[ednwireland]

wildcards announced

Cofidis, Europcar and Saur-Sojasun secure Tour berths

Team Argos-Shimano has received a wildcard invitation to the 2012 Tour de France, organizers ASO announced on Friday. The other three invitees are the French-registered squads Cofidis, Europcar and Saur-Sojasun.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/argo...ard-invitation

[elduggo]

Does anyone know where one can get detailed maps of the routes? Planning on heading over for the first few stages and am trying to plan where best to be, etc.

Has anyone bought any of the guides that the cycling mags have put out? Any use?

cheers

[buffalo]

Originally Posted by elduggo

Does anyone know where one can get detailed maps of the routes? Planning on heading over for the first few stages and am trying to plan where best to be, etc.

Has anyone bought any of the guides that the cycling mags have put out? Any use?

cheers

See http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showt...php?p=79200343

[elduggo]

Originally Posted by buffalo

See http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showt...php?p=79200343

cheers, thanks for that.

[flying11]

i have this guide and i find it pretty useful. It previews each stage (giving the route profile for all of the mountain stages) , previews every team, it profiles the main contenders too. for €10 it is handy to have.

you can view detailed maps of stages here (scroll down to whatever stage you want and click the arrow under details on the right hand side)

[elduggo]

Originally Posted by flying11

i have this guide and i find it pretty useful. It previews each stage (giving the route profile for all of the mountain stages) , previews every team, it profiles the main contenders too. for €10 it is handy to have.

you can view detailed maps of stages here (scroll down to whatever stage you want and click the arrow under details on the right hand side)

cheers. I have been looking at letour.fr and its been useful. I've printed off the maps for the days I'll be over. Theres a couple of problems with them though. They show the route without telling you precisely the roads they take (from my experience of going to these things, its pretty obvious when you're over there - follow the crowds, etc). I was over at the Vuelta last year and managed (though can't remember for the life of me where) to get very detailed info, such as depart time, the roads they'd be taking, the towns they'd be passing through, along with expected times they'd be at each place if their average speed was X, Y, and Z. I can't imagine there isn't something out there for the Tour, given how huge the race is.

I got a copy of some of the official Vuelta race handbook last year (from a rubbish pile the Quick-Step team left after them outside their hotel!). The official Giro race manual was made available online as a PDF. I'm sincerely hoping they do the same for the Tour.

[stetyrrell]

Is there a list of all the teams competing this year?

[buffalo]

Originally Posted by stetyrrell

Is there a list of all the teams competing this year?

http://www.letour.fr/2012/TDF/RIDERS/us/engages.html

[elduggo]

oh, I'm a dumbass. The time info is there, under a tab I hadn't checked!

Sorted! Cheers everyone.

[buffalo]

Originally Posted by elduggo

cheers. I have been looking at letour.fr and its been useful. I've printed off the maps for the days I'll be over. Theres a couple of problems with them though. They show the route without telling you precisely the roads they take (from my experience of going to these things, its pretty obvious when you're over there - follow the crowds, etc). I was over at the Vuelta last year and managed (though can't remember for the life of me where) to get very detailed info, such as depart time, the roads they'd be taking, the towns they'd be passing through, along with expected times they'd be at each place if their average speed was X, Y, and Z. I can't imagine there isn't something out there for the Tour, given how huge the race is.

I got a copy of some of the official Vuelta race handbook last year (from a rubbish pile the Quick-Step team left after them outside their hotel!). The official Giro race manual was made available online as a PDF. I'm sincerely hoping they do the same for the Tour.

The official guide (the one in the pic by ednwireland in the other thread) has the expected times in it (I'm almost certain, will double-check when I get home). Also, they're available on letour.fr if you haven't found them there already - under the stage-by-stage bit, select 'time schedule'. edit: see you found it.

[flying11]

this website has a google earth route for each stage and if you click on the "itineraire horaire" it will give you the estimated arrival time at each town/village along the route depending on the average speed.

e.g if you click "itineraire horaire" for stage 1 it will give the times for the caravane, the peloton at an averege of 44kmph, 42 kmph and 40kmph. handy website

[elduggo]

Originally Posted by flying11

this website has a google earth route for each stage and if you click on the "itineraire horaire" it will give you the estimated arrival time at each town/village along the route depending on the average speed.

e.g if you click "itineraire horaire" for stage 1 it will give the times for the caravane, the peloton at an averege of 44kmph, 42 kmph and 40kmph. handy website

thats fantastic. More info than anyone could possibly use! Cheers

[Inquitus]

Sky Team

Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Bernhard Eisel, Chris Froome, Christian Knees, Richie Porte, Michael Rogers and Kanstantsin Siutsou.

[happytramp]

I am seriously anti-Wiggin's this year. Team sky have real potential to make this a bore fest. Hopefully someone will be able to stick it to them in the hills.

[Lumen]

Originally Posted by happytramp

Team sky have real potential to make this a bore fest. Hopefully someone will be able to stick it to them in the hills.

I personally think Wiggos odds are overrated.

Winning a tour isn't as simple as getting a bunch of fast guys to sit on the front. Are they going to do that every day for three weeks? One bad day and it's anyone's tour. Cadel has proven ability to respond to big attacks and win with relatively little support.

Media coverage of the TdF is a bit like the Grand National. There's never any focus on the unknown unknowns, because it's a bit difficult to write/talk about unknowable stuff, and you get the impression that the favourites have it sown up. And then they start to fall...

I also wonder whether Wiggo/Sky are getting as much positive coverage in the non-Anglophone media. Anyone speak foreign?