Tour de France 2019

[dacooley]

as far as I can get, it's more down to sky bringing their AA-team to the tour, not tour itself always being a complete borefest

 

[Nobody73]

I can't get the Giro on TV. I do get the Tour and the Vuelta. I can't speak for the Giro but day to day, the Vuelta is more exciting and isn't afraid to build situations where the GC can be disrupted more than one cataclysmic stage at the end of the second week like the Tour has been. Been watching since 99.

 

[Robert5091]

So October 25th is the day. Calm down there at the back!
https://twitter.com/LeTour/status/1044514341834379264

Facebook live too. https://www.facebook.com/letour

 

[sir fly]

Went through the rumoured route on the fly, and what caught my attention are the high mountains. Wonder if the ASO's intention is to give a contribution to the global warming awareness. Some anniversaries on the topic next year, besides the latest disagreements, and the glaciers are good indicators of the process. No lying with areal shots from several decades ago and next year.

Cycling-wise, the route looks promising to me. The GC relevant stages spread through all three weeks (not taking into account GC relevant mishaps), visits to all mountain ranges, Rhône valley, Aude, Hérault, Gard, in search for the winds.
After all, the riders will make the race not the route.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Went through the rumoured route on the fly, and what caught my attention are the high mountains. Wonder if the ASO's intention is to give a contribution to the global warming awareness. Some anniversaries on the topic next year, besides the latest disagreements, and the glaciers are good indicators of the process. No lying with areal shots from several decades ago and next year.

Cycling-wise, the route looks promising to me. The GC relevant stages spread through all three weeks (not taking into account GC relevant mishaps), visits to all mountain ranges, Rhône valley, Aude, Hérault, Gard, in search for the winds.
After all, the riders will make the race not the route.

I agree with that last sentence, and pretty much with the rest of your post. Now the global warming and glacier mention make me drool as a Jandri advocate (from Les Clapiers ). Zonc on steroids.

We're almost there, the Tour bashers will bash no matter what, I'll give the route a 8, the usual .

 

[Nirvana]

I hope for unexpected surprises in the first week, they start in Belgium and probably we'll get only Muur/Bosberg combo with circa 150kms to go, no real Flanders, no Ardennes, no cobbles when they cross the border.

Anyway the Tour is the Tour, could be boring how much you want, could have farcical moments, could be affected heavily by French fans hate but has something special, since '99 I haven't missed a km of what has been broadcasted and I always try to do everything possible to watch live, the Giro and Vuelta are way better but I usually miss some stages even important ones because I have something else to do, when is the Tour I really can't miss anything. It has something special, it's THE race.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

Went through the rumoured route on the fly, and what caught my attention are the high mountains. Wonder if the ASO's intention is to give a contribution to the global warming awareness. Some anniversaries on the topic next year, besides the latest disagreements, and the glaciers are good indicators of the process. No lying with areal shots from several decades ago and next year.

Cycling-wise, the route looks promising to me. The GC relevant stages spread through all three weeks (not taking into account GC relevant mishaps), visits to all mountain ranges, Rhône valley, Aude, Hérault, Gard, in search for the winds.
After all, the riders will make the race not the route.

I agree with that last sentence, and pretty much with the rest of your post. Now the global warming and glacier mention make me drool as a Jandri advocate (from Les Clapiers ). Zonc on steroids.

We're almost there, the Tour bashers will bash no matter what, I'll give the route a 8, the usual .

The global warming and glacier reference came as an association to the lakes, which should be a prominent feature of the high mountain stages (some jersey comes to mind...), and the altitudes they'll be tackling (by bikes!) if the rumours prove to be true.
Jandri would be perfect for the cause, but looks like too much even for the Zomegnan. Dragging the logistics there would be a nightmare.

 

[Red Rick]

Think it's more likely that Vegni will design a Crostis descent TTT than the Tour visiting Jandri.

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features...oute-all-the-rumours-ahead-of-the-big-reveal/

The Dauphiné then reports a summit finish at Val Thorens to act as the climax in the fight for the yellow jersey. At 2,300 metres, Val Thorens is Europe's highest ski resort, but has only ever hosted one Tour finish – back in 1994 when Colombian Nelson Rodriguez won. The Dauphiné says the stage will start in Albertville, just under 65km away, ...

No ... can't be ....not again ... 65 km long stage? ... noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

 

[OlavEH]

Re:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features...oute-all-the-rumours-ahead-of-the-big-reveal/

The Dauphiné then reports a summit finish at Val Thorens to act as the climax in the fight for the yellow jersey. At 2,300 metres, Val Thorens is Europe's highest ski resort, but has only ever hosted one Tour finish – back in 1994 when Colombian Nelson Rodriguez won. The Dauphiné says the stage will start in Albertville, just under 65km away, ...

