I know, but I'm basically operating on the assumption that Govenou aren't gonna add climbs outside of getting from A to B that serve the same function as the Galibier did.
Which now that I remember makes me extremely confused about the 2018 stage design when they added in 20-30 extra kms of bs to include the Lacets de Montvernier and climb the worse side of the CdF/Glandon.
But it's very telling about Alpe d'Huez that the best approach to it is probably simply to climb it twice or to climb Col de Solude on the opposite side of the valley and descend down to Ornon. Probably the only approach that leaves under 5km of flat, and Solude is a good climb, but it only really makes for a good double whammy of 30-40 minute climbs and not really queen stage material.
In a smaller race, potentially, you could go over Galibier and do the Sarenne approach like in the 2017 Dauphiné, joining the D211 between hairpins 3 and 4, then descending as far as hairpin 6 at Huez village and descending the road through Villard-Reculas down to Allemond, and shortening the flat part in the valley down to only about 8km before climbing Alpe d'Huez from the 'normal' route - there would be a good long gap of just over 30km between the descent of that small part of road that's handled in both directions so that should be perfectly safe especially given it's several kilometres up the Alpe d'Huez climb. I can't remember if there are any additional dangers to the Villard-Reculas road though, I know there are some horrendous sheer drops off of the Col de Solude road that make organisers wary of using it, as descending it in race conditions would be a problem.
I don't see Le Tour going for that, or possibly even the Dauphiné, but I could see l'Avenir, maybe the TdFF, or one of the regional races (although Isère borders them, it doesn't fit in any of the smaller ones like Ain or Savoie) perhaps. But if you're going to approach the Alpe that way, it's probably better to just replicate the 2017 Dauphiné finish but after Galibier north as it will encourage more racing on the Galibier. Or just then descend Alpe in full and put the finish at Oz-en-Oisans, Auris-en-Oisans, or Les-Deux-Alpes. Auris would be particularly interesting as you wouldn't have to descend all of the Alpe either, just to La Garde and then climb the last 11km of
this side. It's probably more realistic to expect them to climb l'Alpe d'Huez and descend through Sarenne before climbing the last 12km of
this side though.
I did do a stage over Galibier north, then looping through Alpe d'Huez and Sarenne and finishing at Les-Deux-Alpes, it was the Pantani veneration stage in my Fantasy Doping Draft Tour de France, but unfortunately it's been lost to the great Cronoescalada wipe and imgur's deletions.
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