2009 Tour de France route unveiled

Kléber

As ever it's the riders that make the race but the route looks interesting. The opening prologue is hilly and hard and will already show who's on form. Team TT is back. The Pyrenees don't look too hard but the final week in the Alps should be tough. No so many summit finishes.

Full details at www.letour.fr

RichN95.

You've got to love Ventoux on the last Saturday

FullFrameRob

Ventoux the day before Paris. Awesome.

Best get booking some annual leave for the end of July.

emadden

Wooohooo a stage finish in Verbier and I just booked my hotel room

avoidingmyphd

I love that route. It's my favourite for a while.

The alpine stages are nicely shaped to make it easy to go watch on multiple days. And Ventoux is amazing enough when the whole Tour doesn't hang on it. That will be an awesome finish.

boyfriday

Any news yet on the Etape route? Will it be the Ventoux stage?

Fingers crossed.

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phil s

Yes, the Etape route is the Ventoux stage. I think Prudhomme said it would be 20th July.

Anonymous

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/2 ... down-19044

celbianchi

boyfriday wrote:

Any news yet on the Etape route? Will it be the Ventoux stage?

Fingers crossed.

It is

jswba

This should do it:

http://www.steephill.tv/2009/tour-de-france/

calvjones

Another frustrating year for Cadel methinks. This has Albert written all over it, with a TTT included

dave_1

brilliant 2nd to last stage...any yellow on a slight off day like Contador in the two final TTs of the grand tours he won in 08 will lose a few or many minutes to a stronger rider as he admitted in a recent interview re Leipheimer in the final TT of the vuelta. I think we can forget the Contador of the Rasmussen Dynepo era. Leiphemer must be happy

mididoctors

the Pyrenees are harder than they look... stage 9 after the tourmalet heads into the valley headwind making a large breakaway very dangerous indeed.. it also opens up attacks to non pure climbers or even splits on the descent of the tourmalet... its a fast fairly untechnical descent suitable for the big roulers who can ride the headwind to Lourdes

also there is no rest day until after stage 9 with 3 high mountain days on the trot starting on stage 7 with peloton hitting the first high mountain stage 7 fresher than usual

I like the shorter TTs..

could someone aim to do a sastre on the ventoux and plan their race around the final climb and sit in the rest of the race... i think not because the wind conditions up there are likely to neutralise big attacks? might be an anti climax OTOH

SpaceJunk

On first glance I like it.

Agree with most here; the penultimate stage is refreshing. Sure the last two TdF have come down to the ITT, but as my non-cycling friends highlight - it makes for rather boring TV.

No arguments bout Ventoux.

I think the organisers have also down a good job in the opening week considering the start from Monaco.

jonty1977

A proposed stage finish in 2009, a stage finish in 2007 and a flythrough in 2006 with Floyd at the front and his amazingly fuelled engine. Someone in Grand Bornard has deep pockets or the organisers love the Col de la Colombiere. I don't mind either way, I love it there.

ITT around lake Annecy, could be one of the most picturesque stages ever.

Proudhomme out to prove somehting after last years conservative route

oxenhoper

It's good at first look... The TT ers are going to be fed up..

moorjohn

anybody know if their bringing back the time bonuses for top 3 stage finishers?

FJS

Very interesting route. The Pyrenees are I think are not too selective at all, but they do come early and will narrow down the field of contenders very early on in the race.

It looks like the route was designed for maximum suspense; very few TT kms, and a large number of mountain stages rather than very tough ones. None of the mountain stages looks incredibly tough, like normally one or two do; most have a finish after a descent, and all the mountain top finishes come after relatively flat stages. So all the ingredients for a tight race to the end, which will be magnificent on the Ventoux.

My favourite little surprise detail: the Barcelona stage has its finale on Montjuich! Will be spectacular.

GroupOfOne MkII

FJS wrote:

My favourite little surprise detail: the Barcelona stage has its finale on Montjuich! Will be spectacular.

Was just going to post that, already looking forward to it! Especially as it's the day before the Pyrenees.

Plus I'm sure watching the presentation they mentioned a "pass" on the route of the TT round Annecy.

Also the day before Ventoux could be a bit lumpy towards the end, plus the stage into Colmar should make for an exciting last few kilos.

Noticed a couple of the mountain stages have looong descents off the final climb, particularly the last two Pyrennean stages.

craigenty

I just hope it's not already sorted before they reach us on the last Saturday. The Ventoux has the potential to be a non-stage although it has the potential to be the most exciting ever too 8)

avoidingmyphd

No, there are no time bonuses. Prudhomme said so in his presentation.

