Tour de France 2021 route rumors

[Salvarani]

Have not gone through the route in detail, just read the article.

Im not a fan of using the same climb/mountain twice in a stage.

I think the first time trial should have been longer. Around 45km at least.

Bit disappointed that it is a stage between the last mountain stage and the last time trial.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Bit disappointed that it is a stage between the last mountain stage and the last time trial.

Im not agreeing with this. With the TT the day after the last mountain stage I think there is a bigger danger of that last mountain stage being ridden conservatively.

 

[Salvarani]

Im not agreeing with this. With the TT the day after the last mountain stage I think there is a bigger danger of that last mountain stage being ridden conservatively.

Or that riders get a day to recover. If they dug deep the day before. They get a day off.

If the first TT is longer. There would be gaps anyway, so that riders with a "bad" time trial cant ride conservatively either way. At least if they are trying to win the race.

 

[Red Rick]

Would agree about TT lengths if the mountains weren't a disgrace.

 

[Brumdog66]

Horrendous, that being said if INEOS turn up in full strength this year it should be watchable

 

[OlavEH]

Wonder who Jumbo and Ineos will send to the Tour next year:

Jumbo could possible line-up Roglic, Dumoulin, Kuss, Bennett, Van Aert, Kruijswick and Oomen.

Ineos have Bernal, Porte, Thomas, A.Yates, Carapaz, Dennis and Hart.

Which of these will go to the Tour, and which to Giro?

 

[Brumdog66]

Yeah, though i'm not counting out they 're hoping for Alaphilippe to give it a shot either. If it were really tailor made for Evenepoel, the ITT's would have been longer, or even made 45km + 13km at least or, like the Giro, there could be an extra ITT. For me, the route is not enough to skip the Olympics for Evenepoel, if they are to take place. I'd rather see him go to the Giro or Vuelta first anyway. It would have been good had he been able to ride the Vuelta right now even if not for GC, then simply for the experience.

Though if he does decide to go to the TDF, it could make it more interesting, shake things up a bit.

I wouldn't mind if they designed it for Alaphillipe, would be quite an exciting scenario imo, but the hilly stages are far too easy overall and the time trials are pan flat instead of hilly

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Im not agreeing with this. With the TT the day after the last mountain stage I think there is a bigger danger of that last mountain stage being ridden conservatively.

Should have been a stage for the attackers, though. Not another one of 9 or so stages that Démare can win. The focus on flat sprints is just too much, even by (recent) TDF standards.

 

[bob.a.feet]

What is the option here? A dead flat stage. If you draw a diagonal line through France, from southwest to northeast, the left half of that line is more or less flat with minimal options to create stages that separate the riders. Mur de Bretagne is the lesser evil compared to having another flat sprinter's stage. You could of course create a stage in a area exposed to crosswinds, or do a sterrato stage but these should come instead of some of the many flat stages, not instead of Mur de Bretagne.

Stage finish to Dinan - make it happen!

 

[gregrowlerson]

Horrendous, that being said if INEOS turn up in full strength this year it should be watchable

A few years ago: Said nobody ever.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Wonder who Jumbo and Ineos will send to the Tour next year:

Jumbo could possible line-up Roglic, Dumoulin, Kuss, Bennett, Van Aert, Kruijswick and Oomen.

Ineos have Bernal, Porte, Thomas, A.Yates, Carapaz, Dennis and Hart.

Which of these will go to the Tour, and which to Giro?

Yeah, it's crazy how much these teams are spoiled for choice. Jumbo also has the Vineyard boy who was leading them up most of the Angliru yesterday.

Of the riders you mentioned, I think that those least likely to do Tour are Bennett (wants an opportunity to lead at some point), Kruijswijk and Carapaz. Adam "I'm not going for gc" Yates also probably wouldn't do Tour, as I am sure that Porte will, and I don't see the point in having those two in the same team. Hart can probably choose to lead Giro, or take his chances as a semi protected back up option at Tour. Remember that they also have Sivakov as another potential GT leader, at least in the future. They usually like to have Kwiatkowski in their Tour team. Dennis and Ganna, probably split one in each main GT. Jumbo would still take Martin as a team captain to the Tour I would imagine. Luke friggin Rowe wouldn't make Ineos Tour team now.

 

[BlueRoads]

I can see the Tour being way more exciting than we think now. It really depends on who's going, who's in good shape, who has in-form support.
But imagine van der Poel, van Aert, Démare battling out some stages, Alaphilippe, van Aert, and Hirschi others, Pogacar and Roglic really going head to head this time, Thomas, Bernal, Ganna, Hart and Carapaz supporting Dennis ... and imagine Evenepoel, with a DQS team including Almeida and Cavagna... We would not need many hard mountain stages for suspense. Usually I like the climbers, but maybe the non-(true-)climbers are the more exciting ones right now. I can really see van Aert and Evenepoel mixing things up here. And what do we know who else has evolved by then...

 

[OlavEH]

Of the riders you mentioned, I think that those least likely to do Tour are Bennett (wants an opportunity to lead at some point), Kruijswijk and Carapaz. Adam "I'm not going for gc" Yates also probably wouldn't do Tour, as I am sure that Porte will, and I don't see the point in having those two in the same team. Hart can probably choose to lead Giro, or take his chances as a semi protected back up option at Tour. Remember that they also have Sivakov as another potential GT leader, at least in the future. They usually like to have Kwiatkowski in their Tour team. Dennis and Ganna, probably split one in each main GT. Jumbo would still take Martin as a team captain to the Tour I would imagine. Luke friggin Rowe wouldn't make Ineos Tour team now.

