Rate the 100th TDF route

[Eshnar]

10: awesome
1: crap

As for me, this makes the passable Giro route epic in comparison. 4/10.

 

[Bavarianrider]

If it was a normal year i would be gentle and give it a 3-4
But for the 100th edition, i can't give it anything else then a 1. pathetic.

 

[OlavEH]

I give it a 6/10. Better than this year which was a 4/10, but still a long way to go to match the far more exciting routes in the Giro.

 

[Eshnar]

PROS:
- The stage to Ax-3-Domaines is good (though it lacks a couple of climbs as run in).
- The Mont Ventoux stage at least is long.
- The second last stage is not a TT.
CONS:
- The lenght of the TTs is awkward.
- The loop around Bagnéres de Bigorre is.... *Proudhomme trollface*
- The stage to Semnoz... omg this is almost as bad as it could possibly get.
- The stage to Le Grand Bornand is... meh...
- The stage of L'Alpe is just that. A stage with L'Alpe. Twice.

 

[Parrulo]

taking into account it's the centenary edition this route is just awful

 

[OlavEH]

- The loop around Bagnéres de Bigorre is.... *Proudhomme trollface*

WTF? Do they really loop around? Why the hell do they do that?

 

[jens_attacks]

a 3 it is.....god save us all

 

[hughmoore]

WTF? Do they really loop around? Why the hell do they do that?

Good for spectators and the city it starts and finishes in.



Hugh

 

[Magnus]

I gave it 6.
Not a very good route but there definitely is opportunities for the ones who are willing to take them.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

6/10

It's a weaker course than I expected, due to unnecessary false flat in the Bagneres stage and the very disappointing Annecy - Semnoz stage. It's okay otherwise. The finish in Lyon could be good.

 

[the asian]

I've given it a 3 not taking in to consideration that this is the 100th edition.

It seems ASO is trying to tell RCS, don't try to make your race ****, we can make our one even ****tier.

 

[Capablanca and me]

it's not bad IMO
but for the 100th editon is not hard, and not so epic as i expected
not enough Tourhistorical stage, town, climb

 

[Magnus]

Terrible route.

Semnoz is just garbage. Ventoux is a procession to the bottom slopes.

The Le Grand Bornard is'nt bad and has somewhat repetitive climbing in it even though the Glandon and Madeleine come early in it. The decent finish could be good here but other than that I can't say this route gets me going.

2 or 3.

A big letdown

Lol. So at what km in a stage is it suitable to begin climbing the first mountain?

 

[cineteq]

I gave it a 10. Mainly to counterbalance the naysayers.

Pros
- Grand depart in Corsica
- Nice TTT
- ITT finishing at Mt. Saint Michel
- 2 x Alpe d'Huez
- Mt. Ventoux on Bastille day, 242Km, awesome!
- Short penultimate stage with a MTF
- Covers the main French cities, great for the fans

Cons
- No ITT in Paris
- Too many sprinter stages

 

[LaFlorecita]

Depressing.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Depressing.

Finally we agree on a GT route rating
I guess that really tells us how crap the route is

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

5
AC will attack anyway

 

[Magnus]

Enjoy your 220km of flat.

Honestly I don't think the whole stage will be televised but if it is I certainly will enjoy the spectacle of half the peloton trying to get in the break before I'll enjoy a nice Sunday lunch with a bottle of Chardonnay(or maybe Rosé) with an occasional glance of the terrific Provence landscapes before I dose off and wake up just in time for the action in the last 30 km of the stage. Perfect way to spend a Sunday if you ask me.

 

[OlavEH]

- The first mountain stage to Ax-les-Theres is okay. A fairly average mountain stage, but still an acceptable first stage in the mountains.

- The stage to Bagneres de Bigorre is almost a waste. Should instead have done a similar stage to Pla d'Adet like in 2005.

- The Mont Ventoux stage seems fine by me. Ok, it's 220 km flat before they start the climb to Ventoux, but at very best they could have added a couple of 2. category and 3.category climbs. It wouldn't make a huge difference anyway.

- The second ITT seems really interesting. Should be a great stage.

- The Alpe d'Huez and Le Grand Bonard stages are not great, but acceptable. Still, it's a bit boring to use the Alpe two times.

- The last mountain stage to Semnoz is pretty bad. Short, and with a long, flat section between the last two climbs. The last mountain stage should have been far longer and harder than this.

- The biggest disappointment howewer, is the complete lack of classic like stages. There should have been at least one, preferrable two hilly stages in Massif Central, Vosges, etc, with a 2. og 3.category finish.

 

[Pricey_sky]

7/10

Not bad at all, 2 x Alpe d'Huez will be epic and loving the penultimate mountain stage which could decide the GC.

 

[Jan the Man]

6/10-

Should have been two or three hilly stages to entice the classic specialists. As it is there are one or two too many flat stages.

The final mountain stage ought to have included one other climb.

I would have got rid of the TTT and added 15km to the first TT.

 

[DominicDecoco]

PROS:

CONS:
- The stage of L'Alpe is just that. A stage with L'Alpe. Twice.

And that makes it a bad thing?

 

[guncha]

33km of flat ITT = Giro style flaw. 2nd ITT looks good.
7 stages for sprinters which is less than usual but I won't cry for it.
Second week is not much better than in 2009 when it was endless snooze-fest. But still first and final weeks have more decisive stages than in 2009.
Medium mountains/hill stages are OK, they are spread all over the race.
It is good they didn't cut the amount of high mountains because of medium mountains.

Mountain stages:
Ax3 Domaines - very good chain of climbs;
Bigorre - since final climb is closer to finish than Grand Colombier or Peregue this stage could create some action;
Ventoux - it cannot be badly designed stage;
Alpe d'Huez - better than Gap-Alpe 06 which had Izoard+Lauratet+Alpe;
Grand Bornard - better than this year's Luchon stage because final climb is more difficult, also Tamie+Epine is more difficult than Aspin from easier side;
Semnoz - it was hard to make this stage more difficult because there are no other climbs of similar difficulty near Quintal.

Due to this year's disappointing route ASO would not have gotten more than 8 for me. But since ASO has failed with flat ITT kms I can give only 6. In comparison I gave 3 or 4 to this year's route.

 

[roundabout]

- The biggest disappointment howewer, is the complete lack of classic like stages. There should have been at least one, preferrable two hilly stages in Massif Central, Vosges, etc, with a 2. og 3.category finish.

Stage 3 is potentially ok.

The stage to Lyon should have a couple of climbs in Lyon itself.

It could be better, but I don't really agree that it's completely lacking in classic like stages

 

[guncha]

WTF? Do they really loop around? Why the hell do they do that?

After Ancizan they can reach Bigorre in 28.5km, finish is in 30km. 15km loop was around Foix this year...