Tour de France Tour de France 2020

[Valv.Piti]

Did something change?

Did they publish stages or change anything?

I just looked at LaFlammeRouge.
Mayo, yes, the Loze climb seems nuts.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Trek 9 man longlist, pretty good team. Probably Kirsch will miss out, but I would consider leaving out Theuns, have Stuyven for sprints and Kirsch can do the rolleur domestique work

Stuyven can't win sprints unless it's from a small bunch without real sprinters. He should go in breakaways imho, he started climbing rather well a few years ago too.

 

[Koronin]

What do you guys reckon will be the Movi lineup?

Good question.
We know Mas and Valverde are going and we can put Erviti in the line up. After that have fun making up the list.

My guess:
Mas
Valverde
Erviti
Verona
Pedrero
Oliveira
Sepulveda
Prades

Cataldo is Italian and Movistar tries to send their Italian riders to the Giro so they can race at home. For this reason I'd pencil in Cataldo and Villella into the Giro lineup.

 

[Red Rick]

I just looked at LaFlammeRouge.
Mayo, yes, the Loze climb seems nuts.

Ah, good.

Thats... Even more puncheur finishes than I remember, even if some of them are only faint uphill sprints. Funnily enough the first Nice stage is probably a full on bunch sprint.

Nothing extroardinary we didn't already knew. Somehow I thought the Grand Colombier stage was harder. It just really needs the extra ITT at the end of the first week, now the pacing is all akward. ITT is actually even harder than I thought.

 

[Valv.Piti]

*** Madeleine and Loze, thats some of the toughest Tour de France can offer. One more climb and it would have been nuts..

 

[Red Rick]

*** Madeleine and Loze, thats some of the toughest Tour de France can offer. One more climb and it would have been nuts..

Bit afraid that stage nerfs a lot of other action and that it will largely determine the final GC on its own.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Well fortunately the pacing of the Alps are really, really good IMO, so from that point of view I dont think it will be a big problem

 

[Mayomaniac]

*** Madeleine and Loze, thats some of the toughest Tour de France can offer. One more climb and it would have been nuts..

And just look at the stage that comes right after it, the hardest climb that is the right point to attack comes after 3 cols and with 30km to go, looking at the potential action it looks more like a Giro stage than a Tour stage.
@Red Rick, yeah the 2nd ITT early in the 2nd week/late in the first one is the one thing that misses, with one in place it would be a really good Tour route.

 

[Red Rick]

Well fortunately the pacing of the Alps are really, really good IMO, so from that point of view I dont think it will be a big problem

That's true. The big pacing problem I think is that it's gonna be just about peaking for the final week.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yeah, i mean there are a lot of hard stages, but not many of them will do a difference. Stage 2 wont, stage 4 to Merlette a bit, same with Lusette + Aigoual (maybe not), stage 8 over Balés + Peyresourde is quite hard, but maybe not hard enough early on. Stage 9 over Blanque is meh. And then Pas de Peyrol.

These stages will do damage, but it will come down to the last week for sure with the 4 most impactful stages on paper probably.

 

[Valv.Piti]

But still very hyped. I smell a big sensation, maybe the 44 year old Enric Mas will come through.

 

[sir fly]

Considering all circumstances, it would surprise me to see another formulaic edition.
And the route's already designed to break the pattern.
It surely might come down to the last week and the time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles, but after an eventful couple of weeks beforehand.

 

[Ranagazoo]

I think the pacing of mountains is good. The first week is not so hard that we already know who will win the race by the first rest day, but hard enough that anyone coming in undercooked will be found out. I'd say it's the best opening week in years.

The route would be almost perfect if the TT was 50km, pan flat and a few stages earlier.

 

[BlueRoads]

If there was a 50k pan-flat itt, Quintana, Landa, Lopez, Buchmann, and even Bernal could hardly ever make up that time against someone like Roglic, Dumoulin or Thomas, whereas Roglic, Dumoulin and Thomas are pretty decent at climbing, so they stand a good chance in the mountains. I think it's quite fair to have short tts nowadays, when gaining 30 seconds on a mountain stage can be considered a huge success. They might have started with a short flat 15k itt... (but why would they, the only French rider who could make up time there is Cavagna )
What I don't like very much is the mtf TT (in general and especially in the last stage), but okay, we will see how that plays out.

