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Tour de France 2021 route rumors

Page 8 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Actually reading the Velowire paragraph about Andorra (which they think is uncertain due to Covid-19), the stage could very well finish on Cabus.

54XM2z4.png


Cabus.gif


Not bad at all.
 
The rumours indicate a lot of long transfers. I guess the riders and ecologists won't be happy. I'm mentioning those as it seems after changing mayors Montpellier and Bordeaux aren't that happy about the Tour and Mende will most likely move itself to another location if the Tour once again forces itself there. The finish in Bordeaux had been moved to Libourne with a potential long flat stage coming from Pyrenees.

The Giant of Provence may come back next year but it's not sure if just as a regular MTF from Chalet Reynard or something different like a finish in Maulacene or a MTF from the north. It had been rumoured to be a 100% Vacluse stage but now the depart had been moven to Montelimar in Drome.

There are some strong rumous of a transitional mountain stage to Quillan after Pailheres and Chioula after a long stretch of flat on the Sault plateau before the Andorra stage. The Pyrenees might be lacking as Irati seems to be replaced by a Tourmalet/Luz-Ardinen combo and the previous stage to finish on Portet after Bales, Peyresourde and Azet. Interestingly, the start is rumoured to be in Muret, which is way far away from the Pyrenees than Saint-Gaudens which may be a 2009 like finish of the previous stage.

I know that Signal d'Uchon is very popular amongst traceurs and there are strong rumours about a finish in Le Creusot before a very long transit to Oyonnax. This stage could as well have Haut-Folin, Mont-Beauvray and Signal d'Uchon finale, which would be a more competitive variant of this year's Sarran stage with quite some chances of initial GC skirmishes.
 
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Actually reading the Velowire paragraph about Andorra (which they think is uncertain due to Covid-19), the stage could very well finish on Cabus.

54XM2z4.png


Cabus.gif


Not bad at all.


Well, I'm afraid that Envalira is just not steep enough nowadays anymore to expect any action there already. This profile + Beixalis in between Envalira and Cabus would be awesome. Early climb for a strong break and Mont Louis and Envalira to tire the legs and decimate the peloton. Beixalis for the early attacks.
 
Well, I'm afraid that Envalira is just not steep enough nowadays anymore to expect any action there already. This profile + Beixalis in between Envalira and Cabus would be awesome. Early climb for a strong break and Mont Louis and Envalira to tire the legs and decimate the peloton. Beixalis for the early attacks.
Good luck with early attacks on Beixalis before Cabus. Also Envalira from Puymorens is way too soft to "decimate" and Puymorens itself is a long false flat. It would be a nice tappone if Pailheres>Envalira>Beixalis>Cabus but then i assume the tappone will be the Portet stage.
 
Beixalis is a nice climb but not a platform for attack in a Tour peloton by any stretch of the imagination. I see Andorra stages just work much better for La Vuelta than for the Tour.

My prefered option would be Gallina descent finish or finish on a lesser climb shortly after.
 
Beixalis is a nice climb but not a platform for attack in a Tour peloton by any stretch of the imagination. I see Andorra stages just work much better for La Vuelta than for the Tour.

My prefered option would be Gallina descent finish or finish on a lesser climb shortly after.


sure, gallina would be way better. But it's not in line with the rumours to expect it next years tour. But finish on Cabus with Envalira and without Beixalis ---> guaranteed no action before Cabus, Cabus with Envalira and Beixalis, slightly higher possibility (or better, slightly less unlikely) of any action
 
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Beixalis is a nice climb but not a platform for attack in a Tour peloton by any stretch of the imagination. I see Andorra stages just work much better for La Vuelta than for the Tour.

My prefered option would be Gallina descent finish or finish on a lesser climb shortly after.
I'd like to see them do the 2017 Vuelta stage only with Gallina between Rabassa and Comella, personally. Or alternatively Gallina before a finish at Rabassa.

The issue with the rumoured Le Creusot stage is that it would come directly before the Alpine block so GC action is very unlikely.
 
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I'd like to see them do the 2017 Vuelta stage only with Gallina between Rabassa and Comella, personally. Or alternatively Gallina before a finish at Rabassa.

The issue with the rumoured Le Creusot stage is that it would come directly before the Alpine block so GC action is very unlikely.
Imagine Alaphilippe has a serious dig on the signal d'Uchon (assuming that's on the course), don't you think at least some favourites will feel itchy?
 
I know that it's not too realistic, butEvalira-Beixalis before a downhill finish in Andorra la Vella would be a great combination, maybe 1 or 2 climbs before it and you have a great stage. A long tempogrinder at altitude to reduce the field/ride a high tempo, followed by a short, steep climb with the steepest ramps right at the start. If you want to go crazy you can also throw in the Alto de la Comella after Beixalis and have something like this: https://www.cronoescalada.com/index.php/tracks/viewTour/593475/290925
For the Vuelta Gallina before a short, steep MTF at OS de Civis would be one of the best options.
 
The stage to Malaucène is more or less confirmed. What leaves me speechless is the fact that the following article speaks about adding an extra 10k loop around Malaucène, because the downhill is not hard enough to open gaps. Ahhmmm...what are they climbing before that descent...ah yes...22k @ 7,5%. So sure let's make it more difficult for someone who attacks on the climb.

