Tour de France 2018 Rumours

[jsem94]

Paris-Roubaix in the Tour is obviously a joke.
(I tried it in PCM and Kwiatkowski ended up winning the Tour. Sagan got a top ten overall!)
However, I would like to see a tough cobbled stage - something to really test the GC riders.

Maybe it'd actually be a better reflection of who the best all-round rider is than just climber/TT-er. GTs should, IMO, offer a variety of obstacles, not just mountains and TTs.

 

[Escarabajo]

well. Some peeks from CN:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/alpe-dhuez-to-return-as-details-of-2018-tour-de-france-mountains-emerge/

With gravel roads! :surprised:

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

Nord Eclair mentions the cobble stage as starting in Arras, ending in Roubaix after 150 kilometres and featuring the Carrefour de l’Arbre and Gruson to make a grand total of... 3,2 kilometres of cobbles apparently not to intervene with the 2018 FIFA World Cup final held on the same day and aid the logistics of the transfer to Aix-les-Bains that evening. Camphin-en-Pévèle might also be in, but not definitely. They also report on crosswinds, ribin and Mûr-de-Bretagne as being what should be the most tricky aspect of week 1

Don't take this for granted, but anything can be expected from this... 9 days to go.

http://www.nordeclair.fr/98807/article/2017-10-07/une-etape-courte-et-peu-de-paves-entre-arras-et-roubaix

What makes doubt of this report is both the predicted distance of the stage and the unequivalent plan of this stage with the one previously expected wich started in Compiègne.
I do not think we will have only 3 cobblestones sectors.

Last rumours are that the stage to Roubaix will start in Arras, and that Compiègne will be the start of the final (flat parade) stage.
Furthermore, using le Carrefour de l'arbre as first cobbled sector will result in carnage and chaos. I have it difficult to imagine that ASO will do that (but i also have it difficult to imagine that they'll design a proper cobbled stage).

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

well. Some peeks from CN:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/alpe-dhuez-to-return-as-details-of-2018-tour-de-france-mountains-emerge/

With gravel roads! :surprised:

10 Annecy › Le Grand Bornand (via Col des Glières/Col des Fleuries, Côte de Romme, Col de la Colombière)
11 Albertville › La Rosière (via Col du Pré)
12 Bourg-Saint-Maurice › Alpe d’Huez
13 Bourg d’Oisans › Valence

I do not think about possibilities to create the stages (like BSM - Iseran - Galibier - Sarenne - Alpe :lol: ), I only think about what ASO will do to us this time.

What stage 10 will look like...

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

What stage 10 will look like...

If they'd throw in Mont Saxonnex before Romme, we'd have a very good stage.

 

[Netserk]

From Albertville to La Rosière could in part be inspired by the l'avenir stage over Roselend. Bisanne could be an option (but I guess that's me being optimistic).

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Plateau de Glières seems like a pretty good climb! 6km at 11%, I reckon, followed by some false flat gravel?

We can always go to the stage design thread and design crazy stages, but Romme + Colombière and Col du Prè + La Rosière are two solid mountain stages, I can be happy with that. The Alp d'Huez stage, well, everybody (including me) is expecting ASO to ruin it. However, if we look past how much better it all might be, it actually looks like we're going to get some proper Alpes stages. Really can't complain compared to previous years.

You know, maybe I'm just getting my hopes up, but so far we have rumours of gravel roads in Brittany, a cobbled stage and decent stages in the Alpes. I'm actually moderately hopeful for the route. Although I can't trust ASO, before they actually make it official, so I'm hopeful but wary of an anticlimactic route presentation.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Glières in the supposed EdT seems illogical, it would be an awesome climb to see in the Tour but it seems wishful thinking to me.

 

[Netserk]

Bisanne aside, what design do you find more likely, Maaaaaaaarten? Just Pré and Rosière?

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

The Albertville starting location is really weird. If they do just Albertville -> Pré -> Rosiere, it will barely be 80km, so I think we can exclude that. Even if they add Bisanne, which would be nice, but maybe not realistic, it will be barely more than 100km. If they go north and then do Saisies -> Pré -> Rosière, still less than 120km. I'm not sure what to expect, but I can't see any way they are getting away with not putting a big climb before the Pré/Rosière combo, even if they want to have a silly short stage. Either it will be a 120km stage with Saisies -> Pré -> Rosière, or they will have to make a bigger detour to the west/north of Albertville and put even more climbing before those three climbs. I'm fairly hopeful for the stage, unless I'm missing something, if they want to do Pré -> Rosière, they will have to at least put another first category climb before it.

Of course, this hope rests on the premise that they're starting in Albertville and that they're not going to have an 80km stage. Even ASO can't have an 80km stage right?

