Tour de France 2018 Rumours

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

Little difference between Froome and Dumoulin in a flat ITT - Dumoulin will take time out of Froome in a hilly type ITT.

Why do you think Dumoulin is better vs Froome in a rolling ITT and not in a flat ITT? I mean ofc he beat the guy badly in the Worlds hilly ITT but isn't he better in the flat ITT as well?

Given a flat, a rolling and a mountainous ITT (all 30km in length) how much time could Dumoulin gain on Froome in each?

No I'm not convinced he will. Dumoulin is really not that superb in flat ITT's. He likes a hard, especially a rolling, terrain much more.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re: Re:

Little difference between Froome and Dumoulin in a flat ITT - Dumoulin will take time out of Froome in a hilly type ITT.

Why do you think Dumoulin is better vs Froome in a rolling ITT and not in a flat ITT? I mean ofc he beat the guy badly in the Worlds hilly ITT but isn't he better in the flat ITT as well?

Given a flat, a rolling and a mountainous ITT (all 30km in length) how much time could Dumoulin gain on Froome in each?

Domoulin is better is any TT. The differences created will be bigger in hilly TTs though.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Re: Re:

Little difference between Froome and Dumoulin in a flat ITT - Dumoulin will take time out of Froome in a hilly type ITT.

Why do you think Dumoulin is better vs Froome in a rolling ITT and not in a flat ITT? I mean ofc he beat the guy badly in the Worlds hilly ITT but isn't he better in the flat ITT as well?

Given a flat, a rolling and a mountainous ITT (all 30km in length) how much time could Dumoulin gain on Froome in each?

Domoulin is better is any TT. The differences created will be bigger in hilly TTs though.

MTT?

 

[dacooley]

I don't think where the difference being bigger in a hilly tt comes from. I would be very much surprised if dimoulin had taken less than 1 minute on froome in 50 km pancake tt. the question is will he manage to destroy froome in a tt in week three which is obviously the key to the yellow jersey in paris.

 

[rbl85]

Finish at the Col du Portet confirmed

 

[Chrispol]

According to France 3, there will be a finish at the col de Portet. The road will be tar for the evenement.

Actually this is pretty credible since the president of the departement Hautes-Pyrénnées is a big cycling fan. He is the one who talked about the Port de Balès to Prudhomme and try to convince him since a long time to go to the col de Portet, above Plat d'Adet.

Yep that's hard.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

According to France 3, there will be a finish at the col de Portet. The road will be tar for the evenement.

Actually this is pretty credible since the president of the departement Hautes-Pyrénnées is a big cycling fan. He is the one who talked about the Port de Balès to Prudhomme and try to convince him since a long time to go to the col de Portet, above Plat d'Adet.

Yep that's hard.

Hardest climb in the Tour de France since....?

That thing is brutal, not great for Froome, and bad news for Dumoulin specifically.

 

[Chrispol]

Re: Re:

According to France 3, there will be a finish at the col de Portet. The road will be tar for the evenement.

Actually this is pretty credible since the president of the departement Hautes-Pyrénnées is a big cycling fan. He is the one who talked about the Port de Balès to Prudhomme and try to convince him since a long time to go to the col de Portet, above Plat d'Adet.

Yep that's hard.

Hardest climb in the Tour de France since....?

That thing is brutal

I don't know, Grand Colombier with is entire kilometer à 16% and Mont du Chat last year were pretty difficult.

But for a finish summit, I'd say Granon :

 

[telencefalus]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

 

[ice&fire]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

The differences between Portet and Ventoux taken in isolation are marginal. It all comes to whether the differences between Froome 2013 and Froome 2018 are not.

 

[Chrispol]

This is still a rumor, I don't want you to be disappointed.

A few pages earlier I posted a Gouvenou tweet about sterrato in Lozère close to the col de Finiels that could be used during Mende's stage.

But in a french forum a user (actually this is Linkinito who posted the thread 21 HC climbs the Tour should (re)visit ) went to see the road and told that just a portion is in a good condition, the rest is very damaged with a lot of pothole...

So don't take my words as granted.

 

[skippo12]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

The differences between Portet and Ventoux taken in isolation are marginal. It all comes to whether the differences between Froome 2013 and Froome 2018 are not.

