• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Tour de France 2018 Rumours

Page 3 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Re:

Netserk said:
Ugh, I had completely forgotten that. https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/905869529959542788

I hope that isn't true.

Then I fear it'll be this (or worse, with CdF) with the 20km of valley before Sarenne:

0haKp03.png
I'm not sure about the finish at all. It wasn't great at the Dauphine (imo) and it is sort of a mix between Peyragudes and Foza. With a MTT the next day, I can already picture the train until the last km.
 
Re: Re:

Brullnux said:
Netserk said:
Ugh, I had completely forgotten that. https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/905869529959542788

I hope that isn't true.

Then I fear it'll be this (or worse, with CdF) with the 20km of valley before Sarenne:

0haKp03.png
I'm not sure about the finish at all. It wasn't great at the Dauphine (imo) and it is sort of a mix between Peyragudes and Foza. With a MTT the next day, I can already picture the train until the last km.
We'll see. I'm getting the pitchforks, torches and clubs ready.
 
Gigs_98 said:
1 Flat Noirmoutier-en-l'Île > Fontenay-le-Comte
2 Flat Mouilleron-Saint-Germain > La Roche-sur-Yon
3 Team Time Trial Cholet > Cholet
4 Flat La Baule > Sarzeau
5 Hilly Lorient > Pointe-du-Raz
6 Flat Pontivy > Rennes(?)
7 Flat Rennes(?) > Chartres(?)
8 Flat Dreux > Amiens(?)
9 Cobbles Saint-Quentin/Compiegne(?) > ???

10 High Mountain Annecy > ??? (Ain)
11 High Mountain Bourgoin-Jailleu > Alpe d'Huez (via Sarenne)
12 Climb Time Trial Le Bourg d'Oisans > Alpe d'Huez
13 Flat ??? > Valence
14 Medium Mountain Valence > Mende
15 Flat Millau > Toulouse(?)
16 Flat Auch > Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle

17 High Mountain Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle > Arette Pierre Saint-Martin
18 High Mountain ??? > Bagneres-de-Bigorre (?)
19 High Mountain ??? > Superbagneres
20 Individual Time Trial ??? > ???
21 Flat ??? > Paris - Champs-Elysees

According to velowire, stage 5 is rumoured to have some dirt tracks (and to be flat), stage 6 would be (slightly) hilly (finish on the Mur de Bretagne or in Saint-Brieuc). Stage 7 would finish in Alençon, after a rolling-hilly final.
 
Regarding early stages - stage 2 is kind of uphill finish? If the route comes from the south via Rue de Marechal Juin.

Of course not much to have huge effects on GC, but with that we may well see three different riders in yellow on first three stages.
 
Re:

dacooley said:
the tour must remain the tour, so no games in zomegnan and just a few gc-eventful stages in week one. i would be quite content with this supposed parcours providing penultimate stage is a long time trial.
The Tour has changed over the years over the decade. So not sure what this means.

Certainly whatever attracts more attention and more action.
 
Re: Re:

Escarabajo said:
dacooley said:
the tour must remain the tour, so no games in zomegnan and just a few gc-eventful stages in week one. i would be quite content with this supposed parcours providing penultimate stage is a long time trial.
The Tour has changed over the years over the decade. So not sure what this means.

Certainly whatever attracts more attention and more action.
And I'm pretty afraid of the Tour's importance being a self fulfilling and self-sustaining prophecy. The TOur seems to think they're above competing with the Giro and Vuelta. That needs to change.

That said, the Giro and Vuelta have become a lot bigger in terms of international attention I think.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
Escarabajo said:
dacooley said:
the tour must remain the tour, so no games in zomegnan and just a few gc-eventful stages in week one. i would be quite content with this supposed parcours providing penultimate stage is a long time trial.
The Tour has changed over the years over the decade. So not sure what this means.

Certainly whatever attracts more attention and more action.
And I'm pretty afraid of the Tour's importance being a self fulfilling and self-sustaining prophecy. The TOur seems to think they're above competing with the Giro and Vuelta. That needs to change.

That said, the Giro and Vuelta have become a lot bigger in terms of international attention I think.
You spend too much time reading cycling related web sites and forums. Outside the cycling bubble only the Tour happens at a time when there are no other major sport competitions grabbing the attention of millions of coach and armchair athletes.
 
I agree that the Tour must remain the Tour - the biggest race in the world, the hardest race in the world and the most rouleur friendly one such as it has been historically. The Tour is the Tour, the pinnacle of our sport weather we like it our not...
But that doesn't exclude you from making proper parcours and it doesn't explain why the time trial mileage has shrunk significantly. It also doesn't explain 10 sprinter stages and no really high, LONG mountains stages as we have seen in the past.

But lets wait for the route.
 
