Tour 2014 Route Rumours

[Libertine Seguros]

A classic borefest and getting 70-80% of all year cycling audiences. Some people don't want to watch MTF's all month long.

And there should be a GT when the best allrounder wins, there are enough GT's for climbers.

You can have a well-rounded, balanced route where the best all-rounder wins, without having to use the same climbs they use nearly every year. France is a big country. And most of us who complain about the predictability of Tour routes, if you look at it, have been scathing of Unipublic's all-MTFs all-the-time policy.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

A classic borefest and getting 70-80% of all year cycling audiences. Some people don't want to watch MTF's all month long.

And there should be a GT when the best allrounder wins, there are enough GT's for climbers.

They could at least add some exciting medium mountain/hilly stages or they could add some descent finishes. That's actually two things the people on this forrum are always crying for, that would make a GT less of a climbfest and more for alrounders, but which nevers happens in the TDF.

For me, I don't have to have a Zomegnanesque TDF, although a couple of Zomegnanish stages would be nice. Just a few good mountain stages, preferably with a few unknown climbs would suffice. If they replaced one MTF and one mountain stage with 30km of flat after the last climb by two good mountain stages with descend finishes, keep the other mountain stages, and get a bunch of good hilly stages, the TDF would al ready be much less of a borefest.

 

[McLovin]

Paddy says on his velopeloton.com that Hautacam stage will feature Tourmalet, Borderes, Soulor and Spandelles before final climb. He lives at foot of three of this climbs so he must be a good source.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3477839

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Paddy says on his velopeloton.com that Hautacam stage will feature Tourmalet, Borderes, Soulor and Spandelles before final climb. He lives at foot of three of this climbs so he must be a good source.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3477839

Best designed TDF mountain stage in ages, if true. Also miles better than any of the rumored 2014 Giro mountain stages. Still, the whiners will continue to whine about Tourmalet being included. Let them... this will be great.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Paddy says on his velopeloton.com that Hautacam stage will feature Tourmalet, Borderes, Soulor and Spandelles before final climb. He lives at foot of three of this climbs so he must be a good source.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3477839

Fingers crossed. Tourmalet's inclusion there is as a leg-burning warm-up climb, so it's not there as a focal point. That would also make double Tourmalet unlikely if the other stages are to Luchon and Pla d'Adet as previously rumoured, no? The route going east from Pau to do Tourmalet-Est would mean no climbs west of Aubisque, and very few east of Portet d'Aspet, though, which would make this 3 stages in possibly the most heavily concentrated area in the history of Pyrenean stages at the Tour.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Fingers crossed. Tourmalet's inclusion there is as a leg-burning warm-up climb, so it's not there as a focal point.

As per usual. Though, admittedly, even less so. It's almost never used as an MTF (the focal point), though, let alone as a descent finish. Tourmalet is almost never the focal point of a stage.

That would also make double Tourmalet unlikely if the other stages are to Luchon and Pla d'Adet as previously rumoured, no?

I don't see how this would change anything. The other rumored "Tourmalet" stage (Pla d'Adet) was going to be climbed from the west, while the previous stage (Luchon) was, and most likely still is, entirely to the east of that one. It's perfectly doable.

 

[Peccio89]

Best designed TDF mountain stage in ages, if true. Also miles better than any of the rumored 2014 Giro mountain stages. Still, the whiners will continue to whine about Tourmalet being included. Let them... this will be great.

great stage that's true. But i'd rather have Gavia+Stelvio

 

[McLovin]

great stage that's true. But i'd rather have Gavia+Stelvio

Yes, and then we will have a Giro with 4 rest days.

 

[OlavEH]

Paddy says on his velopeloton.com that Hautacam stage will feature Tourmalet, Borderes, Soulor and Spandelles before final climb. He lives at foot of three of this climbs so he must be a good source.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3477839

That would have been, at least on paper, a fantastic stage. Let's just pray they use this version instead of the standard Tourmalet-Hautacam version.

 

[Netserk]

Paddy says on his velopeloton.com that Hautacam stage will feature Tourmalet, Borderes, Soulor and Spandelles before final climb. He lives at foot of three of this climbs so he must be a good source.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3477839

Replace Tourmalet with Aubisque and it would be awesome.

 

[Poursuivant]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/report-2014-tour-de-france-to-include-cobbles

 

[Arredondo]

If the scenario of 2010 will repeat, i'm happy with that. Hope Hesjedal is super strong again on the cobbles.

 

[the sceptic]

That would be great, the tour needs this to make Dawgs win less automatic

 

[EnacheV]

That would be great, the tour needs this to make Dawgs win less automatic

As i posted in the comment section, there needs to be a mountain bike stage and a stadium stage were a council of judges will give ratings to riders bike handling skills in a free style program.

putting TdF peleton on a 3m wide cobble section is a stupid idea which is only a high chance crash lottery.

 

[thehog]

That would be great, the tour needs this to make Dawgs win less automatic

Team Skeletal might break on cobbles.

 

[rghysens]

As i posted in the comment section, there needs to be a mountain bike stage and a stadium stage were a council of judges will give ratings to riders bike handling skills in a free style program.

putting TdF peleton on a 3m wide cobble section is a stupid idea which is only a high chance crash lottery.

Putting a tdf peloton on a 12m wide road in the final of a stage is also a stupid idea. There have been major crashes on that kind of roads the last couple of years.

 

[LaFlorecita]

That would be great, the tour needs this to make Dawgs win less automatic

Agreed, very cool

 

[Arredondo]

Agreed, very cool

Poor Froome

 

[trevim]

If the scenario of 2010 will repeat, i'm happy with that. Hope Hesjedal is super strong again on the cobbles.

I doubt he will be allowed in a break this time.

 

[Arredondo]

I doubt he will be allowed in a break this time.

He was really strong anyway, with or without break. He almost finished off a tremendous solo.

 

[jens_attacks]

Poor Froome

with his speed, froome will split the cobbles like moses. this is definitely not good news for the others

 

[Pentacycle]

with his speed, froome will split the cobbles like moses. this is definitely not good news for the others

True. He won't have time to check his power meter due to all the shaking, so he'd better not take any risks and go all out.

 

[jens_attacks]

yeah froomey starring at his stem while flying at 60 kmph on the freakin north cobbles should be a must-watch

 

[the sceptic]

with his speed, froome will split the cobbles like moses. this is definitely not good news for the others

Froome is so lightweight that he will float on top of the cobbles. Like those insects that can run on water.

Agreed, very cool

Dawg losing 5 minutes in the first week would be the ideal scenario to make the tour highly entertaining.

 

[EnacheV]

Dawg losing 5 minutes in the first week would be the ideal scenario to make the tour highly entertaining.

Froome will win by 5 mins regardless, WonderLance said so.