 

[Earns1985]

If there was a 50k pan-flat itt, Quintana, Landa, Lopez, Buchmann, and even Bernal could hardly ever make up that time against someone like Roglic, Dumoulin or Thomas, whereas Roglic, Dumoulin and Thomas are pretty decent at climbing, so they stand a good chance in the mountains. I think it's quite fair to have short tts nowadays, when gaining 30 seconds on a mountain stage can be considered a huge success. They might have started with a short flat 15k itt... (but why would they, the only French rider who could make up time there is Cavagna )
What I don't like very much is the mtf TT (in general and especially in the last stage), but okay, we will see how that plays out.

The interesting thing on this route is that guys like Quintana, Landa and Lopez won´t be in arreas, when the pack enters the mountains. Normally they already lose time in ITT or TTT before they enter the mountains and so it has always been their turn to attack. Ineos with their strong team could always play it defensive the whole time.
This time Ineos cannot play it the whole time defensive, especially because there are better time trial specialists (Dumoulin and Roglic) in the field..

 

[jaylew]

The interesting thing on this route is that guys like Quintana, Landa and Lopez won´t be in arreas, when the pack enters the mountains. Normally they already lose time in ITT or TTT before they enter the mountains and so it has always been their turn to attack.

Yes, I'm looking forward to a different dynamic this year. That said, I have no doubt Landa will find some way to lose 2-5 minutes somewhere early.

 

[Earns1985]

That said, I have no doubt Landa will find some way to lose 2-5 minutes somewhere early.

I hope it will not be before the first mountain stage. (stage 2)

 

[Earns1985]

Sunweb squad:

Søren Kragh Andersen
Nikias Arndt
Tiesj Benoot
Cees Bol
Marc Hirschi
Joris Nieuwenhuis
Jasha Sütterlin
Nicholas Roche

 

[tobydawq]

Not as flashy as you would have thought. How is Matthews not there?

 

[jaylew]

Weird. Doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[Boes]

Not as flashy as you would have thought. How is Matthews not there?

Supposedly Benoot will be the leader for the stage wins.
I would have taken Matthews for stage wins en use Benoot for GC, just to see if he has any kind of future competing for GC's the grand tours.

 

[DNP-Old]

Not as flashy as you would have thought. How is Matthews not there?

It would appear Sunweb once again made a mess out of it. Laat ons zeggen dat dat er anders uitziet dan wat ik verwacht had, ja. Rond de jaarwisseling was er nochtans duidelijk overleg geweest met de ploegleiding. Ik zou focussen op de voorjaarsklassiekers en de Ronde van Frankrijk. Een half jaar later staan noch de Tour, noch de Belgische klassiekers nog op het programma… Ik weet niet precies waarom. Maar ik mag naar de Giro. Als ik dan toch eerlijk moet zijn… De beslissing is best hard aangekomen, ja. Het nieuws is nog pril, dus ik heb het nog niet helemaal verwerkt. Ik moet dit even laten bezinken.

Long story short: Matthews doesn't have a clue what's going on and Sunweb didn't give a damn about his ambitions or wishes. In not so surprising news, he doesn't like it.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

In other words, Sunweb have gone from being one of the best to one of the worst-run teams in the WorldTour in the space of two or three years. Ridiculous way to treat your best remaining rider.

 

[DNP-Old]

In other words, Sunweb have gone from being one of the best to one of the worst-run teams in the WorldTour in the space of two or three years. Ridiculous way to treat your best remaining rider.

Oh, make no mistake, they've always been like this. The difference is, this time around there's no Dumoulin taking the attention away. Their way of communication and way of work has always reeked of autism - if I may say so. All these stupid protocols and what not. Their directors even have a protocol how to go onto the podium, and no, I did not just make that up.

 

[DNP-Old]

A great example of Sunweb's hysteria is Dries Devenyns, who only rode with them for a season. Like every team, Sunweb has certain training schedules, Devenyns being no different. However, due to maintenance on his training routes he did a ride of 154 kilometers, instead of 150. He immediately got an angry call from the directors asking him what the hell he was doing.

Sunweb isn't a team, it's a cult. Some riders like it, most hate them.