In terms of little details this Tour is really interesting:
+ finish on a random hilltop plain just below Prat d'Ablis makes some very faaaar hopes for a Basque MTF (even Arnostegi?). Possibly the most memorable thing this Tour will have (not in terms of racing though),
+ they're descending Col du Tra??? Carnage in making,
+ Val Thorens with a harder bottom on D96 and a higher finish than i've expected. I'm not sure, where they want to finish though if it's above 2360m,
+ Iseran south is nothing exceptional but last time it was seen when my grands were still babies,
+ Tignes via the D878 sideroad,
+ interesting to see a proper murito in possibly the least impactful place of the entire race
Now however to the race design:
+ at least there's a time trial and finally a Pau stage will have some weight in terms of overall racing,
+ the hilly/light medium mountain Colmar stage is ok i guess,
+ nice to see Iseran back even if only for its landscape,
+ Prat d'Ablis makes hope for some good obscure MTFs in the future,
+ potentially some Camargue wind action on the Nîmes stage,
+ good to see Vars on the Valloire stage,
+ the descent from Galibier is not too hard but it's nice to have a proper descent finish,
- why is ASO insisting that descent stages should be before (often generally harder) MTFs?
- horrendous Belgian stages,
- those hilly stages (Épernay, Brioude, Saint-Étienne) are kind of sluggish but maybe there'll be some Voeckler in making,
- once again horrible stage placement,
- historic 200m PdBF extension to please their shareholders,
- let 2011 not fool you, Galibier from Briançon is just awful,
- the last two stages and the Tourmalet one are too short for what they are,
- once again horrible stage placement, once again horrible stage placement, once again horrible stage placement, once again...
- ASO and their PdBF needs to die.
I know i've forgotten about many things and i also know it's the dudes on bikes that make the race. I wonder if Prat d'Ablis will have HC besides being barely 1.