Tour de France route Wicklow

max_power

Anyone know what the rough route was of the tour de france stage throuugh wicklow in 1998 was? Thanks

Pherekydes

Down the N11 as far as Arklow, then via the R747, Avoca and the R752 and Rathrum to Laragh. Up the Wicklow Gap, to Hollywood on the N81 and then back to Dublin. Can't remember where the finish was. Maybe Tallaght?

Morgan

Full details below.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/cycling/1998/tourdefrance/stages/1.html

max_power

thanks, might attempt a modified (shortened) version of that this weekend if the weather holds up.

jrey1981

it went past my house...!

ILIKEFOOD

Hello zombie thread!

I’ve been trying to find a detailed route for stage 1 , 1998 and can’t find anything online! Anyone know where I’d find the route? I’m guessing if I had good French (which I don’t!) there might be a scan of the road book or something - anyone?

Wishbone Ash

Pherekydes wrote: »

.... Can't remember where the finish was. Maybe Tallaght?

Phoenix Park. Super Mario hit the deck in the sprint.

Lusk_Doyle

Through Wicklow amd it was considered a flat stage!

Wishbone Ash

I think it went as far as Enniscorthy because of the 200th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion and back to Dublin.

Takca

There is a bit of detail on Wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Tour_de_France

gmacww

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Through Wicklow amd it was considered a flat stage!

If I remember correctly the Wicklow Gap was down as a C3 climb. A Cat 3!!!!

cython

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I think it went as far as Enniscorthy because of the 200th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion and back to Dublin.

A stage started in Enniscorthy, but there was no stage finish there, nor any pass of a prior stage. IIRC the teams travelled from a stage finish in Dublin to the stage start in Enniscorthy.

Euro Fred

I'd be interested in doing this too if the exact route was available.

I've tried to map it on Strava but I'm not sure if its right

wicky9

Id be all over trying to do this sometime. It would have to be in the summer for me due to daylight as I'll be travelling up from Clare

loyatemu

https://web.archive.org/web/20000824135550/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com:80/cycling/1998/tourdefrance/news/1998/07/08/1998_stages/

68 lost souls

I'm pretty sure I have the official book and tickets for the finish line in Paris from that years Tour. I was on the finish line in the Phoenix Park and Champs Ellise, was delighted as an 11 year old kid to be that close to the action. I'll have a look this evening for you.

Wishbone Ash

cython wrote: »

A stage started in Enniscorthy, but there was no stage finish there, nor any pass of a prior stage. IIRC the teams travelled from a stage finish in Dublin to the stage start in Enniscorthy.

Apologies I stand corrected. It was Enniscorthy to Cork on Stage 2.

Wishbone Ash

Euro Fred wrote: »

I'd be interested in doing this too if the exact route was available.

I've tried to map it on Strava but I'm not sure if its right

You won't be able to do the exact route unless you wish to go down O'Connell Street from the GPO on the wrong side!

LollipopJimmy

Was it the final stage in Dublin when Chris Boardman had a bad smash? I have memories of him sitting against a wall with a bloodied nose

Plastik

No, he crashed on the road between Dungarvan and Youghal as far as I can remember - close to Youghal.

TheBlaaMan

The 2nd stage was Enniscorthy to Cork via Waterford. A procession as it came thru Waterford...I was expecting fireworks...... I dont know why!

All stage details (except actual maps) here http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=etappes&editie_idd=NDUw

1bryan

Plastik wrote: »

No, he crashed on the road between Dungarvan and Youghal as far as I can remember - close to Youghal.

brought down by Johann Bruyneel

ILIKEFOOD

Euro Fred wrote: »

I'd be interested in doing this too if the exact route was available.

I've tried to map it on Strava but I'm not sure if its right

I’d love to see it Fred. In my search for the route I found a guy selling a 1998 irish times pull out which is too hastily bought - it has the route map so I’m going to work off that and scan it and make available as a pdf if anyone want it

Wishbone Ash

Plastik wrote: »

No, he crashed on the road between Dungarvan and Youghal as far as I can remember - close to Youghal.

Boardman's crash is about 13 minutes into this:

Plastik

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26831367

Here's my best guess at a close to 181km. O'Connell St start, Park finish. A post earlier in the thread mentioned Avoca but that would be knock about 10k off so I've gone to Aughrim. It went up Bray main st anyway!

robyntmorton

Indeed, it did go up Bray Main St, but did not take the M11 Shankill bypass. It came off the N11 at Loughlinstown Hospital, and went through Shankill Village. I know, as I watched the Peloton go through there at the roundabout. Fortunately I was but a kid at the time, and found it easy to get to the railings.