For Jumbo I'm pretty sure that Roglic, Dumoulin and Van Aert doing the Tour. But who will captain their Giro team? Kruijswijk? Or will Kuss have his chance? Or will all go to the Tour, and they send only Bennett and Oomen to the Giro? That would be really disappointing!

For Ineos I at least hope that Carapaz will head to the Giro. But what about Tao and Thomas? Will one of them go to the Giro, or both be domestiques in the Tour? Ineos have an immense team. They could send Carapaz, Tao, Ganna, Amador, and Yates to the Giro, and Bernal, Thomas, Porte, Martinez, Kwia, Dennis and Castroviejo to the Tour.

 

[Netserk]

If it was up to me, Dumoulin and Kruijswijk would lead the Giro team, with Tom riding the Tour purely as a helper so that he also gets some rest and will be ready for the Olympics.

Kuss, Dumoulin, van Aert, Gesink, and Vingegaard should be enough for the mountains in the Tour.

 

[BlueRoads]

For Jumbo I'm pretty sure that Roglic, Dumoulin and Van Aert doing the Tour. But who will captain their Giro team? Kruijswijk? Or will Kuss have his chance? Or will all go to the Tour, and they send only Bennett and Oomen to the Giro? That would be really disappointing!

For Ineos I at least hope that Carapaz will head to the Giro. But what about Tao and Thomas? Will one of them go to the Giro, or both be domestiques in the Tour? Ineos have an immense team. They could send Carapaz, Tao, Ganna, Amador, and Yates to the Giro, and Bernal, Thomas, Porte, Martinez, Kwia, Dennis and Castroviejo to the Tour.

Waah, what, Ganna to the Giro? I know he's Italian, but he must go to the Tour! I will write letters to Ineos if there are hints he won't.

 

[Eclipse]

I can see the Tour being way more exciting than we think now. It really depends on who's going, who's in good shape, who has in-form support.
But imagine van der Poel, van Aert, Démare battling out some stages, Alaphilippe, van Aert, and Hirschi others, Pogacar and Roglic really going head to head this time, Thomas, Bernal, Ganna, Hart and Carapaz supporting Dennis ... and imagine Evenepoel, with a DQS team including Almeida and Cavagna... We would not need many hard mountain stages for suspense. Usually I like the climbers, but maybe the non-(true-)climbers are the more exciting ones right now. I can really see van Aert and Evenepoel mixing things up here. And what do we know who else has evolved by then...

I agree a lot with this,

I'm not wild about the route (particularly given my favourite riders are always more on the almost certainly doomed climber side of things), but it does enable a lot of the biggest talents we've got right now to have their moment in the sun and it could spark some good racing.

Waah, what, Ganna to the Giro? I know he's Italian, but he must go to the Tour! I will write letters to Ineos if there are hints he won't.

Is Ganna even riding road next year if the Olympics don't get cancelled?

 

[BlueRoads]

Is Ganna even riding road next year if the Olympics don't get cancelled?

True, I don't know how you manage to do track and road along anyway.

 

[Red Rick]

What's the Tokyo ITT parcours anyway?

 

[Ricco']

What's the Tokyo ITT parcours anyway?

 

[gavia88]

If it was up to me, Dumoulin and Kruijswijk would lead the Giro team, with Tom riding the Tour purely as a helper so that he also gets some rest and will be ready for the Olympics.

Kuss, Dumoulin, van Aert, Gesink, and Vingegaard should be enough for the mountains in the Tour.

I guess this is the ultimate chance for Dumoulin winning the tour. Compared to recent history double the amount of ITT and very light and tempo grinding mountain stages. I know that some competitors probably are just stronger, but route wise it will not get any better any more during his career.

I think this year probably it would have made more sense to go to the giro. He would have a bit longer preparation phase to get some race miles in the legs, after more than a year without any race. Now, he reached shape by the end of the tour. And afterward his program was to full and not focussed enough to be a factor in any of those races.

 

[Red Rick]

I think Dumoulin should go for this Tour.

If Dumoulin is good enough to win Olympic ITT gold on this parcours, he should be good enough to compete for the Tour win anyway.

 

[yaco]

It's not so much about "being fine next year", it's about him talking about riding the olympics for the past two years as his main goal. While this course may be somewhat favorable for him, it isn't exactly a slam dunk with only 58k flat ITT's either. If the Giro puts out 3 ITT's, which they might with Ganna in mind, and the Olympics take place, this may end up being a rather easy choice for Evenepoel.

I suspect Ganna will be busy with the track program, so no Giro for him - A likely GT for Ganna in 2021 is the Vuelta.

 

[yaco]

It seems like a solid route with no outstanding features - I'm interested to get more info about the ITT's as they will define the race.

 

[gavia88]

I think Dumoulin should go for this Tour.

If Dumoulin is good enough to win Olympic ITT gold on this parcours, he should be good enough to compete for the Tour win anyway.

yes, it's 2021 or never for him. Before you know ASO goes back to a total of 22 kilometer of time trail again

 

[Billie]

I like the route

A timetrial early in the race is a good change up from recent parcours.

Main downside for me is Le Grand Bornand which has been good in the Tour when placed at the end of the Tour / at the end of a mountain block and was an absolute dud both in 2007 and 2018 when placed as the first mountain stage.

It's shows they still have some to learn about pacing.