Tour 2014 Route Rumours

[pastronef]

Is that before or after he surges away from Cancellara ?

dont know

 

[Ferminal]

Looks to be enough to "hurt" a couple of GC riders or so I hope.

The final two sectors should definitely.

 

[Eshnar]

3656 kms in total.

wat?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

this forum will go offline again if Froome crashes on the cobbles

lol, but Froome will be guided by Sky's best cobbles rider: Mr Stannard.

Also, Sagan will get a taste of real cobbles next year. He may like it, who knows.

 

[webvan]

Yeh I like that, missed the names of the climbs though.

Here they are : http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/fr/etape-8.html


Km 142 - Col de la Croix des Moinats7,6 km de montée à 6%
Km 150 - Col de Grosse Pierre3 km de montée à 7,5%
km 161 - Gérardmer La Mauselaine1,8 km de montée à 10,3%

 

[fraserhughes]

What you get then thought is morons like Andy Schleck grossly overestimating their own itt ability and wasting 3 mtfs

given some of the bs that came out of contador's mouth this year about how froome was going to fade like in the 12 vuelta, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the same mistake.

not that it really matters, since froome is heads and shoulders above everyone else in climbing and recovery too

Very true, I did say "theory"

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Here they are : http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/fr/etape-8.html


Km 142 - Col de la Croix des Moinats7,6 km de montée à 6%
Km 150 - Col de Grosse Pierre3 km de montée à 7,5%
km 161 - Gérardmer La Mauselaine1,8 km de montée à 10,3%

Gotta say, I like the stage variant here. Surely full gas from the first climb? Could be 25km of real action.

 

[webvan]

Yep, fireworks!

Not sure what's in store for the second Vosges stage (no categorized climbs?) but the PDBF stage is a "real" mountain stage in a "secondary mountain area", first time ever in the Vosges I'd say :

Km 30,5 - Col du Firstplan8,3 km de montée à 5,4%
Km 54,5 - Petit Ballon9,3 km de montée à 8,1%
Km 72 - Col du Platzerwasel7,1 km de montée à 8,4%
Km 104 - Col d’Oderen6,7 km de montée à 6,1%
Km 144 - Col des Chevrères3,5 km de montée à 9,5%
Km 161 - La Planche des Belles Filles5,9 km de montée à 8,5%

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/fr/etape-10.html

 

[The Hitch]

This year suggests that Quintana has got the recovery and climbing part covered pretty well. He gained time on Froome on the final two mtfs, remember?

He also gained quite a lot of time on the final sprint stage. Does that mean Quintana is going to gain time on froome in the sprint stages next year

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Yep, fireworks!

Not sure what's in store for the second Vosges stage (no categorized climbs?) but the PDBF stage is a "real" mountain stage in a "secondary mountain area", first time ever in the Vosges I'd say :

Km 30,5 - Col du Firstplan8,3 km de montée à 5,4%
Km 54,5 - Petit Ballon9,3 km de montée à 8,1%
Km 72 - Col du Platzerwasel7,1 km de montée à 8,4%
Km 104 - Col d’Oderen6,7 km de montée à 6,1%
Km 144 - Col des Chevrères3,5 km de montée à 9,5%
Km 161 - La Planche des Belles Filles5,9 km de montée à 8,5%

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/fr/etape-10.html

A solid stage to potentially sort out the GC a bit before the first rest day.

 

[Netserk]

3656 kms in total.

wat?

Still shorter than 2006

 

[The Hitch]

Yep, fireworks!

Not sure what's in store for the second Vosges stage (no categorized climbs?) but the PDBF stage is a "real" mountain stage in a "secondary mountain area", first time ever in the Vosges I'd say :

Km 30,5 - Col du Firstplan8,3 km de montée à 5,4%
Km 54,5 - Petit Ballon9,3 km de montée à 8,1%
Km 72 - Col du Platzerwasel7,1 km de montée à 8,4%
Km 104 - Col d’Oderen6,7 km de montée à 6,1%
Km 144 - Col des Chevrères3,5 km de montée à 9,5%
Km 161 - La Planche des Belles Filles5,9 km de montée à 8,5%

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/fr/etape-10.html

Good stage in theory but in practice, vomistar will neutralize it.

 

[jens_attacks]

3656 kms in total.

wat?

a grand tour which respects itself should have at least 4000 kms. but that is good though compared to last year i guess...modern cycling...

i like the route gotta say, it will be quite the showdown

 

[Leonardus]

I have to say this route looks much better than expected. Is this already a post-Pescheux route design perhaps?

The sheffield stage looks good. The cobbled stage is even better than I was hoping for and they finally make some good use of the Vosges mountains. Gerardmer stage and PDBF look very promising.
I also have the feeling the route designers are very font of the Port de Bales in recent years and I agree with them, tough climb and tricky descent should make a good final again to Bagneres-de-Luchon.

 

[Netserk]

UCI 'rules' are more guidelines than rules (at least some of them):

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Good stage in theory but in practice, vomistar will neutralize it.

of course not. unless quintana won;t ride

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

a grand tour which respects itself should have at least 4000 kms. but that is good though compared to last year i guess...modern cycling...

i like the route gotta say, it will be quite the showdown

I hate this too. there should always be a mountainstage of 250+ km because riding a mountainstage of 250+ is something else completely. you need a big engine for it like classics

 

[Netserk]

of course not. unless quintana won;t ride

Just like the stage to LGB this year

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Just like the stage to LGB this year

which their teammate costa won

 

[Ferminal]

What about his brutal attacks on Ancizan?

 

[Netserk]

which their teammate costa won

And how much did they (at least try to) gain in GC?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

And how much did they (at least try to) gain in GC?

gain for what? quintana finished 2nd which was as high as they believed they could and took an extra stage win with costa

 

[Netserk]

gain for what? quintana finished 2nd which was as high as they believed they could and took an extra stage win with costa

Then why did you expect/predict them (and other teams) to try for GC in that stage?

 

[sensations]

The cobbles stage should be great fun and the two Vosges stages are looking pretty decent. I reckon the Gerardmer-Mulhouse stage will be less interesting then. Fine by me.

Picked the wrong run-in into Gerardmer but was right about the use of the Mauselaine and I actually prefer the Croix-monats, gross-pierre, mauselaine chain they've got there. Short but punchy climbs. Same goes for the LPDBF stage. Chevréres and LPDBF is a good combination of two short but relatively steep climbs.

Good to see that the Chamrousse stage isn't unipuerto but if they bother to include the Palaquit they might've just as well used the Fort De 4 Seigneurs (8km, 7%) for another climb just ahead of Chamrousse. That would've put the stage at 212km - not much of a different from 200km but would've made the end of the stage a little more interesting.


As for the Pyrenees stages. Words escape me to utter my disgust, really.


Overall - the first week is by far the most interesting with the Sheffield stage, Cobbles and the decent Vosges stages. The last two are badly let down by horribly uninspired and dire mountain stages.

 

[Netserk]

A picture from one of the cobblestone sections.