Rate the TdF 2017 route

[LaFlorecita]

Briancon - Serre Chevalier

I realise stages are getting shorter but...

ITT

 

[roundabout]

Briancon - Serre Chevalier

I realise stages are getting shorter but...

Still probably longer than the distance between Weesen and Amden

 

[zlev11]

is this the worst route ever? even the Lance-era routes were better than this.

 

[gregrowlerson]

I don't really know what to write about this. I'm just sad that an event which used to have the goal to entertain, has 10 flat stages which all together are nothing but an insult to the sport while it will still be called the greatest race in the world by people who call themsleves cycling fans for one month of the year

I am not sure why this is surprising or hugely disappointing though. From my memory, most of the routes in the 2000's had about 10 flat stages. Worse, you'd probably have 7 of those in the first 9 stages, and you might be lucky to see a hill by the end of the second weekend. At least this years route is not backloaded, and the mountain stages have a good variety to their finishers, although we certainly do not have enough - or any - long mountain stages.

I am most annoyed about the disgraceful amount of ITT. I know that it gave Tom the shits as well, and that's why he went to the Giro.

 

[Netserk]

I don't really know what to write about this. I'm just sad that an event which used to have the goal to entertain, has 10 flat stages which all together are nothing but an insult to the sport while it will still be called the greatest race in the world by people who call themsleves cycling fans for one month of the year

I am not sure why this is surprising or hugely disappointing though. From my memory, most of the routes in the 2000's had about 10 flat stages. Worse, you'd probably have 7 of those in the first 9 stages, and you might be lucky to see a hill by the end of the second weekend. At least this years route is not backloaded, and the mountain stages have a good variety to their finishers, although we certainly do not have enough - or any - long mountain stages.

I am most annoyed about the disgraceful amount of ITT. I know that it gave Tom the shits as well, and that's why he went to the Giro.

2005 only had 5 sprint stages (plus the stages to Nancy and Revel)

 

[jsem94]

Terrible.

 

[yaco]

Think you'll need to be creative to make time gaps in this TDF - Limited high mountains and TT kms - It could lead to more aggressive racing.

 

[lartiste]

May be, it is a trick against Sky since Sky is invicible in mountains so may be the author of the route assumes, that someone may destroy Sky on flats .

 

[lenric]

Re:

Think you'll need to be creative to make time gaps in this TDF - Limited high mountains and TT kms - It could lead to more aggressive racing.

Maybe. Maybe not. There's always the Sky train. If there are less mountain stages, that means they will have more time to rest.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Let's hope the race is boring as **** and the organizers never design such a joke of a route again.

 

[deValtos]

I still cant get over how the last 3 days of the tour de france are flat stage, 22km TT, flat stage. That's just insane to me. It's 90% chance that TT is irrelevant imo (since its so short) making the whole last 3 days a waste.

 

[zlev11]

and the alps stages are in the wrong order so they will both probably be terrible

 

[zlev11]

...but it's all made up for by this stage. remember, shorter stages are so explosive!!! nobody has to save any energy!! i truly can't wait for the 40-man bunch sprint, and on Bastille Day no less. i already took the day off from work.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

Think you'll need to be creative to make time gaps in this TDF - Limited high mountains and TT kms - It could lead to more aggressive racing.

Exactly ...this race has been set to be an anti SKY race

Look at the team they are bringing to the Tour ...Thomas, Landa, Henao, Nieve Poels...and then Froome...these guys would dominate in the mountains and lead the Tour by minutes ...
This way they can be vulnerable to other teams attacking on other terrain
I think its genius ...

But on here every time a route changes there is moaning and moaning
Paris Nice , ..moan moan

As for all the flat stages I would not be surprised if there are lots of cross winds expected

 

[Red Rick]

Sky train only works to neutralize the race, and is useless if the route is tricky enough or when the leader is too weak. The Sky train can fall apart under enough pressure for long periods of time. This route isn't tricky, apart from one stage, it's a whole bag of nothing. People tend to be annoyed by the amount of air in a bag of chips. This Tour is one good chip in a huge bag of air.

 

[Vasilis]

Re:

Sky train only works to neutralize the race, and is useless if the route is tricky enough or when the leader is too weak. The Sky train can fall apart under enough pressure for long periods of time. This route isn't tricky, apart from one stage, it's a whole bag of nothing. People tend to be annoyed by the amount of air in a bag of chips. This Tour is one good chip in a huge bag of air.

They did fall apart in previous years, because their support riders weren't really that good, some had questionable form, but if their team this year is anything like last year's, they won't fall apart. With 5.5 climbers to support him, Froome was never in any trouble.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Short mountain stages tend to only be explosive if the riders are tired, or if they happen in stages that are stacked around other challenging stages. I don't really see that here.

To me I see a lot of flat stages for sprinters which should be fun to watch for the maillot vert, but not GC. Plus a lot of semi-mountain stages that will be ruined by the Sky Train, with Porte, Contador and maybe Bardet following. Sure, Valverde will try too, as will a tired Quintana, Chaves may sneak away for a stage, but in end I see yet another year where Froome puts on the jersey early, and Sky safely delivers him to Paris.

