Tour de France 2011

velopeloton

http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/fr/le_parcours.html

Chips Lovell

Four mountain top finishes as far as I can see.

Morrisseeee

Just a snapshot:

The course

Saturday 2 to Sunday, July 24, 2011, the 98th Tour de France will be 21 stages over a distance of approximately 3471 kilometers.

These steps are as follows:

10 flat stages,
6 mountain stages with 4 mountain finishes,
A step against the individual time trial (41 km)
A step against the team time trial (23 km).
The peculiarities of the race

Galibier twice
2 rest days,
23 passes or mountain finishes classified into 2e, 1st class or outside,
no compensation shall be allocated to intermediate sprints and stage finishes.
15 cities new stop

Blaye-les-Mines, Cape Freels, Carhaix Carmaux Cugnaux, Galibier Serre-Chevalier, Limoux, Modane Mont Alouettes The Herbaria, wall-de-Bretagne, Olonne-sur-Mer, Passage du Gois de La Barre Mountains, Pinerolo (Italy), Redon, Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux

c montgomery

Nice looking route, shleck should be able to take his
second tour with all those mountain top finishes:p:p

Caroline_ie

is that an Alpe dhuez TT that I see????

Caroline_ie

LES ETAPES DU TOUR 2011

2 juillet: 1re étape Passage du Gois - Mont des Alouettes, 191 km
3 juillet: 2e étape Les Essarts - Les Essarts, 23 km (contre-la-montre par équipes)
4 juillet: 3e étape Olonne-sur-Mer - Redon, 198 km
5 juillet: 4e étape Lorient - Mûr-de-Bretagne, 172 km
6 juillet: 5e étape Carhaix - Cap Fréhel, 158 km
7 juillet: 6e étape Dinan - Lisieux, 226 km
8 juillet: 7e étape Le Mans - Châteauroux, 215 km
9 juillet: 8e étape Aigurande - Super-Besse Sancy, 190 km
10 juillet: 9e étape Issoire - Saint-Flour, 208 km
11 juillet: repos à Lioran Cantal
12 juillet: 10e étape Aurillac - Carmaux, 161 km
13 juillet: 11e étape Blaye-les-Mines - Lavaur, 168 km
14 juillet: 12e étape Cugnaux - Luz-Ardiden, 209 km
15 juillet: 13e étape Pau - Lourdes, 156 km
16 juillet: 14e étape Saint-Gaudens - Plateau de Beille, 168 km
17 juillet: 15e étape Limoux - Montpellier, 187 km
18 juillet: repos dans la Drôme
19 juillet: 16e étape Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Gap, 163 km
20 juillet: 17e étape Gap - Pinerolo (Italie), 179 km
21 juillet: 18e étape Pinerolo - Galibier Serre-Chevalier, 189 km
22 juillet: 19e étape Modane - L'Alpe d'Huez, 109 km
23 juillet: 20e étape Grenoble - Grenoble, 41 km (contre-la-montre individuel)
24 juillet: 21e étape Créteil - Paris Champs-Elysées, 160 km
LES PRINCIPALES DIFFICULTES:

9e étape (Saint-Flour):
col du Pas de Peyrol: 7,7 km à 6,2 % (1589 m)
col du Perthus: 4,4 km à 8 % (1309 m)
col de Prat de Bouc (Plomb du Cantal): 8 km à 6,2 % (1392 m)
12e étape (Luz-Ardiden):
Hourquette d'Ancizan: 9,9 km à 7,6 % (1538 m)
col du Tourmalet: 17,1 km à 7,3 % (2115 m)
montée de Luz-Ardiden, 13,3 km à 7,4 % (1715 m)
13e étape (Lourdes):
col d'Aubisque: 16,4 km à 7,2 % (1709 m)
14e étape (Plateau de Beille):
col de Portet d'Aspet: 4,4 km à 9,8 % (1069 m)
col de la Core: 14,2 km à 5,7 % (1395 m)
col de Latrape: 5,6 km à 7,3 % (1110 m)
col d'Agnes: 10 km à 8,2 % (1570 m)
montée de Beille: 15,8 km à 7,9 % (1780 m)
17e étape (Pinerolo):
col de Montgenèvre: 8 km à 6,2 % (1860 m)
Sestrières: 11,1 km à 6,3 % (2035 m)
côte de Pramartino: 7 km à 5,9 % (912 m)
18e étape (Galibier):
col d'Agnel: 23,7 km à 6,6 % (2744 m)
col d'Izoard: 14,7 km à 7,1 % (2360 m)
col du Galibier: 23 km à 5,1 % (2645 m)
19e étape (Alpe d'Huez):
col du Télégraphe: 11,9 km à 7,1 % (1566 m)
col du Galibier: 16,7 km à 6,8 % (tunnel à 2556 m)
montée de l'Alpe d'Huez: 13,8 km à 7,9 % (1850 m)