The problem with the prestige of the tour is that if the tour gets less important, that doesn't make the Giro and the Vuelta bigger races. The Julyers won't start watching another gt instead of the tour, they will simply stop watching altogether.

And about this whole "the tour has to stay the tour" argument: Over the past decades cycling has changed and together with the sport, the route of the tour has changed as well. Yeah, it used to be normal to have a lot of flat stages, but you simply can't compare a flat stage from today with one from 30 years ago. Tbh, I'm not old enough to have watched cycling back then but I remember a post from after this tour where it was shown that even though the number of flat stages used to be similar to this years tour, the number of bunch sprints was way lower in the past.
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
I agree that the Tour must remain the Tour - the biggest race in the world, the hardest race in the world and the most rouleur friendly one such as it has been historically. The Tour is the Tour, the pinnacle of our sport whether we like it our not...
But that doesn't exclude you from making proper parcours and it doesn't explain why the time trial mileage has shrunk significantly. It also doesn't explain 10 sprinter stages and no really high, LONG mountains stages as we have seen in the past.

But lets wait for the route.

Agree with this. Of all the 3 GTs, the Tour route should be the most inclusive; meaning there is something for all types of riders. So enough sprint stages to interest the sprinters, a few 'Classics' type stages for the hardmen of spring. Then you want the GC challengers to prove their 'all round' skills; climbing, TT-ing, etc with some Mountain summit finishes, as well as finishes after a descent.
There should be no thought about favouring, or trying to hinder certain teams or riders; to me, that is unacceptable - and they should be called out for it.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
sir fly said:
StephenC2020 said:
sir fly said:
I don't get this Giro vs Tour discussion.
It's like UEFA Europa League vs Champions League.

No, it's not.
Want to elaborate or should I post the winners' list?

One was won by Team Sky 5 times this century
One was won by Sevilla 5 times this century
A nice stat.
21. century is an adequate frame.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
sir fly said:
StephenC2020 said:
sir fly said:
I don't get this Giro vs Tour discussion.
It's like UEFA Europa League vs Champions League.

No, it's not.
Want to elaborate or should I post the winners' list?

One was won by Team Sky 5 times this century
One was won by Sevilla 5 times this century

For a moment I thought you were talking about the Vuelta a Colombia, or something :eek:
Edit: Oscar has won that 3 times.
Nice stat.
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
I agree that the Tour must remain the Tour - the biggest race in the world, the hardest race in the world and the most rouleur friendly one such as it has been historically. The Tour is the Tour, the pinnacle of our sport weather we like it our not...
But that doesn't exclude you from making proper parcours and it doesn't explain why the time trial mileage has shrunk significantly. It also doesn't explain 10 sprinter stages and no really high, LONG mountains stages as we have seen in the past.

But lets wait for the route.

Sprint stages have always been quite common in the Tour, and the points jersey competition as a whole is a bigger deal in the Tour than it is in the other grand tours (compared to the importance of the leaders jersey).

But I'm with you; there should be a lot of ITT kms in most Tours, and a couple of long high mountain stages. So maybe this rumoured route will be okay if:

A) The final ITT is at least 50 kms.
B) At least one of these high mountain stages is 220 kms or more long

It's nice if we have a MTT too, though placing it AFTER mountain road stages is not such a good idea.
 
Re: Re:

Sestriere said:
Red Rick said:
Next year will have 8 man teams, so I guess we'll see if that changes anything.

Sky lost their best domestique early this year, so we already saw what happens in that case. Except that AG2R and the others will be one down as well.
True. But Sky lost Nieve and Landa this year, thats not insignificant. Nieve has been the most consistent climbing domestique of Sky, Froome is in love with Mikel Snow. Fortunately for most of us he leaves, I'd say he has been the best mountain domestique over the past few years.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
dacooley said:
the tour must remain the tour, so no games in zomegnan and just a few gc-eventful stages in week one. i would be quite content with this supposed parcours providing penultimate stage is a long time trial.
The Tour should be the best it can be. It's quite the opposite
true, but no parcours will please any cycling fan. the thing i was mostly implying is the tour shouldn't be murito fest like vuelta or climbing overkill like giro at the beginning of 2010's. strictly speaking we do not have to look far to see the tour routes close to perfection as 2007 and 2014 really match these criteria.

as far as the giro and the tour comparison is concerned, I recall one of the forum members drawing a fabulous analogy between FA Cup and English Premier League. Do you like romantics? Enchanting little stadiums (lots of epic steep climbs), amateurs going all out against superstars of world football (generally weaker field), the atmosphere of good old Britain (wide open battles and real bike racing)? welcome to the giro. all these things make the giro more likeable race, but the tour as before stays the hardest and most prestigious race to win.