No ... can't be ....not again ... 65 km long stage? ... noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Not unexepected this after this year's stage and the rumour about a Albertville - Val Thorens stage......

Edit: 65 km would mean only Val Thorens, no other climbs.

 

[Red Rick]

There are about 182 reasons this shouldn't happen, but I won't ask LS to list them (please don't, save yourself the time)

And the only reason it would happen is ASO gonna ASO.

 

[OlavEH]

I won't be suprised if we see something similar to this on the mountain stages:

Tourmalet stage: Only Aspin before Tourmalet (rumoured start in Toulouse would indicate this)
Valloire stage: Izoard and Galibier (rumoured start in Embrun)
Tignes stage: Iseran and Tignes via Montvalezan
Val Thorens stage: Val Thorens alone or first part of Valmorel climb, then Val Thorens

 

[del1962]

65K stages are good for pure climbers like Quinatana, not a big problem if you have descent flattish ITTs.

Anyway not impressed with changes being made to Planche des Belles Filles stage, do we really need 25% slopes?

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

65K stages are good for pure climbers like Quinatana, not a big problem if you have descent flattish ITTs.

65k with one climb at 4-5% is only good for the train.

And when you look at the stage from 94, you will realize, that there won't be much happening. It doesn't matter what you put before that climb.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

Guys, it *doesn't* say that the stage will be 65 km. It merely says that Val Thorens is only 65 km away (by road)

Needless to say, it won't be that short. Strong rumors point to a route via Pré / Roselend. An older rumored route went via Madeleine instead. A very short stage is not in the cards.


The Tignes stage may or may not be sub-100 km in length, though. Modane - Iseran - direct ascent of Tignes is about the shortest they can go.

I won't be suprised if we see something similar to this on the mountain stages:

Tourmalet stage: Only Aspin before Tourmalet (rumoured start in Toulouse would indicate this)
Valloire stage: Izoard and Galibier (rumoured start in Embrun)
Tignes stage: Iseran and Tignes via Montvalezan
Val Thorens stage: Val Thorens alone or first part of Valmorel climb, then Val Thorens

Tignes via Iseran and Montvalezan is highly unlikely as they'd have to use the same road twice in a relatively short period of time. Not gonna happen.

 

[ice&fire]

The loop to do Tignes via Iseran and Montvalezan before reusing the same road is 22km long. That's similar in length but with more climbing than the loop the Vuelta did in the two stages that finished at Bola del Mundo. It's perfectly feasible, but the longer climb to Tignes from the bottom of the Tarentaise valley will make Iseran irrelevant.

 

[May0maniac]

Yeah, Jandri won't happen, but using it and paving the whole thing would fit ASO, instead of actually using the climbs that they'd "create" a new climb and a new record. I also don't think that the climb would create great racing, yes it is super hard, but with 3km to go you have 2km that have an average gradient of over 15%, the big names wouldn't attack before than.
I'd rather have a Granon MTF after Galibier and a really hard stage.
If it really is Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne - Tignes, something like this would be the best possible stage without using the Galibier or crossing the Italian broder (but it's ASO):

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Yeah, Jandri won't happen, but using it and paving the whole thing would fit ASO, instead of actually using the climbs that they'd "create" a new climb and a new record. I also don't think that the climb would create great racing, yes it is super hard, but with 3km to go you have 2km that have an average gradient of over 15%, the big names wouldn't attack before than.
I'd rather have a Granon MTF after Galibier and a really hard stage.
If it really is Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne - Tignes, something like this would be the best possible stage without using the Galibier or crossing the Italian broder (but it's ASO):

Jandri would honestly piss me off cause Rosael is much more feasable and don't actually have to finish there

 

[Max Rockatansky]

There were two posts from Lasterketa Burua and La Flamme Rouge today on Twitter. Both drawing stages out of media conclusions from today.

https://twitter.com/LasterketaBurua

https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16

 

[May0maniac]

Lol, the first one is pretty much the best possible stages, the 2nd one almost the worst possible (and probably realistic) stages.

 

[sir fly]

Something about next year's mountain stages.
5 weeks old, but probably forgotten by majority, and clarifies the choice of the mountains.
Suppose ASO can try to raise the significance of the classification, since the rest (of classifications) haven't provided wished excitement, and it lost some of its charm and prestige.

 

[Red Rick]

Galibier stage really should have Bonette before it

 

[Red Rick]

Anything about an ITT

 

[pastronef]

Re:

Anything about an ITT

ITT in Nimes

 

[Robert5091]

Re: Re:

Anything about an ITT

ITT in Nimes

Same as Vuelta's 2017 TTT?