RobFowl

5 juillet: 4e étape Lorient - Mûr-de-Bretagne, 172 km
6 juillet: 5e étape Carhaix - Cap Fréhel, 158 km
7 juillet: 6e étape Dinan - Lisieux, 226 km

In a complete co-incidence these stages are on during our family holiday in Brittany :rolleyes:

mfdc

They're doing the hard bit of the Marmotte! Pity it's on a Friday... might have to take a long weekend there, watch em suffer

Chips Lovell

Caroline_ie wrote: »

is that an Alpe dhuez TT that I see????

I don't think so. Looks like a regular mountain stage.

Morrisseeee

Mountainous stages here

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

I don't think so. Looks like a regular mountain stage.

The TT is Grenoble-Grenoble, which is a pity, would love to see an ADH Time Trial!

Looks an interesting course though, and the Galibier twice is nice too!

velopeloton

At the end of the presentation, Prudhomme said he will announce the Etape du Tour tomorrow and that it would be a big surprise.
The suprise is that there will be 2 Etape du Tour in 2011, Issoire to Saint-Flour and Modane to Alpe-d’Huez if the rumours are correct.

Chips Lovell

It would be cool if they had one of the Etapes on the Passage du Gois stage. Mind you, may result in a record amount of broken bones.

velopeloton

el tonto wrote: »

It would be cool if they had one of the Etapes on the Passage du Gois stage. Mind you, may result in a record amount of broken bones.

The Passage du Gois is at the start and is neutralised.

Chips Lovell

velopeloton wrote: »

The Passage du Gois is at the start and is neutralised.

I heard that alright. To my mind it makes it a little pointless.

Karagesh

I cycled 2 of the mountains on Stage 18 this summer. The Col Agnel from the Italian side is savage and the highest point of the tour. I seen some madman running it when I was over there. i had never cycled at altitude before and I really struggled.

The decent of the Col Agnel into France is very dangerous and my mate had a bad crash there. I have pimped the footage on here before.

velopeloton

el tonto wrote: »

I heard that alright. To my mind it makes it a little pointless.

The regional Government of Vendee will be paying €1,000,000 to have the start and the 3 stages there. Passage du Gois is one of the big tourists attractions there so the tour will bring it worldwide advertising.

bcmf

velopeloton wrote: »

The Passage du Gois is at the start and is neutralised.

I would say that it was decided to be nuetralised after the last time. Its a crazy place to have a big peleton bashing across (and I suppose that's what makes it great).

ednwireland

22 juillet: 19e étape Modane - L'Alpe d'Huez, 109 km

19e étape (Alpe d'Huez):
col du Télégraphe: 11,9 km à 7,1 % (1566 m)
col du Galibier: 16,7 km à 6,8 % (tunnel à 2556 m)
montée de l'Alpe d'Huez: 13,8 km à 7,9 % (1850 m)


so thats 42.4km of climbing in a 109km stage :eek:

Diarmuid

ednwireland wrote: »

22 juillet: 19e étape Modane - L'Alpe d'Huez, 109 km

19e étape (Alpe d'Huez):
col du Télégraphe: 11,9 km à 7,1 % (1566 m)
col du Galibier: 16,7 km à 6,8 % (tunnel à 2556 m)
montée de l'Alpe d'Huez: 13,8 km à 7,9 % (1850 m)


so thats 42.4km of climbing in a 109km stage :eek:

And that looks like one of the potential Etape du Tour stages. Tempting.

Caroline_ie

Mmmm tempted to go and visit my mother's friend for the Pyrenees stages

Chips Lovell

Major changes in the points classification too. First fifteen in intermediate sprints get points, with the first past the post getting a massive 20 points.

kilns

Looking forward to my two Pyrennees stages.

The stage going over the Tourmalet and up Luz Ardiden will be great, I love Ardiden, so many hairpins and great fun to decend

Planet X

So, who's up for cycling down to the Rosslare ferry, crossing over to Roscoff and catching a few Brittany stages then?

