2009 TDF start in Monaco

sing_for_absolution

How very cool. Interesting to see what that route will look like with the usual mountain stages nearby.

celbianchi

I am looking forward to it - we have an apartment down the coast near Cannes so it will be handy.

Be good if they send them into the Alpes maritimes on the first day, maybe over Col D'Eze etc.

DaveyL

How far is a lap of the Grand Prix circuit? Could be a cool prologue.

hammerite

2.08 miles, a tad short, but still possible.

CM92S4E

I've already read its going to be a 19.2km time trial, incuding parts of the Grand Prix track.

Salsiccia

CM92S4E wrote:

I've already read its going to be a 19.2km time trial, incuding parts of the Grand Prix track.

That's a LONG prologue. Perhaps it will actually be stage one, and no prologue like 2008.

afx237vi

Salsiccia wrote:

CM92S4E wrote:

I've already read its going to be a 19.2km time trial, incuding parts of the Grand Prix track.

That's a LONG prologue. Perhaps it will actually be stage one, and no prologue like 2008.

The 2005 prologue* was around that length. Dave Z won it.

*Although technically, everything over 8km is not a prologue.

There was also that 1km Giro prologue that Brett Lancaster won.

DaveyL

It'll be a Stage 1 TT, not a prologue, if it's 19 km, as it was in 2005.

ricadus

Looks rather technical with all those corners!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0G1K9xBrQg&sdig=1

sing_for_absolution

Any suggestions on how the overall route's going to look like? The 1981 Tour (only other edition to start in south-east France) was like this:

Prol.Nice, 5.8 km ITT
1a Nice-Nice, 97 km
1b Nice-Antibes-Nice, 40 km TTT
2 Nice-Martigues, 254 km
3 Martigues-Narbonne, 232 km
4 Narbonne-Carcassonne, 77.2 km TTT
5 St Gaudens-St Lary Soulan, 117.5 km
6 Nay-Pau, 26.7 km ITT
7 Pau-Bordeaux, 227 km
8 Rochefort sur Mer-Nantes, 182 km
9 Nantes-Le Mans, 196.5 km
10 Le Mans-Aulnay sous Bois, 264 km
11 Compiègne-Roubaix, 246 km
12a Roubaix-Bruxelles, 107.3 km
12b Bruxelles-Zolder, 137.8 km
13 Beringen-Hasselt, 157 km
14 Mulhouse-Mulhouse, 38.5 km ITT
15 Besançon-Thonon les Bains, 231 km
16 Thonon les Bains-Morzine, 199.5 km
17 Morzine-L'Alpe d'Huez, 230.5 km
18 Bourg d'Oisans-Le Pleynet, 131 km
19 Veurey-St Priest, 117.5 km
20 St Priest, 46.5 km ITT
21 Auxerre-Fontenay sous Bois, 207 km
22 Fontenay sous Bois-Paris/Champs Elysées, 186.8 km

Now of course they won't have a marathon pave stage like they did back then
:shock:. I guess they might even do an air transfer to the north after the intial TT and a stage around that area? It is indeed way too early to speculate, but always fun to imagine what a potential route might look like.

Salsiccia

If it follows recent patterns then it will be Alps first then Pyrenees (it generally alternates - this year it was Alps then Pyrenees, 2008 Pyrenees then Alps), so I would imagine some stages in the south east, maybe some stages through the Massif Central and then further northwards, and then back down through the Alps, on to the Pyrenees then Paris.

And then, of course, I could be completely wrong. We'll only have to wait until October next year to find out!

velodromeorguk

this will be amazing, imagine a tt or a crit around the f1 track!

andy_wrx

Salsiccia wrote:

If it follows recent patterns then it will be Alps first then Pyrenees (it generally alternates - this year it was Alps then Pyrenees, 2008 Pyrenees then Alps)

The 'grande boucle' alternates between clockwise and anticlockwise around France.
2009 will be another 'clockwise' year.

I guess in order to start in Monaco, do both Alps & Pyrenees, yet finish in Paris, they'll have to initially go North a bit and do the Alps, then loop across to the Pyrenees, then up the Atlantic coast

velodromeorguk

yeh will not be a straight forward loop, they'll stay south east go either the pyrennes or alps then use the massif central to loop back and do which ever mountain range they didnt cover

could be interesting, i reckon they should do the pyrennes first, then up to the massif central, back down to the alps and up the east of france, doing some of belgium near the end before back into paris

that would be interesting, cobbles on the final week