Tour de France 2019

[Tim Booth]

On Saturday, July 6, 2019, the Tour will start with a road stage through Flanders and Wallonia. The next day there will be a team time trial in Brussels. The plans will be explained in more detail on 16 January. (Het Nieuwsblad)

 

[Red Rick]

On Saturday, July 6, 2019, the Tour will start with a road stage through Flanders and Wallonia. The next day there will be a team time trial in Brussels. The plans will be explained in more detail on 16 January. (Het Nieuwsblad)

What would the odds be of sprint stages in Flanders and Wallonia?

 

[Robert5091]

Is it too early to say I dislike the 2019 route? (Jeez, can we get past the 2018 race first!)

 

[yaco]

Lots of possibilities in that region - Get it right and you immediately put pressure on GC riders - Like the trend of the last two years.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Is it too early to say I dislike the 2019 route? (Jeez, can we get past the 2018 race first!)

It's never too early for that

 

[Valv.Piti]

I cant see anything bad about a cobbled/hilly stage + a TTT, at least something will happen and small gaps will open. Its surely better than sprinter stages, no? I mean, the ASO can't really win... Im on board with everything that isn't just flat, flat and Kittel early on.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

I cant see anything bad about a cobbled/hilly stage + a TTT, at least something will happen and small gaps will open. Its surely better than sprinter stages, no? I mean, the ASO can't really win... Im on board with everything that isn't just flat, flat and Kittel early on.

You're on board with a finish in Liege and Valverde early on

 

[Poursuivant]

Froome's Redemption Tour.

 

[Koronin]

Why can't we have a finish on top of the Mur de Huy? That sounds good to me. Flanders type stage, TTT, then stage 3 on top of the Mur de Huy with a Fleche Wallone type stage?

I'm with Valv.Piti, anything with hills and maybe some cobbles and not a flat sprinters stage.

 

[repre]

I'd like to see anything but a boring flat stage. Some cobbles, TTT and hilly finish in Ardennes would be cool.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Imagine the Tour would start with a real stage. 220 kilometers through Flanders with a finish in Geraardsbergen or Oudenaarde.

Of course it will be a flat stage. It's Le Tour...

 

[Nirvana]

For me the wet dream is prologue in Bruxelles, hilly stage from Liege to Huy or Namur using 7/10 Ardennes hills, Flanders stage to Gerardsbergen or Ninove (i'm not a fan of Oudenaarde finish and Oude Kwaremont/Paterberg combo) with at least five cobbled climbs and a final loop with the Muur and then cobbles stage to Aremberg (with the forest as finale not like 2014) but longer than this year one in the first four days.

The reality will probably be a TTT, two flat stages of 210/220 kms and maybe one stage with some hills or cobbles.

 

[Velolover2]

Anything but the TTT.

I'd like to see some cobbled hills (like Flanders) instead of the flat cobbles or Ardennes-like opening stages.

 

[railxmig]

There are plenty of hilly cobbled sectors between Wavre and Waterloo (mainly around Lasne and Ohain). This is however just barely in Wallonne. As for Flanders, if you don't want the region of Oudenaarde, then i think there are at least two north of Leuven and 1 near Genk. There are also like 3-4 east of Brugge (i think at least once used by loca Tour of Belgium, or maybe it was another local race). There is a thread with some of the more forgotten Belgian cobbles.

 

[Alexandre B.]

The Grand Depart will be presented tomorrow. It will likely feature :

Bruxelles - Bruxelles, 192km with Muur van Geraardsbergen on the road (I do hope there's more on the menu)
Bruxelles - Bruxelles TTT, 50km

Source (nl) : https://sportnieuws.nl/wielrennen/etappe-1-tour-2019-gaat-muur-geraardsbergen/

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

The Grand Depart will be presented tomorrow. It will likely feature :

Bruxelles - Bruxelles, 192km with Muur van Geraardsbergen on the road (I do hope there's more on the menu)
Bruxelles - Bruxelles TTT, 50km

Source (nl) : https://sportnieuws.nl/wielrennen/etappe-1-tour-2019-gaat-muur-geraardsbergen/

That looks tastyyyyyyyy

 

[Netserk]

jens_attacks will be happy with the length of that TTT.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

The Grand Depart will be presented tomorrow. It will likely feature :

Bruxelles - Bruxelles, 192km with Muur van Geraardsbergen on the road (I do hope there's more on the menu)
Bruxelles - Bruxelles TTT, 50km

Source (nl) : https://sportnieuws.nl/wielrennen/etappe-1-tour-2019-gaat-muur-geraardsbergen/

That looks tastyyyyyyyy

Stage 1 will likely be a joke, though (Muur van Geraardsbergen reduced to a mere early KOM).

 

[Alexandre B.]

Also the TTT could be only 28km according to this article (fr): http://www.lesoir.be/134154/article/2018-01-15/tour-de-france-2019-un-contre-la-montre-et-une-arrivee-bruxelles

Sorry for involuntarily hyping some of you

 

[jens_attacks]

Until then, the ttt will probably 12 km max...

 

[bassano]

Valverde will be 39 in that Tour, you can not stop age, there will be others and better to win Huy or Liege or other Vallone finishes

 

[Alexandre B.]

Garbage route, sadly.

 

[Gigs_98]

Why the f*ck is the aso deliberately making garbage routes every single year. Just ride that road stage in the other direction ffs

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Of all possible things, they never fail to do the worst possible stages.

These are two stages that could take place everywhere in France too. Merckx is the greatest classics rider of all time, Flanders is known for its classics...we want to honor them...what could we possibly do? A parade stage for Marcel Kittel!!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Does that switchback by the corner of the park on the larger scale TTT map indicate a steep rise away from the river? Is the end of stage 1 the same, such that it is for puncheurs rather than boulevard sprinters?