Stage Profiles Tour de France 2013

[Waterloo Sunrise]

What are you talking about?

It's in the correct order.

They would be if they were complete, but as you're missing half the race, I'm inclined to be picky and say stage 8 will not directly follow stage 3.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Just reviewed all the intermediates and it does look like the organisers wanted Cav to beat Sagan this year for Green.

Only 3 or 4 stages where Cav won't make the sprint point, so likely to be a wash at those points overall when balanced against the other stages where Cav would expect to come in front of Sagan.

Sagan will need to be looking to win stage 9 & maybe 16 to get a real edge.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

I give 6 or 7 to Cav and 4 to Sagan (Ajaccio, Calvi, Marseille and probably Lyon).

From initial review i'd say most likely winners, if we're splitting just in to those 2 would be -

Cav -

1,5,7,8,11,13,14,15,21

Sagan-

2 & 3, plus 9 and 16 potentially in range.

Obviously, there are actually more than 2 riders contesting these stages, and for total clarity, my only criteria was judging which of either rider would make the finish, and then assuming Cav would win if they're both present. In practice I think either could take any of these (apart from 9 and 16).

 

[Miburo]

They would be if they were complete, but as you're missing half the race, I'm inclined to be picky and say stage 8 will not directly follow stage 3.

Well i only had 3 posts because they were only a few profiles available so what was the point of making more posts beforehand? Then an hour after this thread is opened a site has all the profiles.

So what can be done? You can only have 4 pics in 1 posts, a mod can't change that.

Besides the rest is flat, nothing will happen.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Well i only had 3 posts because they were only a few profiles available so what was the point of making more posts beforehand? Then an hour after this thread is opened a site has all the profiles.

So what can be done? You can only have 4 pics in 1 posts, a mod can't change that.

Besides the rest is flat, nothing will happen.

Well, you might call it nothing, but given we already had the other profiles before today, I'd say it's the main interest point right now.

 

[ILovecycling]

Marseille and Lyon stages are interesting,and Gap stage of course

i hope Sagan will win at least 1 pan flat sprint against Cav.

 

[whittashau]

From initial review i'd say most likely winners, if we're splitting just in to those 2 would be -

Cav -

1,5,7,8,11,13,14,15,21

Sagan-

2 & 3, plus 9 and 16 potentially in range.

Obviously, there are actually more than 2 riders contesting these stages, and for total clarity, my only criteria was judging which of either rider would make the finish, and then assuming Cav would win if they're both present. In practice I think either could take any of these (apart from 9 and 16).

Awful. Nine stages flat enough for Cav to win? How is cycling going to grow with parcours like this.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Here are the weekend stages:

Stage 1: totally flat
Stage 2: medium mountain, but enough flat at the end that it'll be a Sagan-fest
Stage 8: mountaintop finish
Stage 9: mountain stage; last mountain a bit far from the end but hopefully with the rest day afterward we'll get a bit of action
Stage 14: the Lyon stage, supposedly a hilly stage, but not a great deal of climbing at over 5%. Probably a sprint of a group of 60-80 or so
Stage 15: Mont Ventoux
Stage 20: Le Semnoz
Stage 21: Champs Elysées

Naturally the Champs Elysées sprint is part of the history of the Tour and I don't advocate changing that, but with 8 weekend days, four of them likely to be sprints is a bit much imo.

 

[Ferminal]

From initial review i'd say most likely winners, if we're splitting just in to those 2 would be -

Cav -

1,5,7,8,11,13,14,15,21

Sagan-

2 & 3, plus 9 and 16 potentially in range.

Obviously, there are actually more than 2 riders contesting these stages, and for total clarity, my only criteria was judging which of either rider would make the finish, and then assuming Cav would win if they're both present. In practice I think either could take any of these (apart from 9 and 16).

Ah, I think Cav still makes the finish in Marseille and Lyon but like the stage in T-A it may give Sagan the edge.

7 I think it's for Cav as long as the break goes early and is ****ty (can't really see Cannondale going crazy for Sagan in the first half of the stage).

Sagan is no chance in the Pyrenees, well, you never know with GC riders these days and hopefully not on Manse if Contador wants time.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Awful. Nine stages flat enough for Cav to win? How is cycling going to grow with parcours like this.

WS is playing. Sure, a lot of those are Cav stages, but he's included Bonascre and Ventoux and an ITT. I see 1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 21 as the sprint stages, and you can probably expect at least one of these to either see the break let go or Cavendish not to make it on one of the hillier ones.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Ah, I think Cav still makes the finish in Marseille and Lyon but like the stage in T-A it may give Sagan the edge.

7 I think it's for Cav but will need to get the chase right (can't really see Cannondale going crazy for Sagan in the first half of the stage).