Yes, there is a climb in the Annecy ITT, it's the Col de Bluffy. It's not a monster, and wouldn't register in the middle of a long stage, but it's certainly enough to make a different in a time trial.

cswebbo

Going into the final Saturday's Mont Ventoux stage should be great. Even a lead of 2-3 minutes is not safe after 3 weeks of racing. A nice change from the usual route. Just needed a true Mountain Time Trial.
Let's hope for a clean race?

jimmerslimmer

I've reached a new low in my TdF obsession not only have I created a diary event in my calendar for the 3 weeks detailing each stage and highlighting weekend stages in Red but I've also added my wife to the meeting invite to ensure that she doesn't commit us to anything for the 3 weeks. I have to admit this is quite sad...

moray_gub

mididoctors wrote:

the Pyrenees are harder than they look... stage 9 after the tourmalet heads into the valley headwind making a large breakaway very dangerous indeed.. it also opens up attacks to non pure climbers or even splits on the descent of the tourmalet... its a fast fairly untechnical descent suitable for the big roulers who can ride the headwind to Lourdes

aH

I think stage 8 and 9 the Pyrenees look like two potential damp squibs, 40 and 80 odd kms from the last climb to the finish doesnt usually break up the race.

cheers
MG

craigenty

Moray Gub wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

the Pyrenees are harder than they look... stage 9 after the tourmalet heads into the valley headwind making a large breakaway very dangerous indeed.. it also opens up attacks to non pure climbers or even splits on the descent of the tourmalet... its a fast fairly untechnical descent suitable for the big roulers who can ride the headwind to Lourdes

aH

I think stage 8 and 9 the Pyrenees look like two potential damp squibs, 40 and 80 odd kms from the last climb to the finish doesnt usually break up the race.

cheers
MG

The Bourg St Maurice stage could be the same. Certainly happened with the Col de Bonette stage this year.

FJS

Yes, this is not Tour de France for nervous descenders....

le_patron

jimmerslimmer wrote:

I've reached a new low in my TdF obsession not only have I created a diary event in my calendar for the 3 weeks detailing each stage and highlighting weekend stages in Red but I've also added my wife to the meeting invite to ensure that she doesn't commit us to anything for the 3 weeks. I have to admit this is quite sad...

It's not sad....it just makes sense to ensure those three magic weeks in July are protected from real world gumpf like weddings, christenings and funerals etc. Now you've done the hard work, can you forward it to me ? (you can leave your wife off ).

victorponf

Sorry, but i think this route is a SHIT, looks like Vuelta a España, the Pirineos don´t exist (Just Arcalis, the other stages last climb are far away).

Very shorts TT, just 1 real high mountain stage (Colombiere Stage) and just before TT (nobody will atack)

In sumary the next tour will be like Vuelta 2008, changing the final 6 km of the Angliru for the last 6 of the Ventoux.

Favourite:Moser or Melchor Mauri

Seriously, very easy for Astana with TTT (i´m thinking in Contador or Levi)

blazing_saddles

I agree with Victor. Can't see what all the fuss is about. Other than sticking Ventoux after the final ITT, it's the same old stuff, re-packaged.
Uber-long decents to the finish always fail to deliver.
A course designed not to induce large time gaps, so the shorter trialing is more than compensated.

Hard to believe that, with all three mountain ranges and the Ventoux, they managed to be so uninspired.

mididoctors

craigenty wrote:

Moray Gub wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

the Pyrenees are harder than they look... stage 9 after the tourmalet heads into the valley headwind making a large breakaway very dangerous indeed.. it also opens up attacks to non pure climbers or even splits on the descent of the tourmalet... its a fast fairly untechnical descent suitable for the big roulers who can ride the headwind to Lourdes

aH

I think stage 8 and 9 the Pyrenees look like two potential damp squibs, 40 and 80 odd kms from the last climb to the finish doesnt usually break up the race.

cheers
MG

The Bourg St Maurice stage could be the same. Certainly happened with the Col de Bonette stage this year.

hat in ring time..

caught in a back group on the run in.... some big names not making the cut over the tourmalet are going to be stuffed

the wind coming up that valley... cancellara and voigt (cancellara mainly) buried GCE this year in that headwind.. those who did the etape this year no doubt remember that headwind (its always there rain or shine) that was the whole point of getting canellara into the break..

the bonnette created attacks on the descent with the russian losing out..plain dropped

the tour will be more 99 bottles with riders falling off one by one rather than some HCT injected rider burying everybody on a mountain top finish and relegating everybody else to racing for 2nd

to appreciate the race one will and should be looking for tactical and strategic gamesmanship...

at least thats my take