Chips Lovell

Roche says he's targetting top ten.

Captain Havoc

Planet X wrote: »

So, who's up for cycling down to the Rosslare ferry, crossing over to Roscoff and catching a few Brittany stages then?

I'm still looking for people to go across France with. Hopefully pick up more than one part of the tour. Figure stuff out later.

DJKendo

no Ireland

kilns

I cycled down to Cork last year and got the ferry across to Roscoff and then cycled to the Pyrenees to watch some stages. Britanny is such a great place for cycling, the terrain is very Irish but with better weather and better roads!!

Planet X

Cider Country also!

IM0

ednwireland wrote: »

22 juillet: 19e étape Modane - L'Alpe d'Huez, 109 km

19e étape (Alpe d'Huez):
col du Télégraphe: 11,9 km à 7,1 % (1566 m)
col du Galibier: 16,7 km à 6,8 % (tunnel à 2556 m)
montée de l'Alpe d'Huez: 13,8 km à 7,9 % (1850 m)


so thats 42.4km of climbing in a 109km stage :eek:

lightweights.. they're only doing 2/3 of the marmotte there :pac:

keano007

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I'm still looking for people to go across France with. Hopefully pick up more than one part of the tour. Figure stuff out later.

Very tempting. I have been talking about doing this for so long

ROK ON

I think it seems a mixed bag of a tour route.
The intermediate sprints change could be fascinating. Can the sprint teams peak twice in a stage. Who knows.

However IMHO the course is shockingly boring. If Bertie is banned then this has been specifically designed to guarantee a Schleck victory.

The reality is that coruses like this suit pretty boring racing until the high mountains whittle the field away day by day.

I loved the classics feel to the early stages this year. Likewise the Giro course despite some savage climbs was interesting to allow a reasonably open race.

I for one would love to see a tour route of rolling landscapes and medium mountains with 4TTs. I think that this would keep it open and encourage aggressive breakaways and racing.

Finally with tours now facing so many high mountain stages don't grand tour organisers have to take some responsibilty for doping. A succession of high mountain finishes benefits cyclists with very fast recovery powers.

I am accepting that doping like tax fraud, wife cheating and breaking red lights is simply part of the human condition. I don't engage in it or condone it, but I do understand why many view it as necessary and IMHO a parcours such as this may not help.

As always however the course is only part of the tour. The riders and weather are what make it. So from that point of view I think the best we can hope is that Schleck is joined by Sanchez, Nibali, Basso, Evans, VanDerBroek etc in making a race out of this.

kilns

Could suit Roche also if he continues and builds on his Tourmalet finish last year and his climbing in the Vuelta.

He may break into Top 10 if things go well

velopeloton

Agree. I think this could be a very good route for Roche and Martin. As this year I am again hoping that we will see 3 Irish riders in the Tour.

Etape du Tour: http://www.letapedutour.com/index.htm
2 races as rumoured, with up to 10,000 each, riders will be allowed to enter both.

Captain Havoc

keano007 wrote: »

Very tempting. I have been talking about doing this for so long

I'm thinking of catching finishes at Mûr de Bretagne and Châteauroux. I think an Alpine finish, while epic would involve a whole lot of hassle and not enough cycling.

IM0

ROK ON wrote: »

I loved the classics feel to the early stages this year. Likewise the Giro course despite some savage climbs was interesting to allow a reasonably open race.

yeah I agree, this was the first week of the tour Ive actually watched more than the Sprint finishes themselves and the TT's
But there were lots moaning about what happened with saxobank and cancellara and the crashes, so they probably said "right! we tried to make an interesting tour, but you blew it complaining, now back to boring crap flat stages for you! :mad:"

ednwireland

bout time to resurrect this thread

French teams reveal Tour de France squads
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/french-teams-reveal-tour-de-france-squads

Ag2r-La Mondiale

Despite crashing out of the Critérium du Dauphiné, Nicolas Roche is set to recover in time for the Tour de France and so will lead the Ag2r-La Mondiale team.