Le cyclisme évolue aussi : désormais, les coureurs font les descentes. Il ne suffit pas de grimper. Il faut pédaler dans les descentes pour grappiller des secondes. La descente de Malaucène n'a aucun intérêt sur le plan sportif disent les spécialistes. Sauf si on rajoute une boucle d'une dizaine de kilomètres pour un match entre les purs grimpeurs et les puncheurs-rouleurs à leur poursuite.

 
The stage to Malaucène is more or less confirmed. What leaves me speechless is the fact that the following article speaks about adding an extra 10k loop around Malaucène, because the downhill is not hard enough to open gaps. Ahhmmm...what are they climbing before that descent...ah yes...22k @ 7,5%. So sure let's make it more difficult for someone who attacks on the climb.

Le cyclisme évolue aussi : désormais, les coureurs font les descentes. Il ne suffit pas de grimper. Il faut pédaler dans les descentes pour grappiller des secondes. La descente de Malaucène n'a aucun intérêt sur le plan sportif disent les spécialistes. Sauf si on rajoute une boucle d'une dizaine de kilomètres pour un match entre les purs grimpeurs et les puncheurs-rouleurs à leur poursuite.


It's pure arrogance & has been for ages.

I could rant all day everyday about how Christian Prudhomme & his friends design the Tour route based on how they want riders to race, how they see cycling, how they say attacks will happen & how they say it'll be spectacular. Not how it actually works in the real world.

Adding flat after climbs = no one attacks & the leader group rides tempo behind the yellow jersey gregarios whilst an échappée group featuring no GC contenders fights for the win. Been there, done that a million times already. There will be no "rouleurs" in pursuit after the climb because the pure climbers won't have attacked. You can predict the scenario 8 months in advance.
 
The stage to Malaucène is more or less confirmed. What leaves me speechless is the fact that the following article speaks about adding an extra 10k loop around Malaucène, because the downhill is not hard enough to open gaps. Ahhmmm...what are they climbing before that descent...ah yes...22k @ 7,5%. So sure let's make it more difficult for someone who attacks on the climb.

Le cyclisme évolue aussi : désormais, les coureurs font les descentes. Il ne suffit pas de grimper. Il faut pédaler dans les descentes pour grappiller des secondes. La descente de Malaucène n'a aucun intérêt sur le plan sportif disent les spécialistes. Sauf si on rajoute une boucle d'une dizaine de kilomètres pour un match entre les purs grimpeurs et les puncheurs-rouleurs à leur poursuite.

Are they completely f*cking dense? I can already hear the Sepp Kuss interview.

Seriously, if there isn't some short ramp in those final 10 kilometres giving another opportunity for attacks this is incredibly stupid.
 
10 km is not a problem. There was 10 km after Madeleine in 2010. Ventoux is a beast and will be raced hard. A finish in Carpentras would be a problem.

Anyway, I don't see how they can do a loop in only 10 km around Malaucène, if so they have to use some small roads.
 
10 km is not a problem. There was 10 km after Madeleine in 2010. Ventoux is a beast and will be raced hard. A finish in Carpentras would be a problem.

Anyway, I don't see how they can do a loop in only 10 km around Malaucène, if so they have to use some small roads.
It's not a huge issue but I fear it will make riders hesitant. I 100% don't think what we saw on the Madeleine in 2010 is a realistic scenario anymore. Not because it wouldn't be possible if the best climbers went for it, but because we just don't see the two biggest favorite of the Tour just going for it like that with 10 km to the top of the final climb and 40 km to go in general. Maybe I'm wrong, I definitely see gc attacks anyway, but it's just unnecessary. Why put a factor that could scare a riders away from attacking into a stage when you absolutely don't have to.
 
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10 km is not a problem. There was 10 km after Madeleine in 2010. Ventoux is a beast and will be raced hard. A finish in Carpentras would be a problem.

Anyway, I don't see how they can do a loop in only 10 km around Malaucène, if so they have to use some small roads.
ASO is stupid enough to put a hard MTF right after that stage, even if that means a long transfer. Usually they can't pace the respective blocks of mountain stages the right way to save their life.
 
It's not a huge issue but I fear it will make riders hesitant. I 100% don't think what we saw on the Madeleine in 2010 is a realistic scenario anymore. Not because it wouldn't be possible if the best climbers went for it, but because we just don't see the two biggest favorite of the Tour just going for it like that with 10 km to the top of the final climb and 40 km to go in general. Maybe I'm wrong, I definitely see gc attacks anyway, but it's just unnecessary. Why put a factor that could scare a riders away from attacking into a stage when you absolutely don't have to.
They did go for it on the Marie Blanque this year. Sort of.

I think it's prohibitive for solo moves and late attacks on the climb with only small gaps between the riders, but not exactly prohibitive for big moves.

Being Ventoux, it would be more similar to Asolo 2010, which was amazing.
 
For the same reason not to finish at the top of the climb. Was the stage to Laruns worse this year because of the flat in the end?
But there was not other option in Laruns. Here there would be.
And obviously the Laruns stage turned out just fine but I don't think the 5 km at the end or whatever that was made it any better. If a rider decides to not attack because of those flat kilometres however, that could easily make the stage worse
 
But there was not other option in Laruns. Here there would be.
And obviously the Laruns stage turned out just fine but I don't think the 5 km at the end or whatever that was made it any better. If a rider decides to not attack because of those flat kilometres however, that could easily make the stage worse
The 8k at the end in Laruns absolutely made the stage worse because they cost Hirschi a glorious win.
 

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