to Massif Central look to me like targeted spending of public funds on promotion of less developed regions of France. The trend we should have nothing against.
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

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Re:

barmaher said:
That would be horrible if it is indeed the case.
Click to expand...
It's logical if they want suspense for the yellow jersey in their mind though. They want Froome vs Quintana (and anybody else who might rise to the occasion). After the Tour and Vuelta this year, it can very well be that they're afraid to put in a 50km flat tt. They're totally right to not put in 100km of flat TT. However, just the prologue would be bad too. I think they should go for a hilly TT in the 38-45km range.

On the other hand, it looks like there will be a TTT. It's not like Sky didn't have enough of an advantage already.
 
G

guncha

Oct 14, 2009
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There should be flat/rolling second ITT of at least 30km. Three week race with 13km of ITT is not a GT. There are no justification for absence of second ITT.

I am ready to rate this route with 1, just like in the case of 2015...
 
Red Rick

Red Rick

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Feb 20, 2012
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guncha said:
There should be flat/rolling second ITT of at least 30km. Three week race with 13km of ITT is not a GT. There are no justification for absence of second ITT.

I am ready to rate this route with 1, just like in the case of 2015...
Click to expand...

Yeah, lets just at one thing we won't and already decide beforehand what we're rating it so that we don't have to think and judge the route as it is.
 
G

guncha

Oct 14, 2009
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Red Rick said:
guncha said:
There should be flat/rolling second ITT of at least 30km. Three week race with 13km of ITT is not a GT. There are no justification for absence of second ITT.

I am ready to rate this route with 1, just like in the case of 2015...
Click to expand...

Yeah, lets just at one thing we won't and already decide beforehand what we're rating it so that we don't have to think and judge the route as it is.
Click to expand...

13km equals the worst possible route 100% of time. It does not matter which mountains they will climb.
 
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