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First post updated:roundabout said:
- Stage cities at Stage 4 and 5 reversed
- Stage 5 becomes an ITT
- Stage 7 becomes a flat stage
- Stage 8 includes the potential Hill Top Finish at La Mauselaine
- Stage 10 finish changes to Pontarlier
- Stage 11 starts in Besançon
- Stage 18 with Hautacam finish not so sure (might be Pla d'Adet here with a descent finish in stage 17 somewhere)
Also, Thomas Vergouwen, the creator of Velowire.com, said that he would release his trademark rumours article this week-end, but that we should not expect surprises for now.
Tuesday, July 15 - Rest day
Wednesday, July 16 - Stage 11: Besancon- Oyonnax (medium mountain stage)
Thursday, July 17 - Stage 12: Villars-Les-Dombes - Saint-Étienne (medium mountain stage)
Friday, July 18 - Stage 13: Saint-Étienne - Grenoble (mountain stage)
Saturday, July 19 - Stage 14: Grenoble - Risoul (mountain stage + MTF)
Sunday, July 20 - Stage 15: Tallard - Nîmes (flat stage)
Monday, July 21 - Rest day
This is the week that intrigues me. There are some nice climbs around Oyonnax, and it seems likely to me that will be a proper medium mountain stage.
But they could really mess up the days into Saint-Etienne and Grenoble if they want to. Are there any rumours on these stages? I think they could yet turn one of them into a flat stage, as it is not a sprinter friendly parcours if rumours are to be believed.
Wednesday, July 16 - Stage 11: Besancon- Oyonnax (medium mountain stage)
Thursday, July 17 - Stage 12: Villars-Les-Dombes - Saint-Étienne (medium mountain stage)
Friday, July 18 - Stage 13: Saint-Étienne - Grenoble (mountain stage)
Saturday, July 19 - Stage 14: Grenoble - Risoul (mountain stage + MTF)
Sunday, July 20 - Stage 15: Tallard - Nîmes (flat stage)
Monday, July 21 - Rest day
This is the week that intrigues me. There are some nice climbs around Oyonnax, and it seems likely to me that will be a proper medium mountain stage.
But they could really mess up the days into Saint-Etienne and Grenoble if they want to. Are there any rumours on these stages? I think they could yet turn one of them into a flat stage, as it is not a sprinter friendly parcours if rumours are to be believed.
- Jun 7, 2011
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- Jun 7, 2011
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I keep hoping for Roubaix to Paris for the penultimate stage. Obviously not exactly just cobbles late. I think it'd be nice to see a tour fought out on the cobbles for time and position in the top 10. Instead of position and not crashing, which inevitably leads to crashing early on. I really don't like cobbles early on.
If I were designing a tour I'd look at the favourites and try to even things up, but not in a death by razor blades type of way. Ullrich vs Pantani MTFs and Flat TTs. Wiggins vs Evans, technical TTs and rolling med mountains stages etc. With Froome and Sky as the favourite...I'd look to put him in yellow early and then design a tough route to control. Load the front end of stages with climbs and finish at the base of more climbs. 2013 wasn't actually a bad route in terms of this, just tactics didn't add up between all teams. Maybe they learn from their mistakes.
I really can't judge a tour without seeing profiles. Saying 2 flat ITTs and 7 Alpine satges 5 MTFs really doesn't mean anything to me without seeing exactly how they are.
If I were designing a tour I'd look at the favourites and try to even things up, but not in a death by razor blades type of way. Ullrich vs Pantani MTFs and Flat TTs. Wiggins vs Evans, technical TTs and rolling med mountains stages etc. With Froome and Sky as the favourite...I'd look to put him in yellow early and then design a tough route to control. Load the front end of stages with climbs and finish at the base of more climbs. 2013 wasn't actually a bad route in terms of this, just tactics didn't add up between all teams. Maybe they learn from their mistakes.
I really can't judge a tour without seeing profiles. Saying 2 flat ITTs and 7 Alpine satges 5 MTFs really doesn't mean anything to me without seeing exactly how they are.
So it is a team time trial to Ieper, after all...Linkinito said:
And Pyreneenian mystery.
