Tour de France 2019

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

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?

It's a long false flat to the finish.

 

[fauniera]

Re:

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!!

All true. And the worst part: They are wasting a weekend with this crap.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Man, even if they're doing the road stage this way around, they could have made a tricky finale, but it looks like the final 40km will just have a few false flat drags and finish a little bit uphill. It's difficult to judge just from the map, but it looks like they will finish a little bit uphill as well. I mean, it's a decent enough sprint stage with rolling terrain and a little ~5% bump before the finish, but really disappointing given the possible terrain and a waste of the Muur.

I mean, wtf ASO, a sprint stage a Liège, hyping with the Muur and then only this. If they just done a decent sprint stage in Brussels with some rolling terrain, I wouldn't have complained, but it's like they are purposefully disappointing cycling fans.....

 

[Red Rick]

I wish TTTs in GTs would've died out in the same time period as the dinosaurs.

If everybody could blow as much at their job as the Tour route designers, the world would be going to crap in no time

 

[Der Effe]

Even a 2-year old can design better stages than this. ASO are an utter joke, time to make cycling the sport of the people again.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/953255783290101761

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Yeah remember the "forgotten cobbled roads in Belgium" or something thread? The area which IIRC proved most conducive to finding cobbled roads is the area of Walloon Brabant which stage 1 is going through........

I mean, making the Muur a focal point for a stage finishing in Brussels was always going to be difficult (at least for the ASO), but making a proper classics stage finishing in Brussels isn't difficult at all. South and Southeast of Brussels is full of punchy little climbs and cobbled roads.

 

[Vesica]

Last year's stage to Liege was ridiculous, but this is even stranger. Why on earth do you only want to go to the Muur and back without having other (cobbled) climbs in the parcours??

How long is that TTT? couldn't find any profiles yet.

 

[Netserk]

Lasterketa Burua
‏ @LasterketaBurua

Our profiles of first two stages of @LeTour 2019, presented today.
Bruxelles - Bruxelles with the pair Muur-Bosberg and another cobble sector
Bruxelles TTT from Palais Royal to Atomium
#TDF2019

 

[Alexandre B.]

Last year's stage to Liege was ridiculous, but this is even stranger. Why on earth do you only want to go to the Muur and back without having other (cobbled) climbs in the parcours??

How long is that TTT? couldn't find any profiles yet.

28km.

 

[Vesica]

Thanks!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Personally I think last year in Liege was worse considering just how many flat stages that Tour consisted of and just how many hills they avoided, but this is super lame as well. Its the first stage so that also makes it a bit more understandable.

I don't have any problem with the TTT. TTT > sprint stage any day of the week.And its a nice length as well, although I must admit it would have been interesting had it been longer.

 

[yaco]

First two or three stages of the Giro/TDFare nearly always for sprinters or include a TT - Nothing to read here.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

 

[BigMac]

Heard the 2021 Tour de France will start with a parade up Beverly Hills. Riders then tackle the sterrato leading to the Hollywood sign where they'll be met by Elon Musk in a fully electric apache helicopter for a group photo, before boarding the space x rocket to Mars for the second stage.

It's still not known if the route goes through France.

 

[repre]

Re:

Heard the 2021 Tour de France will start with a parade up Beverly Hills. Riders then tackle the sterrato leading to the Hollywood sign where they'll be met by Elon Musk in a fully electric apache helicopter for a group photo, before boarding the space x rocket to Mars for the second stage.

It's still not known if the route goes through France.

Why Mars? Do they have the flattiest roads there?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Heard the 2021 Tour de France will start with a parade up Beverly Hills. Riders then tackle the sterrato leading to the Hollywood sign where they'll be met by Elon Musk in a fully electric apache helicopter for a group photo, before boarding the space x rocket to Mars for the second stage.

It's still not known if the route goes through France.

Why Mars? Do they have the flattiest roads there?

Lmao.

 

[Breh]

Even I despise this. I'm ok'ish with the TTT but that 1st stage is absolute garbage. It was to be expected with Brussels regional government and ASO in charge and how the latter butchered Luik last year.


I'm somewhat more positive for the 2021 WC if Flanders gets it.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Why Mars? Do they have the flattiest roads there?

Actually the tallest mountain of the solar system is on Mars (Olympus Mons, ranking in at almost 22km high), so the ASO won't be going there any time soon, I don't think.

If we ever do get to colonize and terraform Mars and start cycling there, no doubt a 150 year old cyborg Oscar Soliz will be dominating the high altitude TTs on the plateau on top of Olympus Mons though

 

[railxmig]

https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/953255783290101761

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

It seems LFR updated their Belgium. There's way more sectors, than i thought and most of them is 100% obscure.

Yeah remember the "forgotten cobbled roads in Belgium" or something thread? The area which IIRC proved most conducive to finding cobbled roads is the area of Walloon Brabant which stage 1 is going through........

I mean, making the Muur a focal point for a stage finishing in Brussels was always going to be difficult (at least for the ASO), but making a proper classics stage finishing in Brussels isn't difficult at all. South and Southeast of Brussels is full of punchy little climbs and cobbled roads.

It's this thread: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=33705. The Lasne/Ohain/Waterloo region is particulary rich in those.

BTW, brilliant 1st stage... just... brilliant...

 

[Netserk]

Re:

Why Mars? Do they have the flattiest roads there?

Actually the tallest mountain of the solar system is on Mars (Olympus Mons, ranking in at almost 22km high), so the ASO won't be going there any time soon, I don't think.

If we ever do get to colonize and terraform Mars and start cycling there, no doubt a 150 year old cyborg Oscar Soliz will be dominating the high altitude TTs on the plateau on top of Olympus Mons though

Well, when you factor in the lesser gravity, it takes less energy to climb Olympus Mons than Everest

 

[BigMac]

My joke got ruined by facts.

Vintage CN, hasn't changed a bit.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Why Mars? Do they have the flattiest roads there?

Actually the tallest mountain of the solar system is on Mars (Olympus Mons, ranking in at almost 22km high), so the ASO won't be going there any time soon, I don't think.

If we ever do get to colonize and terraform Mars and start cycling there, no doubt a 150 year old cyborg Oscar Soliz will be dominating the high altitude TTs on the plateau on top of Olympus Mons though

Well, when you factor in the lesser gravity, it takes less energy to climb Olympus Mons than Everest

Everest is only about 5km above the surroundings, Olympus Mons is high enough to offset the differences in gravity.

 

[Netserk]

Got any profiles to compare?

 

[Gigs_98]

Well, Mars doesn't have an ocean, so I guess the hight of a mountain is measured from the lowest point of the planet to the highest, right? In that case Mount Everest is actually 19 000 meters high if you use the infamous Mariana Trench-Everest ascent. However at that point I'm not quite sure whether it's more realistic that a tour de france climb will start in the Mariana Trench or that they will climb Olympus Mons.
Anyway, it seems like both scenarios are more likely than an entertaining stage on the first weekend of the tour.