 

[deValtos]

Sagan might have competition for the green jersey this year.

 

[rghysens]

This course combines the worst of the Leblanc era (countless flat stages without any variation) with the worst of the Prud'homme era (anemic montain stages and tt' that are barely longer than prologues). And non of the few question marks we had at the presentation in october last year has changed into an exclamation mark.
I voted 4 and I don't have to change my mind.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

This course combines the worst of the Leblanc era (countless flat stages without any variation) with the worst of the Prud'homme era (anemic montain stages and tt' that are barely longer than prologues). And non of the few question marks we had at the presentation in october last year has changed into an exclamation mark.
I voted 4 and I don't have to change my mind.

Thinking about that its actually brilliantly put, the Leblanc + Prudhomme thing, but Im surprised you still are being that relatively generous then..

I don't think it deserves more than a 3. The Vuelta-route is miles and miles better.

 

[Red Rick]

It's great to see that we're complaining about this one being sh!t and then it turns out the 2018 Tour starts with 2 flat stages and *.*.*

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

This course combines the worst of the Leblanc era (countless flat stages without any variation) with the worst of the Prud'homme era (anemic montain stages and tt' that are barely longer than prologues). And non of the few question marks we had at the presentation in october last year has changed into an exclamation mark.
I voted 4 and I don't have to change my mind.

Thinking about that its actually brilliantly put, the Leblanc + Prudhomme thing, but Im surprised you still are being that relatively generous then..

I don't think it deserves more than a 3. The Vuelta-route is miles and miles better.

Well, there are still some good things:
1) Starting with a tt (although I prefer prologues), it kind of brings me in the right mood.
2) Generally I like it when an opening tt (as mentioned, preferably a prologue) is followed by one or two flat stages, so sprinters can also have a go at yellow. Three (like this year's tour) is definitely too much, even more so if you can cross a part of the Ardennes instead.
3) stages 8, 9, 12 and 17 are good
4) Stage 15 is interesting: I don't expect much, but it can deliver.
5) I like the fact that there's a short itt after the mountains
6) no ttt

Now I don't like:
1) Wasting the Ardennes
2) Wasting the Vosges
3) the two short tt's. Using the same start and finish locations, I would have preferred a prologue in Düsseldorf, a short tt in Marseille and a long tt between Périgueux and Bergerac
4) not using the terrain around Nuit-Saint-Georges (I mean, how many race organisers would make a detour to avoid hills in the final?)
5) The junior race length stage to Foix. You could have included the Col de la Core or some narrow twisty roads over some minor climbs leading to the climbs they use now, and it would be much more suited to create an ambush stage than this pathetic attempt.
6) the finish locations of stages 17 and 18 are in the wrong order, as already mentioned by a lot of others
7) none of the flat stages has a decent chance at echelon forming.
8) 10 or 11 flat stages (I count Longwy as flat, and am in doubt about Rodez) is just too much. I think 5 really flat stages are necessary, wouldn't have a problem with 6 and can accept 7, but 10?

 

[rghysens]

Re:

It's great to see that we're complaining about this one being **** and then it turns out the 2018 Tour starts with 2 flat stages and *.*.*

Well, the start of the 2018 TdF is even worse than that of the 2017 one, but maybe the rest of the course will be a real gem.
:lol:

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

4) not using the terrain around Nuit-Saint-Georges (I mean, how many race organisers would make a detour to avoid hills in the final?)

Thanks for reminding me about that, because I wanted to post a profile of PN 2011.

That stage finished in the same city in which stage 7 of this years tour finishes and a finale like in this PN stage is perfect for one of the things this tdf route is missing so badly, hilly stages. But as rghysens has written it, the organizers purposely made this stage more boring than necessary. And thats exactly the problem of this route. Sometimes you have the feeling race organizers want their race to be boring and I just do not have a clue why the hell thats the case. Why the hell did they think it would be a better idea to make this stage pan flat than hilly. I mean this must be bad from a marketing standpoint as well, right? Were they afraid their race could become too hard?

 

[Escarabajo]

I thought this one route was the worse from all my history watching cycling but after watching El Giro I don't think it was as bad as I thought:

Good:
- The fact that the Organizers spreaded out the mountains is a big plus. (And one of the most important for me).
- The sprint stages is a meh, but we need them.Most of the 80's Tours were like 7-9 flat stages in a row. Seriously, look it up. It was weird.
- The mountain stages are not as bad as I thought. The heavy multi mountain stages end up being attrition races so having 2 hard mountains could be enough for the spectacle.
- 1 TT and a long prologue is fine with me.

Negative:
- 1 short TT. Should be longer. But 1 is Ok with me.
- The queen stage finishing in a long descend plus a flat is a turned off. And the mountains are spaced too far out. This is not a real queen stage.
- In general it should be harder than this. Looks too soft. Stages 8 and 15 should be a lot harder.