LollipopJimmy

Weepsie wrote: »

Here's a grainy scan from the Farmer's Journal with the route

Edit: As I'm going through some archives here. The amount of whinging about cyclists and how people won't be able to use their cars in 1998 or get to the shops in the city is much the same as it is now.

We'd no way in our out of where I was living, but in the main nobody gave a ****e as far as I can remember.

1bryan

Weepsie wrote: »

Here's a grainy scan from the Farmer's Journal with the route

Edit: As I'm going through some archives here. The amount of whinging about cyclists and how people won't be able to use their cars in 1998 or get to the shops in the city is much the same as it is now.

shur look at the fancy new roads some parts of the country got cos of it.

btw the 'Tallaght Welcomes the Tour de France' sign on the Belgard Road was still standing up to a couple of years ago.

robyntmorton

Incidentally, 2-3 days before the first stage, my dad almost killed the Banesto team on the roundabout at Bayview/Shanganagh Road/Cromlech Fields, when their Garda escort got distracted, didn’t direct them, and they wrong wayed the roundabout, about a metre in front of many tonnes of minibus.

The Garda then rapidly departed into a nearby housing estate!

Melodeon

loyatemu wrote: »

https://web.archive.org/web/20000824135550/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com:80/cycling/1998/tourdefrance/news/1998/07/08/1998_stages/

Here's a quick-n-dirty screengrab of Stage 1 from this link:

Melodeon

And Stage 2:

Melodeon

And in the interests of completeness, the Prologue:

Hurrache

1bryan wrote: »

btw the 'Tallaght Welcomes the Tour de France' sign on the Belgard Road was still standing up to a couple of years ago.

And I don't think the route even went by that sign, it went straight down the N81 into Templeogue.

I have a load of photos from around the city centre from the prologue and spent the Sunday watching it live on TV from a pub in Wicklow and we all ran out to watch it go by then.

greenspurs

Hmmm..

"Ride the Route ".
3 Stages from Dublin to Cork - get a few ex pros that rode it involved...

cjt156

Col de Wicklow Gap. Love it.

ILIKEFOOD

Melodeon wrote: »

And in the interests of completeness, the Prologue:

ah the wayback machine!! good thinking!!

LollipopJimmy

Brilliant info, myself and my buddy are going to do the 1st Stage, be a great training cycle for Lejog.

Will try it before the end of Feb

Thud

bit more info..

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/on-the-trail-of-the-tour-1.170744

How much of the N11 back then is M11 now?

El Tarangu

I like these hive-mind investigations

Plastik

I'd say you can cycle the full route no problem. There's an interesting 50-60km in the middle from Arklow to Hollywood but the other 120km is all very dull, and traffic heavy in a lot of places.

letape

I have cycling weekly magazines from early in 1998 at home that contained features of riding the route with Roche (stage 1) and Kelly (stage 2). I’ll dig them out and scan them up here.

Melodeon

I have road atlases of Ireland and Dublin from around that time, if anyone wants the layout of the roads was they were then.

JazzyJ

Did they deviate off the N11 and come down Newtownpark Ave?

I've vague memories of watching it on TV and seeing them at Stillorgan, running out about 100m onto Newtownpark Ave, and just making it to see them live.

Or is that all made up in my head? :pac:

secman

I remember watching the peloton going up Wicklow Gap from Glendalough and it looked a doddle to them, but they bottled doing the lake drive, took the handyway out on n81 to Blessington, . Maybe WA warned the organisers to skip the lake drive and have a handler run in to Blessington, a pity as thst would have sorted the men from the boys

The great thing was all those roads were resurfaced for the routes, haven't been touched since probably ?

LollipopJimmy

secman wrote: »

The great thing was all those roads were resurfaced for the routes, haven't been touched since probably ?

Maybe it's time we lobbied to get the race again, the roads could do with being redone

Wishbone Ash

This could make a great boards.ie ride to celebrate the 20th anniversary - Sat 7th July anyone??

secman

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

This could make a great boards.ie ride to celebrate the 20th anniversary - Sat 7th July anyone??

With the lake drive thrown in

LollipopJimmy

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

This could make a great boards.ie ride to celebrate the 20th anniversary - Sat 7th July anyone??

Looking like I'll be between Inverness and John O'Groats on that date

secman

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Looking like I'll be between Inverness and John O'Groats on that date

That's some trek to avoid the lake drive ?

Wishbone Ash

secman wrote: »

With the lake drive thrown in

Forgot about that godforsaken stretch.

sbs2010

max_power wrote: »

thanks, might attempt a modified (shortened) version of that this weekend if the weather holds up.

This is the most well received zombie thread I've ever seen

lots of new route info but we've not heard how Max got on in April '06.

How did you get on Max?