 

[ice&fire]

I was going to say that ASO might want to outdo their Spanish subsidiary with a ridiculously short mountain stage, but then I recalled Blockhaus 2009 was barely 83km. Who was in charge in that Giro? Was it Angelo?

 

[Netserk]

Tbf, that Giro also had a mountain stage that lasted 7h+ and another that was 262km long.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Yeah, ASO can have its 80km stage, if they do Bourg-Saint-Maurice -> Madeleine -> Croix de Fer -> Galibier -> Sarenne the following day. Should be just under 250km. No problem.

 

[roundabout]

Re:

I was going to say that ASO might want to outdo their Spanish subsidiary with a ridiculously short mountain stage, but then I recalled Blockhaus 2009 was barely 83km. Who was in charge in that Giro? Was it Angelo?

Yes, that was Zomegnan.

But that was a pretty different Giro overall

 

[railxmig]

The Albertville starting location is really weird. If they do just Albertville -> Pré -> Rosiere, it will barely be 80km, so I think we can exclude that. Even if they add Bisanne, which would be nice, but maybe not realistic, it will be barely more than 100km. If they go north and then do Saisies -> Pré -> Rosière, still less than 120km. I'm not sure what to expect, but I can't see any way they are getting away with not putting a big climb before the Pré/Rosière combo, even if they want to have a silly short stage. Either it will be a 120km stage with Saisies -> Pré -> Rosière, or they will have to make a bigger detour to the west/north of Albertville and put even more climbing before those three climbs. I'm fairly hopeful for the stage, unless I'm missing something, if they want to do Pré -> Rosière, they will have to at least put another first category climb before it.

Of course, this hope rests on the premise that they're starting in Albertville and that they're not going to have an 80km stage. Even ASO can't have an 80km stage right?

You can add in Col/Collet de Tamié (cat. 2/1), Côte De l'Héry (cat. 2) and do Saises via Crest-Voland (strong cat. 1). The stage would then be around 145km long, which is still a short one, but with six over cat. 3 climbs and not much flat between them. It seems some folks are talking about a potential Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle ITT just before Paris stage. Also Pyrenees are still largely unknown, but the Tour will probably be more focused on their western side (Tourmalet, Aubisque, PSM etc.).

@Tonton, i would love to see myself a Glières with an Annecy finish, but the dirt section at the top is in very bad shape. Not only the rocks are sizeable, but also there are a lot of potholes. The descent is also something ASO would not like to do. Soon, 16-lane highways will be too narrow for them .

 

[Tonton]

From my TdF design #2. I had the finish at Thorens-Glieres.

I hope that the Col des Glières becomes part of an official TdF design: it is a fantastic climb. It has been used as a MTF in the last stage of the ’13 Tour de l’Avenir and no other than Julian Alaphilippe won the day. It was from the other/easier side. We are climbing from the hard side, and the average gradient would be close to 11% if it wasn’t for the final part, which actually makes it even more interesting.

Indeed, the green zone on the profile is one mile of sterrato. After such a tough climb, it could create chaos, and certainly will give attacking opportunities for the more aggressive riders.

At the summit, the road is paved again, in decent shape, leading to a very steep and tricky descent to the finish.
Many hairpins, twists and turns will make the final breathtaking.

The road gets straighter, less dangerous in the run-in to Thorens-Glières.

Merci ASO for reading the design thread . The offer is still on the table: if you're tired of sucking year in and year out with your crappy designs, we have a few people on CN who can assist. Cheers .

 

[Netserk]

Btw Maaaaaaaarten, when you wrote "design crazy stages", I was a bit puzzled as the suggested stage was a short one, and not something brutal like this

 

[Durden93]

What's the longest mountain stage that Prudhomme has held? I would like to see two long mountain stages followed by a short one.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

What's the longest mountain stage that Prudhomme has held? I would like to see two long mountain stages followed by a short one.

I think it's the infamous 240+ km Unipuerto stage to the Mont Ventoux in 2013

 

[Netserk]

Distance or duration?

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Distance or duration?

Guessing Bagnere de Luchon 2014 took longer?

 

[Netserk]

Aubisque '07 took the longest.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Aubisque '07 took the longest.

Seems like it. 6h23', vs 6h07' for the 2014 stage and 5h48' for the Ventoux stage. Can't imagine anything else

Edit - Arcalis 2009 was 6h11' for 224km

 

[Red Rick]

Lol, Giro has ofcourse done longer in just about every Giro, including consecutive stages in 2008

 

[hazaran]

That "sterrato" does nothing to distance anyone, will just cause someone to puncture and lose a minute since no car or moto around after the selective climb. Porte time loss confirmed?