Somehow I fear that nobody will try anything on a climb like this. The Sky train will pace Froome and maybe on the last 2 kms there will be some action. This years Vuelta showed that a top form Sky team can stop dominate long climbs just as good as muritos.
That said: Everything will depend on the riders form. A peak Quintana with Nibali and some other great climber could really test Froome. Whoever has a bad day on a climb like this will lose minutes.

 

[Red Rick]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

The differences between Portet and Ventoux taken in isolation are marginal. It all comes to whether the differences between Froome 2013 and Froome 2018 are not.

Somehow I fear that nobody will try anything on a climb like this. The Sky train will pace Froome and maybe on the last 2 kms there will be some action. This years Vuelta showed that a top form Sky team can stop dominate long climbs just as good as muritos.
That said: Everything will depend on the riders form. A peak Quintana with Nibali and some other great climber could really test Froome. Whoever has a bad day on a climb like this will lose minutes.

That really depends on the level of the other climbers though. If they can just ride a faster pace over the whole climb they should do just that, especially if Movistar sets the pace or something you basically get 2 seperate trains, like Lagos de Covadonga 2016. Waiting for Froome to ride sub max the whole climb and then over it the last 2 km is the dumbest thing you can do.

 

[Escarabajo]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

The differences between Portet and Ventoux taken in isolation are marginal. It all comes to whether the differences between Froome 2013 and Froome 2018 are not.

Somehow I fear that nobody will try anything on a climb like this. The Sky train will pace Froome and maybe on the last 2 kms there will be some action. This years Vuelta showed that a top form Sky team can stop dominate long climbs just as good as muritos.
That said: Everything will depend on the riders form. A peak Quintana with Nibali and some other great climber could really test Froome. Whoever has a bad day on a climb like this will lose minutes.

At some point it will create big separation. Just like Ventoux. It is simply too long to maintain tempo.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

According to France 3, there will be a finish at the col de Portet. The road will be tar for the evenement.

Actually this is pretty credible since the president of the departement Hautes-Pyrénnées is a big cycling fan. He is the one who talked about the Port de Balès to Prudhomme and try to convince him since a long time to go to the col de Portet, above Plat d'Adet.

Yep that's hard.

I cut the first kilometer which is mostly flat and I got the following:

16 km @ 8.8%

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re: Re:

Hardest climb in the Tour de France since....?

It's basically like Ventoux or Madeleine. Galibier with Telegraphe should be harder, but was never raced as a mtf.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Hardest climb in the Tour de France since....?

It's basically like Ventoux or Madeleine. Galibier with Telegraphe should be harder, but was never raced as a mtf.

Col de Portet: 16 km @ 8.76%
Ventoux All: 21.6 km @ 7.56%
Ventoux (Cutting the false flat) 15.97 km @ 8.73%
Madeleine: 19.50 km @ 8.00 %
Rettenbachferner: 14.90 km @ 8.87%

I now realize what a beast Madeleine is.

 

[Tonton]

Well, the wait is almost over...

I's like to see the Col de Portet for sure, but that should mean no Cap-de-Long, which easier but a great climb nonetheless.

 

[rghysens]

Re: Re:

Hardest climb in the Tour de France since....?

It's comparable to the south side of the Madeleine or the Mont Ventoux from St Estève.

 

[Tonton]

...the big question mark for me is what the stage before the final ITT will look like. In the Pays Basque. Hopefully Port de Larrau followed by the likes of Bagargui, Arnosteguy, maybe finish in St-Jean-Pied-de-Port. It's too big of an opportunity to pass up. I don't think that it would be raced conservatively if the GC situation is right like at the '17 Giro.

 

[StryderHells]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

To who?

Great looking climb if it makes it in

 

[Tonton]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

To who?

Great looking climb if it makes it in

To a French guy, of course .

 

[rghysens]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

To who?

Great looking climb if it makes it in

To a French guy, of course .

Lappartient? :twisted:

 

[Red Rick]

finally a very hard climb 17 km at 8,3 , adh with more 5 km , I cannot wait to see froome lose tdf

To who?

Great looking climb if it makes it in

To a French guy, of course .

Romain Bardet?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Uhh, that looks like a killer!

But I fear most of us will sit back with THAT feeling tomorrow, but from what we have seen so far, it possibly cannot be worse than the absolute atrocity in 2017. I quite like the rumoured stuff so far.