I hope it'll be something surprising and unexpected... Like three MTFs, since a time trial is scheduled for the penultimate stage. But it will probably be a downhill finish (hopefully not a long one) and couple of MTF stages, different in altitude gain and length.
Let's hope the cobbles are selected to have a real impact on the race, and not just to decorate it.
Yeah. Pretty much, it has many common elements from both these Tours.Ferminal said:
Pyrennean stages will be an overdose of classic climbs...
- Apr 7, 2011
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I really hate the whole attitude of the ASO. Never doing something new in the Tour and it's always the same, just in tedious, boring variations.
What new things has the Tour done in the last 5 years? double climbs of overused cols, finishing on overused cols than hadn't been used as finish before, and they made the most useless stage an evening stage
Meanwhile the Giro is racing through the dirt every year, has usually great hilly stages, has included some great new climbs the past few years and is making everything bigger and better as the years go on.
La Vuelta has in the meantime found some real killer climbs and totally reinvented itself (even though they are sometimes overdoing it). Still every year the parcours provides a lot of action and at least one completely new climb somewhere a long the way
The ASO doesn't think they have the tour because they think the Tour is bigger than the sport. It shouldn't be. The Giro has (or had?) plans to share a part of the TV revenues with participating teams, which I really hope they do, because that might turn the Tour into the B-race it deserves to be if they continue to develop like this
What new things has the Tour done in the last 5 years? double climbs of overused cols, finishing on overused cols than hadn't been used as finish before, and they made the most useless stage an evening stage
Meanwhile the Giro is racing through the dirt every year, has usually great hilly stages, has included some great new climbs the past few years and is making everything bigger and better as the years go on.
La Vuelta has in the meantime found some real killer climbs and totally reinvented itself (even though they are sometimes overdoing it). Still every year the parcours provides a lot of action and at least one completely new climb somewhere a long the way
The ASO doesn't think they have the tour because they think the Tour is bigger than the sport. It shouldn't be. The Giro has (or had?) plans to share a part of the TV revenues with participating teams, which I really hope they do, because that might turn the Tour into the B-race it deserves to be if they continue to develop like this
- Feb 20, 2010
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OlavEH said:
They've never been east of the Col de Jau though. And barely west of Larrau.
You could do a proper Pyrenean stage in the very East, maybe with an Andorra finish, since there's Coll de Creu, Col de Jau, Coll de la Llosa, Puymorens/Port d'Envalira, Dent, Port de Pailhères, Pradel, Chioula and Bonascre there. Then with the second Pyrenean stage you could go westwards using things like Lers, Peguères, Crouzette, Portech, Col de la Core and then have Portet d'Aspet (probably harder to avoid this one!) and finish at Ski Station Mourtis, or do Menté + then go to somewhere like Superbagnères. Then from Pau, Lourdes, Tarbes or somewhere like that you could skip horse**** like the Tourmalet and lead-in with something easy like Porteigt, then go Bouesou/Labays, Issarbe, Larrau. That's as long as we're believing the lie that the French-Basque roads can't take the Tour. Bagargui has handled it before.
EnacheV said:
Seems like there's going to be just one 45-50km ITT on the penultimate stage. I think that's the best case scenario for the race judging by this year's edition. If Quintana is stronger than Froome at that stage of the race, like he was this year, then the gap will be much less than if it was held half-way through the Tour. A 50km flat TT on stage 10 for instance would pretty much kill the race in terms of the GC contest.
Bagargui is probably one of the widest "Basque monsters" with Larrau. Otherwise, most of the steep climbs around here are narrower than the Angliru and as narrow as the Zoncolan (which needs to replace team cars with motorbikes). It wouldn't be a problem if it was a summit finish, but these are passes and riders need to descend them. Just imagine descending at 50 mph a road as narrow as the Zoncolan, which is even narrower than Sarenne this year. Considering also that the Tour has some bigger logistics than the Giro or the Vuelta... They just can't go there until the roads get wider.Libertine Seguros said:
I feel sorry to say that, but that's a truth: the Tour is too big for these monsters... Just look at this picture, you'll know why. Pictures took from Google Street View.
Even though the scenery on Errozate is spectacular, I highly doubt a full-sized race with hundreds of cars would agree to go downhill here.
(Sorry about the size of the pic, thanks Netserk for shrinking it)
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