Fair point, 7 I hadn't looked far past the flat finish, but could be a toss up. Don't see Cannondale having the firepower to keep OPQS and Lotto off the back of the peloton for 100ks though.

Stage 2 could end up a similar situation. Not sure how rampy those climbs are but whichever sprinter is in yellow will be going very very deep to get up well and rejoin before the finish.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

WS is playing. Sure, a lot of those are Cav stages, but he's included Bonascre and Ventoux and an ITT. I see 1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 21 as the sprint stages, and you can probably expect at least one of these to either see the break let go or Cavendish not to make it on one of the hillier ones.

Nah, I'm just too excited to count properly.

The 9 intended were -

1,5,6,7,10,12,13,14,21

And I can't see a break being let go on any potential sprint stage. No way in hell the DS at OPQS, Cannondale and Lotto will give away freebies at the Tour.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=21639

 

[Bubban]

Found this on the official page:

Pescheux`s comments about stage 7

"This is the third of the so-called "transition" stages, even though the route for this one is a bit more rolling: we are approaching the Pyrenees, the major objective at the end of the week. In theory, there is an opportunity here for the sprinters in a Tour that quite frankly doesn't do them a lot of favours?

So 8 or `possibly 9 stages for sprinters doesn`t do them any favours?

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=21639

Yep, a stage where Cavendish had no team, and is actually probably as tough in the 2nd half as any of the 9 identified this year.

They could conceivably get to bickering, but as long as Griepel retains sufficient ego to lend a Lotto rider to the chase, it's going to be a very odd day when a break is allowed to win a flat stage.

In fact, the more I look at the profile for that, the tougher it looks - harder than any of the 9 this year.

 

[JRanton]

Do we know if the Österreich Rundfahrt will go ahead as planned yet?

I've been saying since the route was announced that I've no idea why people don't think it's suited to Wiggins. On 2012 form, the Alpe d'Huez stage is the only one I could see him losing a decent chunk of time on and he'd probably make it back in the 2 ITT's and the TTT. Of course, he isn't in that form and Froome is the leader but for people to call this a mountainous route is laughable.

 

[The Hitch]

Marseille and Lyon stages are interesting,and Gap stage of course

i hope Sagan will win at least 1 pan flat sprint against Cav.

Gap comes the day before the tt which in turn is the day before Alpe d huez, and after Ventoux, so I doubt Contador is going to do anything. If it was in the first week could use Kreuziger to attack or something but 3rd week, nothing will happen.

 

[Miburo]

Gap comes the day before the tt which in turn is the day before Alpe d huez, and after Ventoux, so I doubt Contador is going to do anything. If it was in the first week could use Kreuziger to attack or something but 3rd week, nothing will happen.

Let me see what came after gap 2 years ago:

Ok Contador already was 1 and a half minute behind But if Contador can gain time and has the legs he'll give it a go (look at giro 2011, what he did before etna stage) especially with bad weather

 

[rghysens]

WS is playing. Sure, a lot of those are Cav stages, but he's included Bonascre and Ventoux and an ITT. I see 1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 21 as the sprint stages, and you can probably expect at least one of these to either see the break let go or Cavendish not to make it on one of the hillier ones.

Those seem to be the designed sprint stages to me, too. And it wouldn't suprise me at all if we'll see a big bunch (100+) sprinting for victory in stages 2, 3 and 4.
In a magazine I read a couple of days ago, JF Pescheux was discussing the stages and said about stages 2 and 3 that they were quite hard, and if any of the favorites had a lack of form (like Cadel Evans last year), they'd be in difficulty in stage 2, and probably would lose some time in stage 3.
If they really believe this kind of nonsense, we won't see more exciting parcours the next couple of years.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The Yorkshire deal appears high value.

Pescheux must have bulldozed some of the stages to get them this flat.

 

[Cyivel]

Cav to catch Merckx this year

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Cav to catch Merckx this year

There are just enough opportunities to draw level,

After seeing this route, next year is not really that unlikely.

 

[JRanton]

One of the few things I like about the route is that second time trial coming the day before the Alpe d'Huez stage. There should be a real show on the L'Alpe (Christ, there needs to be in order to save this Tour).

 

[airstream]

Ok Contador already was 1 and a half minute behind But if Contador can gain time and has the legs he'll give it a go (look at giro 2011, what he did before etna stage) especially with bad weather

in short buddy you are starting to put up with the fact that to gain time in mtfs and tt's is so extremely difficult that a serious bet should be done on manse?

 

[burning]

I loved the TT, and hated the 934332543 sprints (It is very likely that breakaway might take 1-2 sprint stages)

Looking forward to stage 16 and 19