According to the L’Equipe newspaper, team manager Vincent Lavenu also hopes Bled Kadri can also recover from his calf muscle injury, so he can join Christophe Riblon and Jean-Christophe Peraud. Maxime Bouet, Sebastien Hinault, Mathieu Perget, Hubert Dupont, Anthony Ravard, Lloyd Mondory and Cyril Dessel are all on the team’s long list. Rinaldo Nocentini is not expected to ride the Tour but Lavenu hopes to convince john Gadret to be part of the team after his impressive fourth place in the Giro d’Italia.

bcmf

Gonna stick my neck out here and say that Twiggo to be on the podium in Paris.

happytramp

He looked good at the Dauphine but it wasn't really the strongest field.

RobFowl

Top 5 for Twiggo IMO.

Planning to see the finish at Mur De Bretange too

Captain Havoc

RobFowl wrote: »

Top 5 for Twiggo IMO.

Planning to see the finish at Mur De Bretange too

I won't be a Mur de Bretagne now due to change of route, only Châteauroux.

funnights74

Twiggo will be lucky to make top 5. A very average dauphine and was at his limit in the mountains hanging on at the back of the groups.
Contadors accelleration in the italian mountains will be hard to counter,his form in the giro will take some beating.

happytramp

Now that Contador is officially racing do you think that anyone has a realistic chance of beating him? Given his display in the Giro and Schlecks uninspired form so far this season I'm worried it might be unlikely. Not that I especially hate the guy, It's just that his complete dominance in the Giro sort of ruined it for me.

midonogh

Chateauroux for family midonogh.

petethedrummer

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say Evans for second.

bcmf

petethedrummer wrote: »

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say Evans for second.

Its gonna be tough for Evans in the high mountains with the form of Bertie from the giro. Cant see Schleck losing the wheel of Bertie and judging by a) the size of Wiggo b) Carrying and building form form Dauphine and c) from reading his book on last years tour he is reverting back to what he did the year before but with a little bit more experience.

Captain Havoc

Took a look in Paddy Power there, nice if you fancy an E/W. Twiggo is in third at 18/1, Basso is 9/1 minus Contador and Evans is 6/1 minus Contador and Schleck so nice prices there if you think any of them are in for a good TdF. Roche is the best of the Irish at 150/1 which if I recall correctly is the same price he was last year. Cavendish is 2,500/1.

ontheditch2

I have to say, i can't wait for this to kick off again. It will be interesting to see if Andy can put up a good challenge to Contador. He is the only one who can challenge him, i really don't see any other contender. Of the others, the race for third will be interesting.
Will we finally see what Ivan Basso can do??
Will also be interesting to see how the Irish do.

Does anyone know will TG4 have coverage this year??

ednwireland

Danish bank continues to support Riis

Bjarne Riis' seemingly annual search for a new sponsor has come to an early end, as Saxo Bank has announced it will stay on for another year. The Danish bank will remain name sponsor along with SunGard in 2012, Riis announced Tuesday. The team will continue to be known as Saxo Bank-SunGard.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/saxo-bank-renews-sponsorship-for-2012

Morrisseeee

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Took a look in Paddy Power there, nice if you fancy an E/W. Twiggo is in third at 18/1, Basso is 9/1 minus Contador and Evans is 6/1 minus Contador and Schleck so nice prices there if you think any of them are in for a good TdF. Roche is the best of the Irish at 150/1 which if I recall correctly is the same price he was last year. Cavendish is 2,500/1.

Cavendish should be 1,000,000,000,000,000...../1 (I ran out of 0's)
I'm thinking of novelty bets, I wonder do PP do them?
Cav not to win a stage
ASchleck not to win a stage
ASchleck not to podium
Nico to get top 5, or a stage
Contador not to finish
Another drugs scandal (odds-on probably!!)
Some leading contender to go out on Stage 1 (Passage du Gois)
Horner to win d'Huez stage
..........speaking of which, sweeeet :cool::

ontheditch2

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Cav not to win a stage
ASchleck not to win a stage
ASchleck not to podium
Nico to get top 5, or a stage
Contador not to finish
Another drugs scandal (odds-on probably!!)
Some leading contender to go out on Stage 1 (Passage du Gois)
Horner to win d'Huez stage
]

To use my betting knowledge, i would say the following would be:
Cav not to win a stage- 8/1
ASchleck not to win a stage- 4/5
ASchleck not to podium- 6/4
Nico to get top 5, or a stage-Top 5-8/1 Stage- 6/1
Contador not to finish-4/1
Another drugs scandal (odds-on probably!!) 1/100
Some leading contender to go out on Stage 1 (Passage du Gois) Leading contenders, only 2 really- 20/1
Horner to win d'Huez stage-25/1